The Abbeville banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, December 08, 1847, Image 1
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j " LIBERTY A>'1) MY NATIVE HOII,." j
VOLUME IV. '- - ----- ' NUMBER 41.
ABBEVILLE C. 1L, S. 0., DECEMBER 8, 1847.
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Published cvrry Wednesday Moniiii'i l?v
ClIAULES II. ALLEN,
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MESSAGE,
OF THE GOVERNOR OF S. ('AlioUNA.
To tlu> Honorable Members of the Senate, anil
of tlio House of Heprcsentatives:
Gentlemen:?The representatives of the
good peo]>le of the State, you have met here
to consider of and provide for their welfare.
The ''universal frame" is governed by immutable
and unerring laws?the same
yesterday, to-day, and forever, and all is
harmony. Hut humanity is left in its blindness
and feebleness, to provide for its own
changing and never satisfied necessities. I
need scarcely remind you, that the lawmaking
power imjjoses on the law giver
the highest responsibilities which individuals
can incur in relation to their fellowinan.
It involves not only tlie obligation
of providing for the passing day, but after
generations have a claim upon you, to
which you are bound to respond?not that
any tiling that you may enact will be immutable,
but thai your enactments may
serve as guides and lights to those that may
come after us. To me the constitution has
imposed the humbler, but delicate duty, to
give you from time to time, ''information of
the condition of the .State," and to recommend
to your ''consideration such measures
as I shall judge necessary or expedient."
And I shall enter upon this duly in the purfeet
confidence, that coining from all parts
of the State, with lull knowledge of the condition
and wants of your constituents,you
will readily perceive any omission and
correct any error of my own. Perfection
is not to bo expected in the works of man,
and a few are found who arc hardy enough
to question the wisdom of some of those
Jaws which have hern ordained by almighty
wisdom for tho government of the
moral world. It is not then matter of surprise,
that still more complain of' those
which emanate from the hand of man.
Some are governed by what might be characterised
a perversity of thought, others
are from delect of education incapable of
reasoning aright, and a still more nnmerI
l % it i r? i I
ous ciass arc i>cnigiueu uy uieir scilistincss.
Hence the clamor which i.s raised not only
here, hut every where else where law governs,
about its delays and uncertainties.
To frame laws therefore, to meet the views
of every individual, is not impracticable,
but any attempt to do so would be productive
ot nothing but anarchy. All that can
be attained, is to preserve the old, and frame
anew lho.se best suited to the wants and necessities
of the great mass of the people.
There is no one who is conversant with
our general laws, and has witnessed their
effect and operation, but must admire and
approve of their general fitness. The English
Common Law, founded on the wisdom
and experience of ages, shorn of some
of its rude proportions by successive enactments
of our Legislature, and by slow and
cautious judicial decisions, and moulded to
a lorin suited to our peculiar circumstances,
and the genius of our people, is the great
foundation of those rules by which we are
protected and secured in our lives, liberty,
nnd property. They may be susceptible
of improvements, but as a principle of legislation,
I would lay it down as a rule,
that any attempt to change these great land
marks by legislation, ought to be done with
great care and circumspection. A partic4ar
case may develope apparent evil, but
^there is danger in remedying that, others
,of greater magnitude will grow out of the
.remedy, and long experience has persuaded
.me that the safer course is the correction
/ ?. i I * i! _1 __
.oi it Dy wnai is somcumes sugmauzeu as i
Judicial Legislation, but not therefore the
Jess safe or salutary. It is not the pro-1
yioce of the Judge to make the law, but to
Apply the principle to the practical concerns,of
life, and it is no cause of wonder
that the wisest are sometimes mistaken in
itg application, in some of the infinite variety
of ca?es that daily arise. These errors
are (developed by time, and the true
correction is in the .correct application of
tho well settled principle. The great beau
?JCj?myfiar.Td<T?i wnmtm i.wi ri .'awc?i I?t?
ty ami excellence of the common law, is its
wonderful adaptation to all times, places,
and circumstances. I do not mean that
otic common law would equally :ipply to
all countries, but that in every country in
whif.h right prevails, must have, so to express
it, a common law of its own, possessing
similar properties, founded on the usagus
and necessities ol'its cili/.ens ; it provides
a remedy for every wrong, and would
be unwise to fetter it by arbitrary rules,
the operation of which cannot he foreseen,
unless the evil admits of no other remedy.
