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VOL II. WEDNESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER, 3, 1866. THE HERALD Is PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY MOPINING, At Newberry C. H., By THOS. F. & R. H. GRENEKER, 'TERMS, 68 PER ANNUM, IN CURRENCY, OR PROVISIONS. Payment required Invariably in advance. Marriage notices, Funeral Invitations, Obitu aries, and Communications subserving private interests, are charged as advertisements. Resolutions Offered by 9r. Garlington. Resolved, That the condition of the people of this State, resulting from their indebtedness as affected by the issues of the war, demands remedial legislation in the following particulars,viz: 1st. A revision and amendment of the laws in relation to Insolvent debtors, so as to permit voluntary bankruptcy, and to secure the discharge of debtors from all debts, upon a full and complete sur render of their property and effects. 2nd. Abolition of imprisonment for debt, either on mesne or final process, and an enlargement of exemptions of property from levy and sale. 3d. The postponement of remedial process for the collection of debts so far as not to conflict with the Constitution of this State nor of the United States. 4th. That these resolutions be refered to a special committee, to be composed nf--,--rembers, with iustructions to report such legislation as may be neces sary to earry the same into effect. IpNRTANT DEBATE ON THE STAY LAW. SPEECH OE MR. GARLINGTON. Ma. SPEAKR: In considering these resolutions the first question that presents itself is whether there exists a necessity for legislation. Are the evils which ex ist of sueh magnitude as to amount to a public grievance which this Legislature is bound to take notice of %nd apply a Temedy. If this necessity does not ex ist, if all that we have heard and read on this subject amounts to nothing More. than a clamor, having no foundation in the condition of thiags, then it is our duty to dismiss the matter as not a fit subject of legislation. Xi,, on the con trarv, the necessity df remedial legisla tion, growing out of the abn!rmal con dition of things resulting frxn the war, can be shown, then - .r _duty is plain. We should adopt pratical measures of relief without violating the fundamental law cf the land. But if we such mieas can be adopted withia the scope of gi3ative pow er then we will have to .ve the subject where we find it, remit to the people and let ibert work out eir delive:ri-ce by their -own individual fforts and resources as ibest they can. How then are we to 4etermine this first question? What kind of proof is required to establish the existence of this necessity ? If a case of private grievance were presented to us, individual interest would be a sufficient incentive to the party complaining to put us in posses sion~of the facts in the shape of evidence, and we would be aided in the investiga tion of the matter by established rules arnd forms of procedure. But here the case is different; it is a public grievance which mwe:are invited to consider, not a question sof private interests, nor of the inte;ests-ofa class,but of the corm nity, ofihe%tate. It is not a question be itween coreditors and debtors. It has -anisen 'from the relationi existing between these two classes of persons, but out of That relation has sprung a question of state policy ; what shall be done to re ~li eve ithe 'distressed and to avert the ruin 'hichliinpends over tbe State, if the pec !ple are left to discharge their legal obli ,gations according to the usual forms of fprocedure ? This is the true question. The evil complained of being one that has grown out of the condition of things in which the people have found them selves placed by the results ot the war, and affecting them most directly and in timately it would seem that they are the 7most competent judges of its charazter and extent. The immediate cause of this ,eil, it,is alleged, is an amount of indebt edness which cannot be discharged at .once and at the will of the creditor. Who so capableaf judging of this fact as e people themselves? They under nd their real condition, and they have oexpression sto their opinions in lan that cannot be misunderstood. In rts of the&eate they have held eetings and adopted resolutions on his Excellency the Governor e the Legsature in extraordi seIon, to take~ the subject into sideration and adopt raeaswres of re f. How many of these primary meet gs ha"e been held I am not prepabre4 to ,but in the section of the State which part represent they have been suffi ly numerous and well attended to te what is the public sentiment. aracter of these popular assem d their action show tha~t the pee ve t.here is just cause for the ap done by the Legislature, and at an early day, great disaster to the State will be the consequence. Popular movements of this kind never take place without a cause, and especially at a time like this, when the people have just emerged from a long and exhausting war, and ex changed the clangor of arms for the quiet and repose of peace; when, too, their hopes had been dashed to the earth and their hearts were filled with the humili ating thoughts of defeat. Since the war closed our people have been in no mood to encourage political agitation. Noth ing but a strong conviction that immedi ate Legislation was called for by the ne cessities of the times could have drawn them from their homes to take counsel together and declare their sentiments. They have done so in all honesty of