?(jt &fjm6liran.
8ATURDAY, MAY, 21, 1S70.
REVOLUTIONS.
The Columbia Phcenix, in a recent issue,
gives an article on what it considers indicaa1
*V,a nnminir SlimmAr will he UD- I
WVU9 lUUb tuo vvuiiug
precedentedly marked by labor disturbances
throughout the world. It thinks that " ere
long fully one-fourth of the artisan population
of Europe will become, not only nonproducing,
but possibly arrayed, against the 1
good order and interests of society." It then
refers to the gradual organization and con- 1
wiidation of Labor, which, it declares, is <
eyery day growing more pressing in exac- <
tions and more determinedly hostile.
Labor, as suggested by the above, is doubtleas
on the march; it is doubtless growing
?more restless, more sinewy and aggressive.
^?|Te aro heartily glad of it; for our glasses
do Bfit, in their sweep over the fields ahead,
reveal anf of the dismal scenes predicted.
The laborer is coming to know more and
more of the mighty power he possesses; that
is all. That isn't such a tremendously startling
ftwt, is it? He has power; has had it these
thousands of years; and can one think of
any earthly reason why he shouldn't feel it,
know it as a verity, and put it forth? There
is no such reason save that which class and
oaste have builded up?and that they have
iwnlried hadlv in the main is very oertain.
It only remains to see what wil1 make that
power dangerous, and to remove such evil.
The power will assuredly be increasingly felt
and used; therefore make it & power for
good. That is what is meant by the grand
$>mmon school systems of various sections of
our country.
We apprehend that the key to certain of
the'propositions of the Phcenix is to be found
in the fact that that journal is too much inolined
to consider the "societyr" it speaks of
as simply the few, the very few " blue-blooded"
families of any community. If these
aro the only one? it means when it speaks of
a the good order and interests of society,"
then we must protest. The idea of " society " <
it getting every day broader than that. It j
includes all classes. It means the poor as <
well as the rich, the laborer as well as the <
idler. The real " order and interests of so- <
oiety " embraces all. j
Doubtless there will be more or less of dis- i
turbance before the laborer has his full ]
rights. lie has gained what he has through j
disturbance, and quite likely this and that \
man's little plannings may be broken up be- '
fore everything is adjusted. But we advise i
hun to keep on disturbing, so long as he runs i
tile agitation along the grooves of right and J <
rtte&Sm. - ??- ~ -s^r^ ?r~~?rro
Many men in discussing these questions j
would forget the agitation kept up nearly t
oversince Eden by the " first families." And |
vre suppose it is not so much to be wondered i
at when we remember that the world gene- i
rally gives a one-sided snap judgment in \
the matter, calling as it does the agitation of j
aristocrats by the nicest of names, such as
l<Civil necessity," "diplomacy," "glorious \
war," &c., and at the same time calling the ]
agitations of workingmen, no matter, 6ome- j
times, how just those agitations may be, by (
the barsbest names. ,
Some men believe in the right of revolu- j
lion for their own class and not for any other. ]
As for us, we are radical enough to believe <
in the sacred right of revolution for all. i
?? i
EMIGRATION BY COLONIES.
j
We recently urged that the class of immigrants
to be sought for by us all is the
olass having families and a little money; .
possessing also something of education and
character, such as will become small proprietors
rather than simple laborers.
This class of immigrants are much more
likely to come in colonies than singly. Particularly,
if they are sought from the Northern
and Middle States, is this true. The
system of emigration by colonies is just now
ax citing much attention. Several large colonies
have boen formed for the West during
the past year, two, at least, of more than one
hundred families each; and several more,
Deluding one for middle North Carolina, are
already in process of formation. This method
will become more and more popular year
by year, as its advantages become more evident.