I have therefore, nothing to propose to yon
on this head, nor does any important defects
in our statu a i*}' law. affecting the rights
of properly, now occur t<> me. Mankind
readily accommodate themselves to any
system of laws which are founded on correct
morals, and are .cnown and unchT
stood, and the same dangers and difficulties
present themselves in reforming and modilying
the. statuary laws as in the common
law. Neither ought to be handled without
great caution and circumspection. Il'evils
do exist, they will he found on a careful examination.
not so much in the laws them- !
selves, at? in the machinery by which they
are carried into effect. It is vain to expect
their legitimate and successful operation in
the hands of unskilful artists, where the
machinery is defective, or the power employed
is insuHicicnl for the work to be performed.
Occasional complaints against
delays in the administration of justice has
suggested these remarks, but when it is
known tliey are heard throughout the world,
wherever the laws are administered through
the agency of Courts of Justice, it gives as
ou i u ii VyV luui uiuj cii to?: utiuLi win ui iu\; 11 c
eessity for caution and deliberation in meeting
out justice than in the varied systems
through which it is done. No community
will or ought to br satisfied with any system,
which docs not sccurc reasonable despatch
in its administration, and if there he any
defects in our own, they ought to be coriccied.
The mere machinery of ihe iaw
does not uliec.t private, riglits, anil these may
be safely changed or modified to suit the
exigencies of the times.
Of the nnticnce. dilhrcnce. zeal and ahili
I ' O 7
ty of the Law Judges and Chancellors,with
most of whom 1 have aeled for many years.
I can speak with confidence, and 1 pay
them no compliment in saying that no state
in this Union is served in this department
with more fidelity and ability, and if there
are any unnecessary delays, they will be
found in the want of sutlicient time to despatch
the business with that caution and
circumspection which is indispensable to
its correctness. I mnv lmv<? rwr:>..ir.ii (!> -
ring the present session to call your attention
more particularly to this subject, and
will for the present lorbcar to press it further.
DISTRICT roLlCK.
Amongst tlio subjects requiring your immediate
at ten I ion, and calling for radical reform,
is our District Police. That it is
badly administered ;it least in some departments,
is universally known and acknowledged,
and 1 am persuaded that if the delects
in the system itself and the equally defective,
execution of it had been clearly seen and
well understood, a. corrective would have
been belbrc applied. The Commissioners
of Roads, of the Poor, and of Public I?uildings,
have discretionary, not to say unlimited
power of taxation over the citizens, and
yet in effect they are accountable only
to themselves, not only as to the fact, but
for the manner ofdisbusr^ing the fund and
the uses to which they are applied. I do
riot intend to impute any thing improper to
any individual or particular Hoard of Commissioners,
but it is a power susceptible of
the greatest abuses, defying detection, and I
am satisfied that they themselves would
generally desire the strictest scrutiny into
their accounts. They are by law required
to exhibit their accounts to the Attorney
General and Solicitors, but this isneeessarily
matter of form. These oflicers are for
the most part necessarily ignorant of tin
propriety and necessity of the disbursement
of these funds, nor will the most specious
vouchers suffice to demonstrate it. There
is no one to question their propriety, and
what they exhibit on their face is taken for
granted. The administration of the Free
School Fund is equally exposed loabuse, and
there is one instance falling within my
own knowledge, in which a Hoard of Commissioners
had been imposed on by one of
its members, by ihc fabrication of receipts
in the name of fictitious persons, representing
the disbursement of funds ; and it is no
unworthy compliment lo the honesty and
integrity of our people, tfraj instances of this
sort are so rare, when n& facilities and
temptations to fraud are-so great*
This is not all. It is confidently believed
that if the labor authorized by law for keeping
our roads in repair, was rigidly required
and judiciously directed they would ganerally
be kept in good condition. It is believed
too, that that the poor are wretchedly
provided for, although ihc sums annually
mmammmBtKmmmmmmammmmm?????wofH?? i now
cxactcil in the form of taxes an- ample, and
that il is notorious, that the Free School
funil, large and liberal as it is, has failed almost
wholly of the object* for which it has
been appropriated. There is, unquestionably,
delects in the system itself; but the
great defect is in the want of principle and
rule in its administration.