pur pose, and said to, ycu, sir, and to me, and to my compeers on this floor, that something should be done to relieve the country ; that there is an urgent,,. aye, paramount necessity, that the Legisla ture should exert their power to save them and the State from the calamities which threaten. This then is the inform ation which the people have given to us, this is their petition and their warning. There is another sort of information which we have on the subject to guide us in our netion. It is that which mem bers have brought here with them. What do members say is the result of the know ledge which they have derived from their intercourse with the people whom they represent? From your knowledge of the condition of the country do you not be lieve that the enforcement of legal pro cess for the collection of debts, at this time and at the will of creditors, will re sult in geraral insolvency. I might say almost universal bankruptcy. If you answer in the affirmative, then you en dorse what the poople have said in their primary meetings. You coroborate their testimony, by your own observation and experience. If you do not an swer as I suppose you would, I. beg that you reflect on the question in connection with what I sball hereafter say. In support of the general views em bodied in the resolutions, let us consider briefly the causes which have led to the present pecuniary condition of the coun try. When I speak of the condition of the country I mean more particularly the con dition of the agricultural class. Upon the condition of this.class of our people main ly depends the prosperity of all other industrial pursuits, and consequently the prosperity of the State. The remote cause of the great an dgen eral indebtedness of the country is the credit system, based on slave property which prevailed before the war. While our people were never very extravagant in their expenditures they have always been in debt? I think that I will be sustained by every one who has reflected on the subject in the assertion, that at no time within the experience of persons of my age, even of our greatest prosperi ty, could the subsisting debts of the coun try have been paid without sales of prop erty the corpus of estates. The income of the property of the people has never, at least for many years, kept even pace with their debts; and I presume this has been the case generally with the older cotton States. The solution of this fact of this staite of things, is this: This in debtedness originated in the fact that agriculture had ceased to be profitable in this State, and has continued from the same cause. There may be exceptions as to particular departments of agricul ture. *My remarks are intended to ap ply to the great agricultural interest of the State-the culture of short cotton and grain. The fact is well known, I bleeis universally conceded, that the onl sorceof profit from investments in this pursuit for many years was the im provement of estates by the increase and growth of negroes. The competition in the production of the great Southern staple produced by opening the vast and fertile fields of the West and South-west, prostrated the agricultural prosperity of the olderStates whieb depended upon the culture of cotton. This resulted not only in the abstraction of labor and capital from these Staes,butthe price of the staple fell below th otof production, or approached it so nearly, that its cultivation ceased to be pi ofitable. The planters of this State, there fore continued in their pursuit, not because they found it profitable as a source of im mediate income, but because they believed that the increase of their property in. ne groes more than compensated them for the deterioration of their lands and losses from other causes. Besides they preferred to re maiG here, rather than abandon their pa ternal estates and seek their fortunes else where, so long as the investment in negroes for their children exceeded in value the amount of. the interest upon their debts. Besides these considerations, our people were actuated by a feeling of State pride, an attachment to the laws and institutions of their fathers, and to the forms of society in which they were reared-a lofty patriot ismn which bound them to the soil upon which they first trod and the sky upon which their eyes first opened. This feeling in times past has been the subject of the taunts of those who ridieuled our chivalry and what they termed our peculiar views. But without arguing the question, whet.her our people nurtured and cherished a mere sentiment at the sacrifice of their true in terests and the progress of their material prosperity, it is nevertheless a fact that this feeling was deep-rooted in their heai-ts and exerted its influence upon their conduct. [t contributed powerfully towards giving our population the character of fixedness and permanency. These causes furnish a sat isfactory explanation of the fact, that so large a proportion of our population were retained on thir native soil, although their chief industrial pursuit had ceased to be profitable, and although the greatest in ducements were presented to them to emi grate to other States The resnit has fol [owed-they have continued in debt. It is. impracticable to arrive at a strictly accurate statement of the amount of their in debtedness, or of its ratio to the aggregate value of the property of the State. But I think that a result may be approximated sufficiently accurate for the purpose of my argument. We had in this State before