People will learn that a colony of
twenty families can take with them and readily
support a good school teacher and a library;
that they can have Sabbath religious
services if they desire it; that they can be
sure of congenial society, of sympathy and
* * - J ** C 1
oare in sioaness, ai\u 01 manj ui wo uatuioi
associations of the homes they leave. If the
o&lony reach one hundred families, they can
be Bare of a physician of their own choice,
a municipal organization if they wish?in
faot, of a rising town at the very beginning.
All these things are becoming more and more
pearly understood, and the idea of concerted
Mid oo-operative action more and more popm!ar.
We should take advantage of this tendency
and try to secure immigrants in groups or
colonies. If in any neighborhood there be
an intelligent, thrifty German, let the proposed
organization for the county in which
he lives be centered about bim. Let planters
near him set aside one-half their lands for
immigrants. Send this mar, or some good
man to Germany to go among his own kindred
and acquaintances to urge them to '
come?ten, twenty, or forty families together
?to settle around him, assuring them of kind
reception, good land, friends of their own
close by. The presentation and the plan
will be attractive. Such a settlement once
formed will grow of itself rapidly. So of
other nationalities.
The same is true of Northern men. If
you have active, efficient, trusty Northern men
at any point, open the lands around them,
send one or more of them North to assure
families that they can find cheap and good
lands where they can cluster in hamlets, retaining
some sweet old associations till new
ones have been formed and become pleasant.
We are fully convinced that the successful
seekers after immigrants will be those who
offer lands to families to settle in groups or
colonics. Wc are sure, too, that those who
make strenuous effort will also make money.
LABORERS VS. PROPRIETORS.
The Immigration Convention presented a
detailed plan for the introduction of people
into our State. The plan has excellent features.
It may be too cumbrous to be carried
out. It may be, as it has often been in the
South, that her citizens have planned far better
than they will execute. We fear so. We
fear that the Convention will be of little service
save as its deliberations and publications
serve to excite interest in the general subject
and to disseminate good ideas.
Be "this as it may, the increased liberality
and good sense of the opinions expressed
was to us a most gratifying indication. Our
whole people certainly are making unquestionable
progress. They are being gradually
Republicanized in sentiment.
One radical error, we believe, the members
of the Convention generally entertained,
namely: that the immigrants to be
sought for are poor laborers rather than proprietors.
They are for the most part conscious
that their chief want is workmen for
the shop or the plantation. They therefore
reason that the immigrants they want are
those who have neither ability nor means to
work for themselves, and who must, therefore,
work all their1 lives for others. No
greater mistake could be made. This class
Df laborers are the poorest and most unprofitable.
The very best men are the best
workers. The German who has a few hundred
dollars to purchase a small tract
:>f land for himself will be able to work a
few days in the most pressing time just
when he is most wanted by his neighbor the
planter. He will be a prompt, intelligent
laborer, earning his high wages far better
than the shiftless worker earns his low
wages. Then the growing children of this
? 1? ? AW/1 trixrnwlr
OlclIJ, iruiut'u LU BICOUJ (UIU ll^viuuu nv>~,
will be ready to hire out, and will furnish a
:lass of the best employees ever hired in the
'amilies are wanted to set the example of
iiligence and thrift, and the pattern of
lonest and thorough daily labor. They are
iceded to lead the gangs of laborers in the
aelds, excite their ambition, and get from
:he loiterers an unusual quantity of work
m the allotted hours.
Besides this, every small proprietor begins j
:o enhance the value of the land and to bear
ais share of the public burdens, thus lightening
the burden of all. his neighbors. His
savings increase the general wealth, and
aggregate into capital for manufacturing
purposes. He is decently connected in the
mother country, and can write to his relatives
and Iriends ot tno same sianaing in sucitaj,
and encourage them to come among us and
swell our numbers. When we get one good
thrifty family snugly located in any inviting
portion of our State, we may be sure that in
a few years several families will follow without
further effort, and then moro families
will follow each of the new-comers, and thus
forward indefinitely. But the poorer class
of laborers have no such connections or influence.
