Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1876-04-27


Mr.. Jonas Byrd opened the discussion, and
Governor Chamberlain followed in carefully
prepared speech, and, when / rose toreply, bis
crowd began to throw boulders, raised mob,
fired pistols, and broketup the meeting, and l
did not speak. The speech referred to by the
Governor is purely the product of his imagi-
nation. The.truth Of this statement will be
found in your paper Of August 21st, 1870, and
the testimony Of every person then present.
But MIR. Chamberlain did deliver a speech
which was subsequently published, and is be-
fore me. He asserted in that speech that only
100000 had been added to the State debt
since the Inauguration of Governor Scott !;
that the funded debt of the State, when Coy
ernor Scott came into Office, was only $4,934,.
S49.17; that his administration was wise, pru.
dent and honest that it was endorsed by New
York, at the brokers board and the bankers
desk, as solvent, trustworthy and honest, and
characterized statement of Mr., Byrd's, that
the bonded debt was then $14,500, 600, ss ab-
solutely false. He said he was giving an &C.
count Of his stewardship, spoke as State Of.
icer holding high public trust, and proposed
if any fraudulent act, an instance of misrnan-
agement, or misappropriation of public funds
could be proved, he would agree to- be driven
from office and from the, State. [Pages ], 3,
4 and 81 What were the then existing facts
The State debt had at that time been increas-
ed 81, 7,564,000 without any reference to the
past pretended indebtedness of the State in
any shape, and every bond making up that
increase had been issued. The items are as
follows For the relief Of the treasury, $685.
600; conversion bonds fraudulently issued,
$685., 900; land commission 100000. The
State paid interest on all these bonds from
January 1st, 1859, to 1871, except $500, 600,
which were issued October lst, 1859; and
$5OO,OOO issued March 1st, 1870, and the
coupons since 1871 are held as q demand
against the State. The necords Of the treasn:
ry show that two years interest was paid upon
this enormous issue Of conversion bonds, as
we'll as the others. These facts were, for the
first time, to my knowledge, clearly established
by the evidence in the case of the State against
Parker. By law the financial board, of which
he was member, had absolute control over
these bonds, and it was his duty to have
known the facts Whether he did know, or
neglect plain duty, is for the public to de-
eide. In that speech he ridiculed and scoffed
at reform, and bis eyes blazed with as lurid q
light then as when he was making his un.
founded charges against Inc in the convention.
The Governor denied my statement in re-
gard to the contingent fund. If I am wrong,
I am misled by the laws as published. The
whole amount Of contingent funds, the last
year of Governor Moses administration, was
SAT, 100, and in that is included $500 not
properly charged to it. (See acts and joint
resolutions 1875, page 609) lam wholly
unable to find the $4,000 additional in any
appropriation bill. He claims that by veto.
ing the tax bill passed by the Legislature in
the spring Of 1875, he saved the people $685.
900, that being the estimated difference be-
tween the proceeds ofthat bill and the one he
approved. Now it is notorious fact that
there will be large Deficiencies under the bill
he approved, in every branch of the public
service; that the salaried officers Of the State
cannot receive more than one-half of their
salaries, and the penal and charitable institu-
tions cannot receive much more than half the
sum necessary for their support. A..1 u. .'a,r
Where is the merit Of leaving these officers
and these institutions without funds in mid
summer? And where is the saving to the
State when these funds must be supplied by a
deficiency tax next winter The Governor
charges that sowed, in the campaign of 1870,
ssthose dragon teeth that afterwards sprung
up into the masked Ku-Klux at night" and
that subsequently I came here and gave testi-
- ,k;o11 tbo,,, F.oro i,,ofioa
The first of these charges duplicates all
who were acting with me, including the Neus
and Courier. Is it possible that any man in
South Carolina can believe that such men as
Governor Perry, Gems. Kershaw, Conner,
Kennedy, MCGOWAN, Butler, COL. Rutledge,
Judge Aldridge, the late Chancellor Dunkin,
Col. Simpson, and other distinguished leaders,
and the whole mass of their followers, were
incitihg the people to the commission Of such
crimes? If true, it must have been go, for
they gave me generous and continued sup
port to the end of the canvass. 1t is true, l
obeyed the process Of the Court, and was ex-
amined as witness, not to prove any partic-
ular fact, but to give as my opinion the pri-
mary cause of those horrible crimes, namely,
the administration whose honesty and capaci.
ty Governor Chamberlain had vouched for at
Chester. gave to both charges the most
unqualified denial; there is not shadow of
truth in either. l call as witnesses the col
umns Of your able journal, the hundreds Of
thousands who heard me, and the records Of
the case in which was a witness. l.''
No one ever heard me advocate violence as
remedy for any evil. have always relied,
and advised others to rely, upon peaceful and
legal means, and defy proof to the contrary.
No answer was vouchsafed to the other charg-
es I brought against his administration; but
instead we were told that there had been
times in bis administration when had it not
been for the tender counsels and support OF
the wife Of his love and his bosom, he would
have faltered on the way and stained the rec
ord. Was that sufficient answer? what
is necessary to be reformed except theadmlln,; MN;
istration of which Governor Chamberlain was
so conspicuous and able a member? Inc
charges against the administration OF cover,
nor Moses were not that the Legislature had
been venal or corrupt, but on account Of the
officers he appointed and b bis persona, persons con-
duct ~. ,..,;w Il s.S. ~, ~
Reform in all departments, until honesty
and economy prevail in each, is the demand
of the press and the people Of all parties and
both races, and no matter who is Governor,
public opinion must and will be potential
enough to carry on the good work to .pertecFl
ton. I have labored for it, and shall continue
to do so until nothing is left to be reformed,
1 do not complain Of Governor Chamber