That these evils do exist is universally
known and conceded. The dillleulty is as
to the remedy, and t feci great distrust of
my ability to suggest one which will prove
effectual. The leading feature of any remurlit
In l>o Irt choiipii ll.o
V J ~v" 7 V, v..v- Ul,.
countability of all the Boards of Commissioners
or other agents, to an authority independent
of their own; and I would re5p
:ctl"i111y recommend, as worthy at least of
an experiment, the appointment.ofu Court
?>r Supervisors, of the Police in each district
to be appointed by the Executive with the
advice of tho Senate, to consist at least of
one for each member of the Ifouse of Representatives,
allowing at least oneofeiich
Parish?clothed wilhall the powers of these
several Boards of Commissioners, and with
power to appoint overseers of the roads, of
the poor, of public, buildings, anil of free
schools, in such numbers as they may
think lit, to be chargcd with the execution
of the laws provided for their respective departments
within the precincts to be assigned
to them, and to account to tin* .ln.l.n>c i?r
( 7 """O" W Wl
Supervisors at regular periods, lor tlie manin
which they have discharged their duties
and disbursed any funds thatv nave been
committed to them. I submit, too, that the
Judges or Supervisors should be required lo
meet regularly at the Court House of their
respective districts at least, once in every
three months, and hold their sessions publicly,
and be authorized to punish all delinquencies
in the overseers. Tho report of
the Circuit Solicitors to the Legislature in
ueeemOer, IStt'J, will supply a useful guide
in framing the details of such a system, anil
their able arguments as to the necessity of
a radical relbrm of our District Police, supersedes
the necessity of vindicating it here.
The proposed reform has at least the advantage
of securing accountability lo an indepcnrlant
authority. Clo'hed with limited
judicial authority it might be rendered eminently
subservient to the purposes of justice,
particularly in the trial of slaves and free
persons of color for capital ofiences. The
tribunals which now exercise this power, it
is known,:are generally not only ignorant
of the principles, but even llie forms of law,
and incapable ofannalyzing anil comparing
facts, independent ot' the humanity concerned
in it, it has always st.iuck me as a
strange incongruity in our laws, that whilst
the life of a slave is put in jeopardy on a
trial before such a tribunal, the slightest injury
to his person entitles the owner to resort
to the highest tribunal in the Slate.?
If there be a class of offences of which they
are capable, requiring a more summary
mode of trial, make tlu m an exception, it
is believed too, that the juridiction of contracts
to a very limited amount, of petty
trespasses and misdemeanors, might be
safely confided to it. and would relieve the
Superior Courts ofa burshen, which unimportant
in itself. is calculated to delay nnd
obstruct matters of more consequence.?
The want of men to fill the offices of Judges
was a leading, and according to my recollection,
the only reason for* abolishing the
County Courts in 1790. and that is no matter
of surprise, as that generation was
brought up during the. Revolutionary War,
when there was no means of obtaining an
education, and yet the memory of some of
the Judges is cherished by the old inhabitants,
us examples of strict impartiality and
ability in the administration of" Justice.?
But that objection no longer exists. The
South Carolina College has shed its light
throughout every portion of the State, and
it is believed that in every district, educated
gentlemen, some of whom have studied law
as part of a finished education, and in other
instances retired lawyers, will be found
willing and able to serve the country in the
capacity of Judges of such a Court, and one
such at the head of the Cour of each
District, would ensure it confidence and
respect.
EDUCATION.
In the increasing usefulness and growing
prosperity of the South Carolina College,
the State is reaping the full fruits to the liberal
patronage which she has heretofore bestowed
upon the institution. It ranks now
among the most useful asylums of learning
in the Southern portion of the Union, and
under its present wise and prudent and energetic-government,
it bids fair to take the
lead of all. It is only a lew who have lived,
like myself, in times proceeding the or
gamzation, wno can realize tne Denents resultingfrom
it. Before,the organs of imparting
science and learning within the State, were
a few grammar schools, widely dispersed, in
which the ancient classics were principally
taught, with which were occasionally unit,
ed a few of the elementary branches of the
occult sciences?higher grades of mental
u
culture were reserved lbr the very few who
had the means of going to some of the
Northern or foreign colleges to complete
their education ; and mental darkness pervaded
the land. Hat under the fostering
influence of this in.itituiion, the lights of literature
and the sciences have penetrated
the recesses of the mountains, the islets of
the sea coast, and spread ovor the whole intermediate
space. The number of students
is now something like four-fold what it was
a few years a^o. and this addition would
seem to indicate the necessity of an addition
to the number of Professors, and necessarily
enlarged accommodations for the students.