the war, in round numbers, four hundred thou sand slaves, which valued at seven hundred dollars per head, which is below the average of sales which then took place, amounted to two hundred and eighty millions dollars. The number of acres of land upon which taxes are paid is, in round numberu, seven teen millions, which valued at five dollars per acre, which it is submitted is a fair valu ation, amounts to eighty-five millions dol lars. This makes the aggregate value of these two items of property, amount to three hundred and sixty-five millions dollars. I throw out of the calculation the value of all other species of property, as unnecessary to be taken into consideration, as they would not change the result. It is more difficult to state the amount of the indebtedness of the people from the want of statistics. My opinion is that one third of the aggregate value of the personal property is not too high an estimate. My experience as a law ver in the settlement of estates has led me to this conclusion, and it is confirmed by a statement furnished me from the records of theOrdinary's office of the District in which I live. Taking these data then as an ap proximation of the truth, how stands the case ? Before the war, the property of the State was sufficient to pay the debts of the people and leave them two thirds of their personal estates besides their. lands. How is it now since slavery, has been abolished and two hundred and eighty millions of property confiscated? I do not take into consideration the havoc which has been played with other species of property, the depreciation of real estate and stocks of all kinds, nor the waste and destruction of property during the war; the smoking ruins of this one beautiful city and the desolating track of the conqueror from Savannah to the North Carolina line. If all these were taken in the account, the figures would be still higher. All that is left. to pay debts with are the lands, which estimated at one balf of their average value before the war, amount to forty-two millions dollars. We have then the result-ninety-three millions dollars of debts and forty-two millions dol lars to pay with, that is to say, the property left will not pay half the amount of the debts. I am~ satisfied that these figures are too favorable to the debtor class. Their condition is even worse than I have repre sented it. Now when we come to consider what will be the fate of our people thus reduced to poverty, as they will be, if they are forced now to pay their debts, the mind is almost overcome by the picture of distress and misery that rises up in the future. We can scarcely find a paiallel in modern history. No conqueror in modern times has imposed such contributions upon a prostrate foe. No Government in modern times has im-i posed such a heavy penalty upon an insur gent people. The partition of Poland, the long and pitiless oppression of Ireland, the military despotism of Austria in Italy, are great crimes in history, but I question whether either of these has resulted in in flicting as great a loss of property upon the people as the results of the war have brought upon us. The wealth of our people consist ed in negro property. It was property un der the constitution and laws, but with the stroke of a pen it has been blotted out, and we have submitted to the act,and all its con sequences, an Iliad of woes, have been en tailed upon us and our children. One would suppose that this sacrifice would have been sufficient to satiate the revenge of even al radical congress without other burdens and penalties being imposed upon us. I have now shown, I think, that the peo pe have just grounds for the appeals which they have made for legislative~ interference and relief; that they are right in the con clusion that the necessity exists for legisla tion to avert the progress of the evils which threaten the destruction-of all their hopes of restoring the States to any measure of pros perity in the future. If debtors are to be pursed in the usual way, that is to say, sued, arrested, imprisoned, and their prop erty sacrificed at Sheriff's sales, what will follow? The immediate consequence will be a vast deal of individual suffering. A majority of our best citizens will be com pelled to surrender their estates, and earn a subsistence by the labor of their hands. The old and the young, of both sexes, and of all conditions, will be reduced to this ne cessity. But this is not the worst. The class of persons brought to this condition, as soon as they can get the means, will leave the State in search of lands upon which their labor will be more remunera tive. As it is now, there is a strong ten dency in this direction, but it will be in reased, and the tide of emigration will be swelled as time rolls on, until the best part of our population will be lost, and our lands cnne;d in ihe hriar and the bramnble. Is it in this way that the prosperity of the State is to be revived? Propositions are now being made to encourage emigration into this State from Europe. While you extend your hand to the European peasant, you are driving your own people from their native soil. Who will. own these lands if the present occupants shall be forced.to sell them or have them sold under legal pro eess ? Toe few creditors who are not ruined by the operation and foreign capitalists' These will displace our present landholders, and the latter will become their tenants and laborers, or wanderers abroad. Nor will it be long before this result will be ac