The New York herald., 1876-12-18
I. Governor Chamberlain Insanes

his insolent and ignoble ambition to medi-
tate measure which stamps him either as
Cataline or maniac. The most charitable
treatment his friends could bestow on
him would be to shave his head, put
him in straitjacket and commit him
to some kindly managed retreat for the in
sane. If his power were as great as his
temper is ungovernable and wicked he
would be a dangerous man to be left at
large. What he now threatens is to arrest
Wade Hampton on a charge of treason. The
atrocity of this wild threat does not con-
sist in the intended consequences to
the victim. Tho hanging of General
Hampton would be small crime in COM
parison with tho incendiary effect OF such
an attempt. A maniac who should carry
torch into powder magazine. or villain
who should send a tool on that
errand, would hardly excite more
horror than an incendiary politician
undertaking to arrest for treason the most
popular and trusted citizen Of South Caro-
lima in the present inflammable condition
of public feeling in that State. A man must
IN act would kindle the whole State into
confagration. II would be absurd to say that
the author did not intend this consequence
If he should venture on such an act when
popular passions are excited to such pitch
that the restraining moral influence of Wade
Hampton himself is the only thing
that has prevented violent outbreaks. If
Governor Hampton could be arrested, tried.
sentenced and hanged with rs little tumult
as attends the ordinary course Of justice.
even then the conduct Of Chamberlain would
be ignoble and detestable. But if such
thing were attempted there would be a gen.
eral uprising throughout South Carolina and
the neighboring States to protect and
defend him, and when violence had
once begun in that way oil control
over popular passions would be lost,
and nobody could foresee to what extremi-
ties they would 60 It is not the one life of
Wade Hampton that would be put in peril,
but the lives of half the people of South
Carolina. The worst enemy of the country
in such crisis as this is he
who filings frebrands into an excited
and combustible community and sets
its passions in a blaze. No Ian
guage Of indignant denunciation can be
strong enough for SO atrocious q trifing
with the public peace. This threat of Cham
berlain is, of course, mere impotent wicked
ness 50 far as it concerns Governor
Hampton himself; but its insolence
will not be impotent in it's effect
on public feeling if an attempt is made to
put the threat in execution. Even if it be
only an exhibition Of idle bullying and
bravado it is still wicked and seditious, as
tending to provoke disturbances of the
peace.
Treason against State is an obsolete
idea. To be sure, the States have laws de-
fning and Furnishing treason, but they have
so long been a dead letter that not one
citizen in thousand is aware of their ex-
istence. They are like sword that has
rusted SO long in its scabbard that it
cannot be drawn. In the whole history
of our country there has been but one
trial for treason against a State government,
and that solitary instance was an egregious
Rhode Island Thomas w. Dorr was con-
vcted Of treason and sentenced to imprison-
ment for life. But when the public excite
ment had subsidized he was pardoned, and
the Legislature of the State passed an act
restoring his civil rights and ordering
the record of his sentence to be cxpunged
It was felt to be disgrace to the State that
its records should be stained by sentence
for treason. That was the first treason trial
in any State Of this Union, and it will prob
ably be the last. The States stand in no
need Of treason law. because their govern
ments are guaranteed by the United States.
When public excitement ran SO high in Louis
lana and Arkansas over contesting claims
to the government there was no talk or
thought Of arrests for treason, because that
remedy is alien to our institutions. Even
the federal government places no depend
ence on treason trials for its security. Not
a single trial for treason followed our great
civil war. jefferson Davis was arrested and
indicted, but the government released him
on bail and was too glad to avoid trial
The abortive trial Of Aaron Burr is the only
one in our judicial records. Mr.. Chamber
lain must be as crazy as he is desperate and
malignant to brandish the threat of treason
trial in the faces of the people of South Caro-
lima.
Even if the courts of the State recognized
his title to the Governorship, even if he
had judges on the bench as servile and
br,,taI as tho Infamous Jeffries he could
not procure the conviction of Wade Hamp-
ton. The idea that South Carolina
jury would find verdict of guilty
is ridiculous, even if the judges were
tools of Chamberlain. But fortunately,
the courts of South Carolina have of