I will not anticipate what the hoard of trustees,
whose peculiar duty ami province it is
to advise on this subject, may surest. Hut
J I will not allow myself to question, that
| whatever appropriations may he necessary
| to sustain and promote this invaluable insti!
tution will not be with-held.
1
Of our Free School system I shall forbear
to say anything at present, as a Committee
nftlu> HoM :i> .if I?. 1
^ j?i v.i^nmu*uo >v^i?(;u:iijjed,
ut the last session, with examining into
it, vvilh a view to its improvement, and it
may he reasonably expected that they have
bestowed upon it all the attention that so important
a subject deserves; and that they
will bring together all the information that
could he obtained. The system, in its present
form, as well as the manner in which
it is carried into effect, is the very worst that
can he conceived, and calls loudly for improvement.
But as the starting point of
any improvement, I would suggest the absolute
necessity ol appointing a general Supervisor
of the schools, without which it is
respectfully submitted, all attempts at improvement
will be vain?without it, nothing
like system, so necessary to every enterprise,
can be obtained?next to this, the
most important is the means of obtaining
competent instructors.
ELECTION OF ELECTORS FOR PRESIDENT
AND VICE PRESIDENT.
It will not escape your notice, that by the
act of Congress, the first monday in November
next, is fixed for the election of Electors
for President and Vice President. For
the last fifty or sixty years, they have been
elected by the Legislature, the time appointed
for the election being within the pe
noU ol its regular annuai sessions, but the
time now fixed is between the election of a
new Legislature and the term prescribed by
the Constitution for their assembling. If
the Legislature determine to exercise the
power themselves, the questions will arise,
1st. Whether you have the power to adjourn
yourselves over to that day?if not,
Jd. Whether you have an authority to provide
for the assembling the newly elected
members, and if neither, 3d. Whether the
Executive has, under the Constitution, authority
to convene them. I do not, myself
entertain any doubt on either of these ciues
lions. In the memorable session ofNovcmbcr,
1834, specially called to provide ngainst
the operation of the obnoxious tariff
laws of the United States, the newly elected
members were convened before the time
appointed by the Constitution, by the proclamation
of Governor Hamilton, upon the
advice at least of the Judges of the Court of
Appeals, of which 1 w;is a member, and it
it is a little remarkable that irreconcilably I
divided as we were upon the political questions
that agitated the whole Slate, we all,
-i -i .
wmiuui cuuccii, tiiiuu iu nic conclusion mill
the newly elected members constituted the
true Legislature, and so advised him. The
conclusion at which I then arrived, was n>;t
without due deliberation, and 1 believe it
has been sanctioned by general public opi- i
nion. I have certainly not changed my
own. It follows that this Legislature has
no authority to adjourn itself over to a time
beyond the next election of members, and I
think there is as little doubt that you have
no authority to prescribe a time for their
meeting. If you may, ihere is nothing to
restrain you from prescribing rules for its
course of legislature. The question is resolved
by familiar rule?that an agent or
representative cannot, by the appointment
of a substitute, extend his authority beyond
the time limited by the authority under
which he acts.
Has the Executive the authority to convene
the newly to be elected members??
His power in this repect is limited by the
Constitution to " extraordinary occasions."
Is this one of that character? It may be
said that it is not, because the occasion is
foreknown. Now, if the passage of the act
had been delayed until alter the next session
of the legislature, I can hardly suppose that
even this objection would be raised, and yet
this Legislature is as impotent to provide
fcr tho occasion, unless by changing the
manner of appointing electors, as by the individual
manner ofapp inting the electors,
as would be the individual members in
March next, disperced throughout the State,
and the "occasion" is the more ^extraordinary,"
as there is no other moans of providing
for it, unless the Legislature shall see
fit to provide another manner of appointment.