It is clear to us that while we should welcome
every one who will come, we should
make strenuous efforts, and offer our special
inducements to families of thrifty farming
people from abroad or from the North.
Some of the members of the Convention expressed
ideas similar to our own. We are
sure that the more they reflect the more
thoroughly they will be convinced of the
correctness of these views.
A NEW TARIFF POLICY.
The high tariff men begin to see that
which, if 6een from the first, might have saved
them not only time and expense but
even danger of losing present rates of
tariff. Col. Forney, writing for the Philadelphia
Press, undoubtedly indicates the present
programme when he says :
" There is a straight, honest way out of tho peril.
Let the Dresent tariff stand with certain practi
cal additions to tbe free list, the removal of the tax
on tea and coffee, the decrease of the list of incomes
taxed, and tbe inorease of the tax on spirits.. That,
in a general sense, wonld be at once a relief and a
rescue."
A bill of this sort can be passed. A bill of
the kind, suggested by Mr. Sargent, of California,
reducing the import duties ten per
cent., and the internal revenue taxes fifteen
per cent., pro rata, except on spirits and tobacco,
can be passed. We apprehend now
that the struggle will come between the two
bills herein suggested. Either will, for the
present, satisfy tho country. From year to
year reductions must be steadily made. Let
protectionists comprehend this, and they,
doubtless, will be able for years yet to give
to so much of tariff as is imposed protective
features.
THE RE
COMPENSATORY PENALTIES.
Some o( the English humanitarians are
reviewing the discussion of tho proper theory
and practice of punishment for crime. They
call for a radical reform, and for treatment
based on the theory of compensation and
reformation.
So far as treatment of persons convicted of
theft is concerned, they are clearly right.
The present mode of action neither restores
the property stolen to the man ruT>l>cd nor
conveys any lesson to the guilty person.
The penal reformers claim that the criminal
should be taught that it is cheaper to earn
money than to steal it. This can be done bjr
the following plan: Put the convicted felo*
at work in prison, at a fair price for his dai*
ly labor,charge him a fixed moderate price
for his plain food and clothing, and whatever
else is allowed him. Credit him with the
* r t i 11. -
balance ot his earnings, luaxe mm aemoi
to the cash value of the articles stolen b/
him, and to the cost of his apprehension and
trial. When the credits on his account balance,
give him a discharge from the prison.
He then works till he saves, from his own h*.
bor, the exact amount that he got by theft
By that time he, doubtless, will have fully
learned that it is far cheaper and better to
earn money than to steal it, for, during the
toil of every day, he knows that he is putting
by money, and how much, to replace just
what he took. Of course, there is room for
commutation, for credits, for good conduct,
for merciful amelioration in every reasonable
way, but the essence of compensatory punishment
still remains the same. The treatment
cannot apply in cases of great robbers.
But exceptions do not vitiate the general principles.
Then, if on the thief any portion of the
I ' lIP 1 .1 ?
stolen property lgiuuuu, mcuwuci ^uuiauj \
gets it. But if nothing is recaptured, noth-1
ing is restored. Under the system recom-1
mended the State can do more than catch the j
rogue. It can, in whole or in part, make the
loss of the citizen good. And until this is
done, in part at least, we submit that the du- !
ty of the Government, in protection of property,
is not fully done. Of course, the State
or National Government can reimburse itself
from the earnings of the captured criminal.
I These two features, compensation and reformation,
properly limited, must enter into
any good system of criminal jurisprudence.
LIGHT OUT OF GREAT DARKNESS.
The Kentucky Democrats refused to renominate
Golloday for re-election. They
ordered the election before the Republicans
there had really time to get well organized.
Yet, with organization very incomplete, the
Republican* vote in cue of the strongest
creased from 2,934 to 5,279. The comparison
between the vote in the Presidential
election and this is instructive. In 1868,
Grant (Rep.) received 2,994, Seymour (Dem.)
