had been for the Governor to work up these troubles into insurrections and have some negroes killed and then appeal to the President for troops to suppress them. Governor Chamberlain took the wiser course of simply issuing his proclamation directing the militia and other military organizations to disarm and cease all military exercises. This was done and the trouble was allayed at once. It was the first instance since 1868 in which a reasonable and just policy had been adopted toward the white people of the state in such cases, and their astonishment and delight at receiving some kind consideration at the hands of their own state government was too marked to escape notice. The result fully justified the wisdom of the Governor's course. During the first sitting of the Legislature of 1874-75, the Governor had a long and severe contest with the baser elements of his own party. They endeavored to have the State Treasurer, who was a strong friend of the Governor, removed from office, but this was defeated by a combination between the Democrats and some of the Republican friends of the Governor. He vetoed during this session nineteen bills chiefly on the grounds of extravagance and profligacy, and in every one he was sustained by the same combination of political elements.

In the face of great and unrelenting opposition in his own party Governor Chamberlain, by the aid of the Democrats and some of his political allies in the Legislature, had been able to accomplish some marked and wholesome reforms in public expenditures, and for this he had won the warm praise of a number of the leading papers and many of the prominent conservative citizens of the State. His course had done much to allay race antagonism, had created a greater sense of security in the public mind and given the people some ground for the hope of better days in the future.

These feelings were, however, entirely dissipated by one act of the Legislature of 1875, which set at defiance all the efforts at genuine reform in the state, and left no ground for any reasonable man to base a belief on that public affairs would ever permanently improve under the control of the party then in power.

Eight judges were to be chosen that session. It was well

known that the Governor had expressed himself as being greatly interested in having selected men of ability and especially of personal integrity.

While he was temporarily absent the conspirators went into an election and chose for two of the most important posts in the state, F. J. Moses, Jr. and W. J. Whipper. Mr. Allen, the author of "Chamberlain's Administration in South Carolina," characterizes this action as "an offence against public honor and safety on the part of the legislative body more flagrant than any other which stained the era of reconstruction in South Carolina, and perhaps the most alarming legislative action in any Southern state."

On his return to Columbia and learning what had been accomplished by the Republicans of the General Assembly, the Governor declared, in a published interview, "This calamity is infinitely greater, in my judgment, than any which has yet fallen on this state, or, I might add, upon any part of the South."

A few days subsequent to this Governor Chamberlain in declining an invitation to the banquet of a New England Society said: "I cannot attend your supper to-night; but if there ever was an hour when the spirit of the Puritans, the spirit of undying, unconquerable enmity and defiance to wrong ought to animate their sons, it is this hour, here, in South Carolina. The civilization of the Puritan and the Cavalier, of the Roundhead and the Huguenot is in peril. Courage, determination, union, victory, must be our watchwords. The grim Puritans never quailed under threat or blow. Let their sons now imitate their example!”

The election of these men to two of the most important judicial positions in the state, in spite of all opposition, both inside and outside of the party in power, sent a thrill of horror through the entire commonwealth and aroused the people to an extent unprecedented for years.

Large meetings were held in nearly every county in the state, in which the firm determination was expressed that these men should never be permitted to enter as judges into the courts of justice. Fortunately the use of any forcible means was obviated by the refusal of the Governor to commission

either Moses or Whipper upon legal grounds, which were afterwards, in another case, approved by the Supreme Court of the state. Whipper threatened to take his office by force, but was deterred from such a course by the prompt action of the Governor in issuing a proclamation, in which he declared that he would arrest him and every one aiding and abetting him as rioters and disturbers of the peace.

Governor Chamberlain, in a letter to President Grant, again characterizes these men chosen by his party as judges as follows: "Unless the entirely universal opinion of all who are familiar with his career is mistaken, he (Moses) is as infamous a character as ever in any age disgraced and prostituted public position. The character of W. J. Whipper, according to my belief and the belief of all good men in the state, so far as I am informed, differs from that of Moses only in the extent to which opportunity has allowed him to exhibit it. The election of these two men to judicial offices sends a thrill of horror through the state. It compels men of all parties who respect decency, virtue or civilization to utter their loudest protests against the outrage of their election."