The only alternative is to give tho election
to the. people. The present system
has worked well heretofore, and I am upon
principle opposed to any changes, unless
certain and practical advantages are to result
from them. This certainly has one advantages.
The members of the Legislature
have greater facilities of ascertaining
tne qualifications and claims c>f the candidates
than the groat mass of the people, and
are therefore less liable to be imposed on by
the artful misrepresentations of designing
men. If you should think otherwise, it wilt
be for you to determine whether to elect
them by districts or a gcueral ticket. It in
obvious that if the general ticket system is
adopted, the up country will on account of
the greater number of voters, have the entire
control of these elections. Now. the
representation in our State Legislature is
apportioned generally amongst the Districts
on the basis of taxation and population, with
I snmn rnn/'ocQtima ?<-? tin* -f
, -x/www.vwg IV v i?' -? A ai ioiiu^ \t l lilt' i'J VV
country, on account of their peculiar territorial
divisions, the result of a compromise between
the up and low countries, with a view
to establish something like a balance of
power, if by any possibility conflicting interests
should arise?the only value of a
written constitution being to protect tho
weak against the strong. The principle
of this compromise has gcnei ally governed
in the election of Senators to Congress, by
selecting one from each section of the Stale,
and good faith requires that it should be carried
out in the election of electors.
The Constitution of the United States
authorizes the Legislature of the several
States to nrescribcd the manner nf nnnniiit
ing electors, and I have heard it urged that
as the power was limited to prescribing tho
manner, the Legislatures themselves had
not the power to appoint. Our long continued
usage gives the answer to this argument;
but if the question was now open, I
do not think there would be room for much
controversy about it, The power to appoint,
necessarily involves the right to direct
the manner in which the power is to bo
executed; and tho idea that one may authorize
that to be done which he himself is
I pronioneu 10 ao} would seem to involve a
contradiction?a fit and willing agent
might not be found, and it would be criminal
to confide it to one who was unworthy
of confidence, and if the position be corrcct,
| the power must remain unexecuted.
I submit these views with great deference
and profound respect, and under perfect
confidence that however you may dispose of
the question, your councils will be directed
with a single eye to the well-being of tho
State.
FEDERAL RELATION.
I transmit herewith certain resolutions of
the Legislurc of (he State of Virginia, which
I am requested by the (iovernor of that
State to lay before you. 'l'hcy arc directed
against that proviso oft he bill then under consideration
in Congress, appropriating money
to prosecute the war or negotiate a peace
with the Republic of Mexico* usually called
the Wihnot Proviso, and affirms among
other things, that the passage of that Proviso
would make "it the duty of every slaveholding
State, and of the citizens thereof as
they value their dearest privileges, the sovereignty,
thciT independence, their right of
property, to take fiim, united and concerted
action in this emergency."
r r\ o 1 /~v *> 1 n ? 11 /-v
x fiiii uidu ii;\|uv.ou:u \,\j my in;iuiu )Ullj
and herewith transmit, certain resolutions
of the Legislature of Connecticut, upon the
same subject, approving and affirming the
principles of the Wilinot Proviso. 1 have
also received from the Governor of Rhode
island certain resolutions of the Legislature
of that State, of the same import, which I
also herewith transmit. These conflicting
resolutions raised the question whether
Congress had or had not the constitutional
right to prohibit slavery in the States ad
muted into tne Union neretolore and may
be hereafter admitted. If the question was
now to be agitated, for the first lime, one
who is familiar with the history of our Government
and has studied our Conslitu/ion
in the spirit of its original design, would be
surprised that such a question was ever
raised. The States of which the Union was
composed at the adoption of the Constitution,
were clcarly intended to bo placed on
a footing of precise equality, and the framers
of this instrument would have been
startled at the idea that those afterwards to
1 _ _ . J ? 1 1 I
oe aumiiieu were 10 ?e regarciea as unworthy
of the sacred privileges secured to the
original States, the right to legislate for
themselves, and that Congress might, by
act, prescribe rules for their legislation.?
The argument in favor of this proposition
is based on that provision of the Constitution
which declares that 4 Congress mfay
admit other States into the Union"?that
this, in terms, is a discretionary power, and
Congress may therefore annex any condition
that it thinks fit, and consequently
the right to interdict slavery or involuntary