aggrandizement would be balked. They were dazed, but they were determined not to yield without a struggle. The nation has since witnessed a similar condition on a larger stage. The astonishment of the hitherto controlling forces of the Republican party of South Carolina, when Governor Chamberlain discovered to them that he meant to attempt to conduct his administration in fidelity to his and their public pledges, was not unlike the astonishment with which a large portion of the Democratic party received the post-election deliverances of Grover Cleveland regarding reform in the civil service, and his early efforts to make them good.

The succeeding pages are, in large part, the record of a struggle of which this Address was the signal, a struggle which in fierceness, obstinacy, and dramatic intensity is scarcely rivalled by any other that has occurred in this country of ours, between the honorable and the selfish elements comprised in one party, between wise statesmanship and unwise politics.

The following extracts from journals which had not been favorable to the election of Governor Chamberlain, show how strongly his first official utterance affected the opinions of intelligent observers who had despaired of securing good government for South Carolina through the Republican party there.

[From the Charleston (S. C.) News and Courier, December 11, 1874.]

The tone of every newspaper in the country, from Maine to California must be most encouraging to Governor Chamberlain. Every one of them takes him warmly by the hand, warns him of the task he has undertaken, urges him to stand unflinchingly by his purpose against all and every kind of opposition. There have been many governors elected in greater States than South Carolina during the past year, but no public expression has attracted so much comment and attention as the inaugural address of the Governor. This is a most remarkable uprising of the national sentiment in support of the Governor. It means just this: that the whole American press, representing the invincible genius of the republic, proposes to stand behind him like a giant, with his arm bared to strike down any opposition that attempts to weaken his hand, or wrench its grasp from the helm of this State, so long as it is true to the cause of the people. Mr. Chamberlain has placed his foot upon the rock of a living principle, with the eye of a great nation full upon him, and the light of a great future breaking all around him. He holds in his hand the heart of an heroic State, and upon his steady nerve depends the hope of a splendid national organization. The road he must travel will be hedged about with difficulty and danger and responsibility, but if he be faithful to his trust, the divinity of a high purpose will brush these things like a chaff from his path, and crown him with

the gratitude of the nation. We have an abiding faith—the faith of experience and hope that in carrying out the letter and spirit of his inaugural, the Governor will not flinch nor be moved the breadth of a hair. He will find a strength, not his own, that, if need be, will sustain him in vindicating the rights and interests of the poor people of this State.

[From another issue of the same journal.]

So long as he walks on the line that he has marked out for himself he will have the active support of the Conservative members of the General Assembly, and likewise the moral support, the aid and the comfort of the sixty thousand Conservatives whom those members represent. What the people want—and all that they want— is the honest and economical administration which Governor Chamberlain has undertaken to give them; and they will not, by any display of distrust, or by any recalcitrancy of conduct, add to the difficulties which he must encounter, who is resolved to restore to South Carolina that high public character and public credit which in other days were the pride and boast of her people.

[From the Florence (S. C.) Pioneer.]

The inaugural address was an able one, and if Mr. Chamberlain will carry out the policy for reform which he therein promises, and is backed by the Legislature, the good people of our State will be most agreeably disappointed, and will support him in his administration.

[From the Aiken (S. C.) Courier-Journal.]

We like the ring of Governor Chamberlain's inaugural message, and hope he will be able to carry out his programme to the letter, but knowing as we do many of his assistants and surroundings, and judging the others from these, we are of the opinion that they would clog the wheels of the governmental chariot, if drawn by the Archangel Gabriel himself.

[From the Anderson (S. C.) Conservator.]

It will be well for Mr. Chamberlain to understand at once, the success of his administration depends upon his identifying himself with the people and not with a few leaders, and that unless he exercises the functions of his high office, which he has received from the people, for their benefit, in correcting the abuses and corruptions which exist in all the departments of the government, his culture, learning, ability, and ambition will not save him from the fate of Scott and Moses.

[From the Greenville (S. C.) News.]

In many respects the Governor's message is full of good advice, and we hope the present Legislature will see to it, that much that he recommends will be carried into practical execution by appropriate and necessary enactment. Economy and retrenchment should be the guarding [sic] policy in every thing. We are pleased to realize that Mr. Chamberlain has taken such high position, and as the News has said before, we intend to support him in all his efforts to give us a good government.

[From Harper's Weekly, December 11, 1874.]

Governor Chamberlain's inaugural address is clearly the work of an able and sagacious man; and should it prove to be the scheme of his official action, every honest and intelligent citizen of South Carolina will be satisfied.