10,915; in 1870, Lowry (Republican candidate
for Congress) received 5,279; Lewis,
(Deraocraticcandidate for Congress) received !
~ ??-? - r? e ?? t GOI
ins majority lurocjiuoui *?no <,c*x,
the majority for Lewis 4,568. Net Republican
pain 3,353.
This gratifying result illustrates very
clearly what the Chairman of the Republican I
State Committee of Kentucky has repeatedly
declared, that a large number of white Union
men will now act with the Republican party,
and indicates that in some of the closer Districts
the Republicans certainly will elect
members of Congress. The Fifteenth Amendment
is working wonders even in besotted
Kentucky.
M FARLAND AGAIN ON TRIAL. |
Mr. Daniel McFarland was indicted by a
Xew York grand jury for murder, and afier
a protracted trial was convicted, by an ict
commodating petit jury, of insanity in tie
first degree. The farce has its appropriite
climax in the full discharge of a homicUal
maniac?so adjudged?who to-day is chickling
over the integrity of his spinal colunn,
and devoutly thanking God that the fooli on I
the jury lists are not all dead.
But quick upon the heels of his acquittal
( of murder comes another indictment driwn
| by his wife. It is a document made ui of
many counts, and by it he will gain anenduring,
infamous notoriety. The Xew York
Tribune contains a nine column commurica|
tion from Mrs. McFarland, (a synopsii of
which we print elsewhere) in which she
gives a full history of her marital experitnee
| and of her relations with the victim of her
, husband's bullet, Mr. Richardson, and which
I bears upon every line the impress of troth, i
In it McFarland is presented to the world in
his true character, a willing pensioner npon
the hard-earned gains of a faithful, deroted,
self-sacrificing, talented wife; an incariation
of drunken brutality and jealous pa?sion;
and a treacherous serpent who tried to sting
the very men anu women who had befriended
him when in his sorest need.
This indictment will be tried before* jury
made up of every man and woman in America.
No demurrer will rule it out of eourt?
no citation of Greenleaf on Evidence
can keep the facts from those who sit
in judgment; the billingsgate of counsel
will never divert their minds from the real
issue; nor can a convenient plea of insanity
exculpate him from the results of his wrong
doings. The verdict will be one which will
stamp the criminal with the brand of Cain,
and compared with the load of infamy which
1PUBLICAN.
he must carry to his grave, the spasmodic
agony of hanging would have been a light ,
punishment.
LET US DRA W THE LINES.
The leopard cannot change his spots.
Some thing9 in their nature cannot change,
i Of such we hold the Democratic party,
1 which, for convenience sake, we will call a
party, although so demoralized, so disorganj
ize<f as scarcely to be .worth the name?but
1 which, still true to its old legends, is trying
to be builded up again under its old name or
another.
We have all along called the Citizens'
party the Democratic party in disguise. We
have been reviled for this; but we still hold |
IU UUl U131 JUU^UiUUb Ul llliuitiuu 111 tug mnv
ter, and could give many a sound reason for i
it.
The Democratic party of South Carolina
has a long, bluck record, many of whose
pages are all blood-stained and sickening.
On reading it, one sees a gradual but steady
growth from the good principles of the Jeffersonian
school on to bad, jind from bad to
worse, till the culmination was reached in
j an idiotic pride, and the madness and wickedness
of secession and rebellion, whereby
the most sacred obligations were broken, and
whereby the land was drenched in tears and
blood, the whole line of horrors capped by
the fearful climax of the murder of Federal 1
prisoners ; and then in the Presidential cam
- -C 1DM Al j? A
pmgn or iouo, iue murucr iu uuiu uiwu v/i
unoffending men, simply because these loved
liberty and would vote the Republican ticket;
one sees a long line of as prejudiced aristocrats
as ever shackled men and cursed a State ;
not only colored men in cruel bondage, but
1 white workingmen crushed to earth; not
only colored men trampled on as if they were
cattle, but white men, natives of the State,
kept in vassalage because poor, and then
sneered at by these aristocrats as "low white
trash j" while white foreigners were ruled
i with a rod of iron: in short, in that record
| of the Democratic party one sees aristocracy ;
the meanest and most scornful pride; the
'shackling of the colored race ; the refusal or
neglect to educate the poor whites ; the merciless
treatment of foreigners ; and a conceit
which was boundless and would have its way,
even through murder.