complished. History tells us as a striking fact, that in twenty years after the con quest of England by William the Norman, almost all the lands of the Kingdom had passed into the hands of strangers. That result will follow the surrender to our con querors in a much shorter time. In this transition from lords of the soil to serfs and tenants, our people will suffer all the evi's which I have depicted, and all depart ments of industry will languish and die. Not only will our material interests be thus affected, but all the means of moral and in tellectual improvement. Our schools and colleges, all our religious and charitable in stitutions, will linger in their present con dition of prostration and exhaustion. Our children will grow up in ignorance. The State exhausted of resources will scarcely be able to float upon the ebb-tide, drifting her to destruction. Her wealth and power all the elements which constitute the great ness and prosperity of a people, will be wanting for years to come. The present generation will have passed away before she v:ill regain her former prosperity and power. The condition of the country then being such, that some remedial legislation should be had, we come now to consider the char acter of the Legislation proposed by the resolutions. The first resolution proposes to amend the insolvent laws of this State. The insolvent laws of this State provide for the discharge of debtors petitioning for their benefit only when they are under arrest on what is termed mesne or final process-the writ which brings the party into court, or the execution against his person. The resolution proposes to amend these laws so as to give the debtor the right to petition for his discharge on his own mQtion without suit brought or execu tion issued against him. A discharge under these laws as they now stand, relieves the debtor only from the debtsof suing creditors and of those who accept a dividend under his assignment. The resolution proposes to amend these laws so as to discharge the debtor from all debts whether in suit, or not upon complying with the condition of a complete surrender of all his property and effects. The object of these amend ments is to give to debtors the benefit of a bankrupt act, to relieve themi of their pre sent embarrassments, and secure to them the enjoyment of their future 7scquisitions of property. Does not the extraordinary condition in which this class of persons have been placed, by no default of their own, but by the aot.s of the Government, justify these amendments of the law? Do not the interests of the State and justice to these persons require that they should be per mitted, after giving up all that they possess to their creditors, to resume their avocations in life, and build up Dew estates by their energy and enterprize ? No department of industry will revive and flourish so long as the people are oppressed by thre load of debt which now weighs them down, and para iv zes all their efforts to retrieve their losses. No sentiment of moral obligation will be found sufficiently strong to convince the people in their present condition, that, it is their duty to devote the remainder of their lives to the payment of their debts. How ever, much we may commend such a senti ment, it will be found that it is too feeble in the minds of the great mass of the people to accomplish any practical good. True statesmanship always takes things as they are, not as they should be, and adapts its policy to the attain.nent of the greatest good upon that assumption. So long as the people have no reasonable prospect of re lieving themselves of the. embarrassments which envelop them, they will have scarcely any motive to accumulate property, and without this motivre,they will be useless mem bers of society. As to the expediency of these changes of the law, I cannot conceive how a doubt can be entertained. But it may be asked, has the Legislature the power to make these changes ; can it pass a bankrupt law ? The better opinion seems to be that the Legislature has this power; that it has concurrent jurisdiction with Congress, and that the only qualification of its right to exercise it, is that C~ongress has not exercised it. In other words, that the power delegated to Congress to pass a bankrupt law is not exclusive, and if it withholds its hand, the State Legislatures may exercise the power. In the opinion of the court in the case of Alexander vs. Gib son, reported in 1st Nott & McCord, this question is'discussed, and the doctrine laid down as I. have stated it. And in the separate Qpinion which Judge Cheves de livered in that case, although he differed with the court upon the question of power -believing that Congress had exclusive power over the subject, he said: "But a true construction of this part of the con stitutioni does not forbid the release of the present and future property of a debtor who surrenders all his property to his creditors, whether he be sued or not. The distinction between debtors who are im pleaded and those who are not, is onily material as it regards the power of thre State Legislatures and the effect of State laws. Wheresoever the power may rest, it is within th. ,Cnt tional~ extent i Legise Lative authority in the United tates, tb . re lease an. insolvent debtor, from the claima Df his creditors, (or if it be deeme4 more icceptable to extingoish their' reinedy,) upon his giving up his property, *ithout impairing the obligation of contracts in the sense of the Constitution of the United States." Although