The election to such places of these two men, not only wholly incompetent, but well known to be flagrantly dishonest and corrupt was the beginning of a change in the state.

At nearly every one of the mass meetings held in the different counties to protest against this action of the General Assembly, resolutions were adopted by the people, declaring that all hope of securing even a tolerable government under the dominant party had been dissipated and that the sole prospect of reform in public affairs lay in the reorganization of the Democratic party and its induction into power.

Governor Chamberlain quickly apprehended that this would be the result. In his first utterance for the public, after the Moses-Whipper affair, he said: "I look upon their election as a horrible disaster-a disaster equally great to the state and to the Republican party. The gravest consequences of all kinds will follow. One immediate effect will obviously be the reorganization of the Democratic party within

the state as the only means left, in the judgment of its members, for opposing a solid and reliable front to this terrible crevasse of misgovernment and public debauchery. I could have wished, as a Republican, to have kept off such an issue." He rightly appreciated the situation. The negroes seemed to be elated by this defiance of decency upon the part of their chosen Representatives in the Legislature, and the whites were thoroughly aroused to a sense of the danger that confronted them. The negro militia in some portions of the state became greatly interested in parading and drilling, and the whites seeing this thought that it was prudent to be ready to take care of themselves and their families.

As a result of this condition of things there were several bloody encounters between the blacks and whites, in which a number of persons were killed and wounded.

These troubles, of course, did not conduce to a kindly feeling between the two races, and the sentiment that the intelligent tax-payers of the state must control public affairs or be ruined and driven from their homes continually grew and increased among the people.

For a time there was great difference of opinion among the leading men of the state as to whether it was wisest to try again the plan of compromising on a ticket with the opposition, or make a straightout Democratic nomination. The latter was finally decided upon. The other course had been tried for eight years and no appreciable benefit had been derived from it. And while the efforts of Governor Chamberlain in behalf of economy and decency had resulted in some temporary good, it had been made manifest that he was unable to control his own party.

In 1868 we had nominated for Governor an honorable and able citizen of the state; in 1870 we had joined in nominating an able carpet-bagger, whom the Republicans had before that placed on the bench; in 1872 we had, in conjunction with some Republicans, supported another carpet-bag Repubcan official who had some claims to honesty; and in 1874 we had again given our votes and influence to a native Republican of fair ability and character who had been named for Governor by the dissatisfied Republicans.

In all of these several instances we had also nominated and supported tickets for the Legislature and county offices made up partly of blacks and partly of whites. We had held conventions of the tax payers and appealed to the country, and had sent a delegation to the Capital of the Nation for the purpose of acquainting the President of the United States with the true condition of the state, and had protested in every possible way against such inhuman tyranny.

All these efforts had proven to be worse than worthless, and it had become manifest that the real question that confronted the people of the state was one of race supremacy.

The Republicans renominated Governor Chamberlain and the Democrats put in the field a full ticket of white men, with General Wade Hampton at the head of it. The campaign that followed was the most exciting ever known in the state, and resulted in the election of the Democratic ticket.

With the installation of these officers and the meeting of the General Assembly began the first honest and economical administration that the state had known since the beginning of reconstruction, and from that time to the present the affairs of the state have been managed with a regard for the people's welfare. The public schools and the institutions for higher education have been cared for and supported. The interest on the public debt has been paid, and instead of selling six per cent. bonds of the state at twenty-five or thirty cents on the dollar, the four-and-a-half per cent. bonds of the state are now bringing more than par. Instead of salaries costing $230,800, as in 1872, they were reduced to $106,200 in 1876. In place of paying $712,200 for legislative expenses, as in 1871, this item was reduced to $42,000 in 1880. The public printing, which cost $450,000 in 1872, was reduced to $6,900 in 1878. The state, counties, towns and school districts have now no floating debt and all obligations are paid as they mature. Instead of profligacy we have honesty; instead of extravagance, economy; instead of uneasiness, we have contentment, and instead of rioting, peace.

The resources of the state are being greatly developed; the