The strong, the appalling proof of the
truth of this record may be found on the
scarred backs of thousands of the living, in
the neglect of education and the crushed
rights of thousands and thousands more, and
in the bleaching bones ot manj ot tne dead.
We would be lenient and forgiving; but
we cannot forget.
We cannot forget the old, treacherous, perjured,
blood-stained character of the Democracy
of South Carolina.
? i.ii i n . ii 1 ?
tne colored race and the wrongs of the poor
whites.
Especially can we not forget this when the
Democratic party steps forward to ask for
power from those they had so grievously
wronged, asserting, as they do, something
like repentance, and yet refusing to give the
full fruits of repentance. *
It is for the good of our citizens to study J
long and well these weighty truths. The
issues are too mighty, the risks too great, to
act in any other way.
If the Democratic party are sincere in
their professions, they shall be forgiven.
But what if they are not sincere ? "What if
it be only a deep game they are playing ?
.They made the like professions in Virginia
and Tennessee; they were trusted, and they
betrayed in the basest way those who trusted
them. Shall we, brother Republicans, have
the fatally treacherous role of Virginia and
Tennessee re-enacted in South Carolina?
Shall we tamely risk that which may trample
the colored people down again, and thrust
the workingmen, native and foreigner, down
to the level they once occupied ?
If the Democrats are really sincere in their
professions of love for the masses, yet they
can wait for the time of full trusting; they
must and shall wait till their sincerity or insincerity
may be fully proved by the lapse of ;
time. It sincere, still common decency ae- <
mands that they do not ask for implicit trust 1
till they have brought forth fruit; and if in- ,
sincere, they will, through blundering or de- \
spair, throw off the mask, and wc, if true to J
ourselves, will not have lost.
- (
"PUTNONE BUT REPUBLICANS ON 1
GUAR DP
There is a general tendency to make ac- 1
cessions to a party in power, especially if |
the continuance of that power be obvious to 1
all men.
Tne Republican party of this State is in
power, and in such a strongly entrenched
position that the continuance of that power
is assured; and so we shall have men joining
us in "schools." And here a word of
J warning is in place. We wisn an our party
I to ponder it.
Many from the Opposition have already
joined the Republican party. Some of these
are good, true men ; some only came
to us from the most selfish motives. These
last so much want place and power that they
would be anything?Republican, Democratic,
or even " Citizen," to secure it. As
j in the past, so in the future?men will join
our party from the Opposition who truly be- j
lieve in our grand doctrines?and others will j
join our party who care for nothing except j
! personal power.
I There is danger to us in this. We must!
be watchful, and trust no Democrat who
joins us till we KNOW him to be an out*
and-out, thorough RADICAL FROM CONVICTION.
There is nothing but sound,
wise policy in this. Those who become Republican
from conviction ought not to feel
aggrieved; those who assume the robes of
Republicanism for unworthy purposes will
be sloughed ofi and go where they belong,
with other political rubbish.
We say this particularly in view of the
Republican State Convention in July. Soon
we shall be '-ailed upon to select delegates to
that Convention. Let us see to it that none
but tried Republicans be elected delegates!
The Bob-Tail#.
To the Editor of the Republican:
Sir: The awkward movements of the Democratic
editors who are engineering the Citizens*
party in this State are not nnlike those of a small
cnnu piaying wim a large ^uujpiu uuuo* ?u?
delusiveid4*v that it TffilTi OMfhg?. "Constructive
statesmanship requires either positive genius
which arrives at conclusions and determines
upon action by an enlarged intuition, or a
marked ability to deduce from history those
guides which will enable men to so frame and
adapt governments as to best subserve the publlo
interests.