I have found that there is a difference of opinion amongst judges and lawyers upon this question, I think the weight of the argument is in favor of the proposition, that the State has the right to, pass insolvent or bankrupt laws having the operation, in its fullest extent, which the resolution pi-oposes. There is no bankrupt law of Qongress now in force, and if the view taken be correct, this Legislature is free to exercise the power. The next resolution. proposes.: to bolish inprison ment for debt. The :constitutionality of such a measure cannot te called in question. All the authori^ies concur in. this view. The point has been expressly decided in this State, in the case of Lowden vs, Moses, reported in 3d. McCord. Imprisonment. for debt is held to be no part of the law of contracts. It belongs to what is called by lawyers the Lex Fori, and can be altered or abolished by the Legislature without viola ting the provisions of the Constitution pro' hibiting the enactment of 'laws impairing the obligation of contracts, and ini the application of the principle no distinction is drawn between prior and future contracts. It operates upon contracts made before. th enactments of such a law as well as those entered into afterwards. It is therefore purely a question of expediency, whether. this relict of a former. -age .should not be stricken from our code of laws. It appearl to me that this is an opportune time. for abandoning this harsh and stern principle derived from the common law, a principle' which had its origin in less. enlightened times and which, though modified and -eoft ened by the influences of a higher civiliza tion, is still enforced against unfortunate debtors. It is the same principle that we find announced in the curious opinion of one of the judges of England, viz: "If a main be taken in execution and he lie in prison for debt, neither the Plaintiff, at whose suit he is arrested, nor the Sheriff who took him, is bound to, find him' m.;. drink or clothes; but he must- live on his. own or the charity of others; and if no, man will relieve him, let him',die in the' name of God, and so say I." Let us wipe out 'from our Statute Book what is left of. this principle, and. conform our laws to the spirit of a more enlightened age. Now,. when confidence is broken up, the best men are exposed to arrest and imprisonment 'on account of their misfortunes. Let us amend our laws so that no one may be deprived Of his liberty except for crime. This is alt that an enlightened morality demands. This resolution proposes to enlarge ez emptions of property from levy .and sale. The exigencies of the times require that our law should be amended in this respect. The exemption of a portion of tbe debtora property upon his surrendering his estate in payment of his debts is a humane pro vision of the law, While South Carolina has many laws uznd institutions which com mend themselves to our judgment, she his. dealt hardly with debtors. *The property - now exempted is a mere pittance-a cow and calf, tools of one's trade, a few artides. of household furniture, and ten. dollars worth of provisions, but humanity and justieet demand a change to meet the distress which every where prevails. If practicable, I would extend exemption to the homestead,. and a sufficient number of acres of land te support the owner and his family., By the stroke of a pen a Republican President has blotted out two hundred and eightynihlous of their property. The State and .people. have submitted to it; and now I ask in their name that the Legislature shall secure to them a remnant to live upon the remainder of their days. Our Legislation heretofore has been too much on the side of the credi tor. But where great corporations are in volved, a different principle is sought to be establisied. I see a petition on our table* asking that the stockholders of banks be relieved from liability for the bills' which they are unable to redeem. I sympathize with them in their losses. I am willing to go as iar se any man in extending relief- to them, because they acted, nobly during the war, in sustaining our credit, but I am not in favor of class, legislation, which leaves the great body of the people without relief. The third resolution proposes the post ponement of the remedial process of .the courts for the collection of' debts. The qualification restricts the proposition to such legislation as will.not conflict with the Con stitution of this State, nor of the United States. If the courts can be postponed,- or the times of their sitting altered so as5 to ac complish th3 end desired, without conflicting~ with the constitutional prohibition against the enactment of laws impairing the obhiga- - tion of contracts we will then have steered clear of the principle, decided in the late case before the Court of Error's in which the Stay Law was pronounced unconstitetional, I acknowledge the obligation imposed upon legislators by tbe Constitution, and it is our duty to confine our action within the scope of legislative power. Nor would I, except in extreme cases, involving great publie interests or the safety of the State, presume to set up my judgmient in confitet with the decisions emanating from that tribunal which, under the Constitution and laws, is the rightful expounder of both. But I trust, sir that the time has not yet come when freedom of opinion and discussion has ceased to be prized as one of the dearest rights of the citizen. I trust that I shall not render trf onoxio'1s to the charge of being