708 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



of cases where their interest, sympathy, association, 

 and feelings, would be most likely to pervert their 

 consciences and invite to false swearing, and are ex- 

 cluded from testifying in all cases where no motive 

 could exist to swear falsely, except that of a depraved 

 heart. The distinction is illogical and indefensible, 

 and it cannot be denied that it has its foundation in 

 a prejudice against the caste of the negro. If the 

 rules of evidence in all the courts were so modified 

 as to make all persons and parties competent wit- 

 nesses in their own and all other cases, no possible 

 danger could result from it. Many of the States of 

 the union, and several of the civilized countries of the 

 Old World have tried the experiment, and the result 

 proves that the cause of truth and justice has been 

 thereby promoted. The object of every judicial in- 

 vestigation is to ascertain the truth, and, when found, 

 to dispense justice in conformity thereto. With in- 

 telligent judges and discriminating juries, correct 

 conclusions will be more certainly attained by hear- 

 ing every fact, whatever may be the character or 

 color of the witness. 



The stay law, which had heen passed at the 

 previous session, was declared by the courts to 

 be unconstitutional, as impairing the obligation 

 of contracts. It was recommended for the relief 

 of debtors, that imprisonment for debt, except 

 in cases of fraud, should be abolished ; that no 

 costs should be taxed against a defendant, and 

 that by an amendment of the insolvent debtor 

 law the debtor, upon making an assignment, 

 could receive a full discharge. 



The extra session which ensued continued for 

 three weeks, during which resolutions were 

 adopted authorizing the Governor to issue, in 

 such form and manner as he might deem proper, 

 $300,000 of State bonds, and with the proceeds 

 of the sale of the same, to purchase 300,000 

 bushels of corn, delivered free of farther ex- 

 pense, for the support of the destitute people 

 of the State. The civil jurisdiction of the dis- 

 trict courts was extended. An act was passed 

 to establish a penitentiary in the State. All 

 persons having one-eighth of negro blood, were 

 declared to be persons of color, and the same 

 civil rights were granted to them as to whites. 

 Other measures, which were strictly of local in- 

 terest, were passed. 



The effect of the legislation, by which the 

 courts were open to all persons, with equal civil 

 rights, without distinction of color, was, to cause 

 the commanding Federal general (Sickles) to 

 issue an order on October 6th, turning over to 

 these courts all civil and criminal cases in which 

 the parties were civilians. By the same order 

 the military provost courts were to be discon- 

 tinued as soon as the State district courts were 

 organized, except at Hilton Head and certain 

 sea islands; the jails were restored to the 

 sheriffs ; corporeal punishment was prohibited 

 except in the case of minors ; and district com- 

 manders were required to report any failure of 

 the civil tribunals to give due protection to per- 

 sons and property. 



The public debt of the State, excluding those 

 debts contracted on' account of the war, was on 

 October 1st, $5,205,227. No provisions had 

 then been made for the future payment of prin- 

 cipal and interest. The receipts of the treasury, 



during the year, amounted to $477,743 ; the 

 balance on hand on October 1st, was $173,000. 

 The regular session of the Legislature com- 

 menced on November 27th, and the measures 

 recommended by the Governor for adoption by 

 the Legislature, indicate that a very complete 

 transition is taking place in the internal regula- 

 tions of the State. The jurisdiction of district 

 courts was limited to colored persons, and they 

 were created by the Constitution, which thus 

 withheld from the Legislature all power to mod- 

 ify them. Grand juries were also unnecessarily 

 summoned to these courts; reforms were also 

 suggested relative to the numbers required for 

 petit juries, and toother features of the adminis- 

 tration of justice; also in regard to commission- 

 ers of deeds and notaries public. The establish- 

 ment of a penitentiary required a modification of 

 the criminal law, especially in relation to sum- 

 mary and corporeal punishments. The site se- 

 lected for this institution was within the corpo- 

 rate limits of Columbia, about half a mile from the 

 South Carolina railroad depot. It was expected 

 cells would be in readiness for convicts on Janu- 

 ary 1, 1867. More than seventy prisoners had 

 escaped from custody in the State within a few 

 previous months. The admission of negro tes- 

 timony in courts was attended with more than 

 the expected success. The colored witnesses 

 appeared to be fully impressed with the obliga- 

 tions placed upon them, and their evidence was 

 generally given with a manifest desire to tell 

 the truth. The Governor endeavored, during 

 the year, to discourage the migration of the 

 negroes from the State, and said : "If the negro 

 remains here his labor must be made sufficiently 

 remunerative to subsist and clothe him com- 

 fortably. Schools must be established to edu- 

 cate his children, and churches built for his 

 moral training." He urged the Legislature to 

 make it the duty of the commissioners of the 

 poor to provide suitable buildings at the various 

 district poor-houses for the accommodation and 

 subsistence of aged, infirm, and helpless freed- 

 men. Imprisonment for debt is still continued 

 in the State, although its abolition is strongly 

 urged. The situation of debtors was made still 

 more embarrassing by the bad crops of the year 

 in almost every part of the State. In the rice dis- 

 tricts of Georgetown and Charleston the number 

 of acres planted before the war was 30,000 ; but, 

 during 1866, the number of acres planted was 

 14,401. Previous to the war 70,000 to 85,000 

 tierces were produced, averaging 600 pounds. 

 Of the 14,401 acres planted 1,451 were subse- 

 quently abandoned, leaving 12,950 under cultiva- 

 tion. This crop was estimated at 22 bushels per 

 acre, or 12,415 tierces of 23 bushels each of rough 

 rice. The failure of the negroes to work it 

 properly, caused but little more than a half crop 

 on the land cultivated. Economically con- 

 sumed, as food, it was regarded as insufficient 

 to sustain life in one-half of the freedmenof the 

 district. The upland crop was an entire fail- 

 ure. The measures adopted at the extra ses- 

 sion of the Legislature to procure a supply of 