For a quarter of a century the leaders of the
Democracy have failed in every policy they
have inaugurated when in power, while their
prognostics iu defeat have been uniformly belied
by the course of events. In South Carolina,
Democracy was synonymous with the slave
code and caste. It meant social abysses which
could not be bridged over. Lineage was everything,
even though it began with hemp; merit
could scarce gain a recognition, if it did not
emanate from the charmed circle of coast aristocracy.
Indeed, a self-elected coterie of politicians
dictated the policy of the State; determined
its laws; wrote the platforms of its
conventions: and nominated its officers. Editors
were whipped into line ; and whenever the
nose of a Charleston leader Itched, local politicians
sneezed over the entire State.
But the eminently respectable gentlemen who
so long governed the State are now shelved.
They are fit subjects only for dissection and
anatomical study. Live men are to shspethe
destinlesoftheSouth in the future. TheRepubli
can party have control of the State. Its principles
have been and are those of hnman right
and justice; and a large majority of our citizens
favor its continuance in power. This the
Democracy know full well. Hence the recent
change of base by a portion of the opposition,
from a professed hostility to measures to one of
met). They seek a royal road to preferment on,
and not with colored voters. But in adopting
their devious policy, the leaders of the Citizens'
party have shown a want of the most ordinary
political sagacity. They are the most promising
political paradox of the century. They call
their party "Anti-Radical," and then proceed
to swallow a whole box of Radical pills, and
pretend that it is a dose which is altogether
enticing and sweet. They cry out in stentorian
tones that they "accept the situation," as if the
alternative presented were not acceptance or
Immigration. They are the sorriest specimens
of political bob-tails that I have ever seen.
They are a reproduction of the fox In the table.
They lost their confederate tails In the trap of
war, and are now trying to wheedle the unreconstructed
into a dismemberment of their
caudal appendages also. These new political
lights urge that confederate tails serve no useful
purpose, Indeed, that they are really a
lug the graceful quirlwhlch^makST^Se""
fvo?t*rio-vert*brcnlio elongation of a pig "a
tiling of beauty" If not "a Joy forever," their
tails are valueless as ornaments. Bat somehow
the old Confederate foxes do not see the fact In
the light of this specious reasoning, and still
less do the Republicans exhibit an undne baste
to Join the bob-tall hosts.
The Republican party is a national institution.
It ramifies every State, and has its ma-,
lorities in nearly all. The Republicans of South
Carolina affiliate with this national party, and
they will not cqt loose from It to Join a local
anti-Radical party, professing Radical principles,
made up of men of whom nearly
every mother's son have opposed every principle
of the Republican party, and to the very
last momentareslsted the guarantee of any political
or civil rights to the colored citizens who
constitute the sreat majority of the Republican
party In the South. To any man who comes
Into the Republican camp, there is no disposition
to ask any disagreeable conundrums In respect
to the color of the uniform he wore during
the recent civil war; bat the Radicals of Sooth
Carolina propose to show those gentlemen who
ilvlde their time between damning the
Radical party and -stealing Radical principles,
that their conversion to .Republican
doctrines is too lecent and too sudden
to be beyond the suspicion of danger that
the proselytes may quite as suddenly fall from
grace, and especially since they are ashamed to
take the Republican name. The Radicals want
men who seek preferment for, and not by, Republican
principles; and when the bob-tails
jhall join the Republican party, take the Republican
name, and unite In a public declaration
sustaining the Republican National Ad?
' ? ' ? I ?^ nt eKA*tnnoc rtr ill Ka
LLliLl lSUUtlUlij iLieii uctuci Quvt buuio VViJA ^
overlooked, and their suggestions will be listened
to and given the fall weight
which their importance demands. But
until they 44 bring forth works meet onto reDent-nncc"
tr? net ->???? t-> _
3onth Carolina to regard their ambitions suggest
ions with any more favor than Democratic
South Carolina regarded the wishes of the present
Republican majority of the State before and
during the war, and down to the adoption of 1
the Fitteenth Amendment.