It seems incredible that these should be the words of the successor of Moses, elected by the same party. They are full of good cheer, and we do not wonder that the inaugural address is considered to be able and statesmanlike, and that the “taxpayers" see the hope of good government and prosperity in the Governor's address. They must remember, however, that his task is most difficult, and that its successful accomplishment depends very much upon their hearty co-operation, not only by votes in the Legislature, but by sympathy and support in their newspapers. The just complaint of good citizens in this part of the country is that men of the class known as tax-payers have held contemptuously aloof from the work of government in the Southern States, and while constantly appealing for sympathy on the ground that they were the substantial and intelligent citizens, have made the worst instead of the best of the situation. They concede the ability of Governor Chamberlain. They have no right to distrust his sincerity until he gives them reason, which those who know him best have no fear that he will do. There is now a chance for South Carolina; and Governor Chamberlain, in fulfilling his promise, will prove whether the tax-payers really wish the advantage of the State, or merely the possession of power. [From The New York Nation, December 10, 1874.]

Mr. Chamberlain, the new Governor of South Carolina, delivered his inaugural address to the Legislature of that State last week, and it appears to have given great satisfaction to sound men of all parties. If he lives up to its promises and professions, and can get the Legislature to do so, he will prove the means of rescuing the State, and will be fairly entitled to a statue. The address is both able and interesting, but his descriptions of the abuses which have to be remedied are sometimes very amusing for the illustration they afford of the manners and morals of the class which has had charge of the State government since 1868. . . . What Mr. Chamberlain says about the public debt is probably what will most interest the outside world, and it is substantially this: that the Act of the last Assembly by which the State committed bankruptcy, and offered to compound with its creditors by giving new bonds for fifty per cent. of the par value of certain bonds, stocks, and coupons which the State was unable to pay, amounting in all to $11,480,033, and repudiat

ing totally the " conversion bonds I put on the market by Kimpton, was a good settlement, and ought to be carried out. The new bonds are to be secured by the appropriation, for the payment of the principal and interest, of a tax of two mills on the dollar on the actual taxable property of the State, which is to be considered a contract between the State and its creditors. As no future increase of the State debt can be made under the existing Constitution without the approval of two thirds of the voters voting at a general State election, we dare say everybody but the holders of the conversion bonds will be satisfied with this arrangement; but no civilized community ought to make such a proposal on such a state of facts without having previously committed to the penitentiary for a term of years, as part and parcel of the transaction, one or more of its financiers; and, in this case, we have no hesitation in designating Scott, Parker, and Kimpton as persons from among whom the selection for this sacrifice ought to be made. In the meantime, we wish Mr. Chamberlain success and tenacity.

[From the Philadelphia Ledger.]

News of an honest and economical administration of the State Government of South Carolina is good news indeed. Governor Chamberlain, who has just been

elected, was inaugurated on Tuesday, and his address, when one remembers that it comes from the candidate of the combination who have so long plundered that State, is of a most promising character. The South Carolina politicians, if the new Governor properly represents them, are to turn over a new leaf. The tax-payers of South Carolina, judging by the telegrams thence, seem to be much encouraged by the prospect of reform, and it is to be hoped the Governor will carry out the policy laid down. South Carolina sadly needs it.

CHAPTER IV.

The Governor and the Legislature-The First Conflict-He Defeats the Election of an Unfit Judge by the Legislature-Reluctant Approval of an Appropriation Bill-Message to the Legislature on the Subject—An Interesting Letter of Professor C. P. Pelham.

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HOSE of the Republican party in the Legislature, a majority in party caucuses, who disapproved of the positive reform policy recommended by the Governor, made little public talk of the matter; but they were none the less resolved not to aid the "new departure" in any way that would be an acknowledgment on their part of previous wrong-doing. Unfortunately, ever since the freedmen had become citizens and politicians they had not wanted for leaders who suffered without rebuke, when they did not sanction and encourage, the disposition to make full use of power for personal advantage. Never having been trained in the exercise of responsibility, to them freedom and authority meant opportunity rather than duty, and they were incredulous regarding the motive of a magistrate who recommended an economy that would supply no perquisites, and set up standards of public service which would thwart the ambitions of some of the most active men in his party. In their view such aims were absurd, and they were confident of their ability to defeat any attempt to give them effect in the actual conduct of the State's affairs.

The first trial came soon. The occasion was the election by the Legislature of a judge to fill a vacancy in the Charleston circuit. The candidates for the office were W. J. Whipper, a shrewd, unscrupulous, negro politician, a lawyer, forsooth, but having neither the professional attainments nor the virtues of character suitable for a judicial office, who was regularly nominated by the Republican majority of the Legislature; Elihu C.