Hence, the Citizens' party omnibus Is not i
overloaded with Radical passengers. Indeed,
It Is not very apparent, as yet, where they are
going to get Republicans to pat on their tickets
?State or local. They seek, yet do not And.
Gentlemen do not usually court defeat when by
It tney gain neither glory nor grab. Voteless
and candidateless, so far as Republicans are concerned,
the Citizens' party next get a fire in the
rear from the " irreconellables," who rise np from
the last ditch of the Cou ederacy, and tell the
leaders of the new movement that the " stars
and bars" Is the bui ting under which they will
die, and that nnder no circumstances will they
vote for or affiliate politically with 44 niggers."
* ? q11Athpr n?v
Henre auempuug m
party, my advice to the Democratic editors of
this State is, to purchase a work called " Statesmanship
lu Six Easy Lessons." A diligent perusal
of its pages will save them from very stupid
blunders. Respectfully,
Impromptu.
Mark Time.
[From the Knoxville Daily Chronicle.]
The above is a military order with which, perhaps,
almost all are familiar, and to those who understand
it, it furnishes an apt illustration of the
position of American Democracy. They have kept
up a continual tramp, trump, tramp, for the last ten
years, and 1870 finds them marking time in the
same old ruts of 1860, with a faithfulness worthy
more enterprising leaders. While it has been
engaged in tbis useless shuffling of tbe feet, Re; ablicanism
has marched forward with tbe elastic step
of a volunteer brigade, and triumphed over every
opposition.
IMPORTANT CASK*
United State* Court, in Cfcartoatoa.
HO*. C. 8. BRTAH, PBE8I7>I59.
May 12.?The cut of Thomas Branch and Fred.
R. Scott, of Virginia, and Thomas P. Branch, of.
Georgia, copartners as Branch, Sons A Co., vs Reuben
Tomlinson, James W.Grace, et a!, of Sonth
Carolina?a motion for an injunction to restrain
the State from levying taxes upon the Sonth Carolina
Railroad Company?was resumed in the United
States Circuit Court yesterday.
Hon. D. T. Corbin, United States District Attorney,
opened the argument in behalf of the defenoa.
After citing the various foots contained in the bill,
he said the facts stated wore, perhaps, true, bat tha
law asserted was subject to controversion; assum'
T ?:-i-? ?r 1 A\A mm.
lng lOttt lUC acb Ul UJO IM^JOISIUIV VI ivw
empt the South Carolina Railroad property from
taxation, and that this construction Lad beenaoted
upon by the State until 1848,and assuming that the
act of 1868 does impose a tax upon said property;
was another remedy besides the one sought, and
that was the remedy of law, which was full, adequate
and complete.
It was not the absolutely settled law of .the country,
that a Legislature can tie the hands of subsequent
Legislatures, so that they cannot tax proper
ty within the State limits, and tax all equally and
justly alike. He then. showed that there was a
remedy prescribed by law for parties who deem
themselves illegally taxed, and held that under the
recent act of the Legislature the company would
have to pay the tax. He held that the system of
taxation in this State was precisely like that of the - t
United States Qovernment,with this advantage,that
the State Auditor, when he thought it neoenai%
could convene the State Board Of^ Bqualisation fog
the redress of grievances; and the tax-payer, if not
then satisfied, could go into the courts to have bin
vrmntra ???d. and there was no State in the'Union
where appeals and opportunities bj law hare been
more carefully provided for the tax-payer who considered
himself illegally assessed. He admitted
that a majority of the decisions of the Snpremo
Conrt of the United States were in favor of one
Legislature's tying the hands of succeeding Legislatures
in such matters, but the Judges were, in
such cases, generally equally divided. He stated
that the South Carolina Railroad Company now
owned one-tenth or one-twelfth of the eity property,
and continually added to it. If the Company
could J >ld all this property without paying taxes
he would like to be informed hoe the eity debt
oould ever be paid. He thought that if one Legislature
was to be allowed to tie the hands of all sabsequent
Legislatures, seed would be planted to destroy
the government itself.
Hon. D. H. Chamberlain, Attorney-General, fol- .lowed
Mr. Corbin, for the State. He made an sbls
argument, reiterating the assertions made by the
District-Attorney, and claiming that no set of oos
Legislature could be binding upon subsequent
Legislatures. He held that the elaim of the South
Carolina Railroad Company of peipetual exemp- .
tion from payment of taxes, simply because % former
Legislature had so decreed, was invalid, and
that the law recently enacted was legal and binding.
General James Conner followed with a brief address
to the Conrt, in which he explained the aitaation
of the Company; that in 18&:? a charter and
perpetual exemption from taxation was granted
them, and that for thirty-five years the State had
nJHgroH tt\ that law. Subsequent to the deeisioa
... pr I j ,,. nm, Mlt i?u m
the State vs. Hood, the act of 1870 was passed, bat
for the provision of that act, the at'empt to levy a
tax would have been met with either a writ of injunction,
or one of prohibition in the State Conrt, which
would have stayed the bauds of the tax collectors
until the matter had been jud iciatly^decided.
That power was taken from plaintiffs by the act of
1870, and the Company found themselves compelled
to pay the tax. It wu therefore that corporator*
and citixens of another State, seexing protection
of their rights, come into this Court to stsy the
hands of the collectors, until the legality of that
tax was ascertained and determined.
Hon. A. 6. Magrath followed next for the Company.
He said that the arguments bad taken a
narrow range, consisting mainly of two poiata:
First, that there was an adequate remedy in leer,
and that this Court should therefore not take jurisdiction,
and second, the great question whether
the act of 1835 was binding on subsequent Legislatures.
On the first point beendearwed to show thai
the remedy was inadequate, incomplete and uncertain,
and upon the second point be eited from
numerous authorities.
First, that the charter of a private corporation
was a oontract; second, as saoh it woald be protected
by the courts under that provision of tbe
United Statee-which prohibits any iitatefrofc pawing
any law in violation of contracts.
His Honor, Judge Bryan, delivered a verbal
opinion. He decided that the injunction ask^t for
was the apt remedy for tbe question brought before
him. His determination, be said, aside from any
other consideration, was based upcn the fact that
it involved a franchise, and this was the more authoritative,
direct and speedy mode of practically
determining its exiatence.^enot
a speedy one. It was dilatory in its very nature,
and somewhat unocrtain, he thought, in Uf
final execution. So far as the authority of the
State was concerned to do what it had undertaken
to do, in this matter, the action of this oourt, and
the action from this cCurt, would bring tbe question
directly to the ultimate tribunal, where a decision
could be found binding on all parties, and the question
at issue 'settled.
I think, therefore, said his Honor, that the oomrt
is more than justified in assuming jurisdiction, and
the assumption of that jurisdiction will carry ne '
hardship, no harm to any party here, but settle
speedily and distinctly the rights of the corporation
and all other corporations identified with
them in this question. The injunction will be simply
provisional, and the great question in the matter
may be fully argned hereafter.
The temporary injunction and provision prayed
for will be granted.
* Return of Mr. Jllleon.
Mr. Jillson has returned from the North. Amoag
his other business was that of purchasing books for
the South Carolina University Library, under iastructions
from the' Board of Trustees. The statement
of the correspondent of the Charleston JVetos,
in regard to the closing of the Howard Sehool, if
entirely false. The State has provided the'neoeasary
funds. Preparations are b^ing made by the Ideational
Bureau for the establishment of another
colored school, and a school for white pupils as
well.