704 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



his acts till March 1st, when he would present 

 a written reply to the said report in all its 

 parts. He did so on the day named, and his 

 reply was read to the General Assembly at the 

 sitting of March 3d. In it the State Treasurer 

 passes in review all the statements and con- 

 clusions set down by the investigating com- 

 mittee against him, in regard to fact as well as 

 law, refuting them at length and in detail. 

 ,At the conclusion he says, among other things, 

 "In submitting this reply, I say distinctly that 

 I ask no favor, nor any immunity from the full 

 responsibility for my acts. 1 ' 



In the debate which took place after the 

 reading of the Treasurer's reply, and which 

 was continued on the next and following days, 

 almost all the members of the Lower House, 

 with very few exceptions, expressed their 

 opinion to be that, in the charges preferred by 

 the investigating committee against the Treas- 

 urer, there was no sufficient ground for im- 

 peachment. A motion was made to address 

 the Governor, and ask the removal of the State 

 Treasurer from his office for neglect of duty, 

 and for assuming to interpret at his discretion 

 the law directing the course to be pursued in 

 the performance of his official duties; which 

 motion was agreed to. A resolution to that 

 effect was adopted March 6th in the House of 

 Representatives, by a vote of yeas 92, nays 

 20, and concurred in by the Senate yeas 19, 

 nays 6 on the same day. 



The joint committee appointed to prepare 

 the address reported it on March 10th. The 

 document recites that the General Assembly, 

 " by a vote of two-thirds of each House, and in 

 the execution of the authority vested in them 

 under section 4 of Article VII. of the con- 

 stitution of the State," address the Governor, 

 and ask that F. L. Gardozo be removed from 

 the office of State Treasurer, on the following 

 two charges: 



CHARGE 1. That the said F. L. Cardozo, State 

 Treasurer, has been guilty of misconduct and irregu- 

 larity in the administration of his office. 



To this charge six specifications are append- 

 ed, taken from the points made against him in 

 the previous report of the investigating com- 

 mittee, with reference to his having funded 

 bonds and interest coupons which should not 

 have been funded, and to his not having kept 

 the State funds separate and apart. 



CHARGE 2. That the said F. L. Cardozo, State 

 Treasurer, has been guilty of willful neglect of 

 duty. 



To this charge one specification is appended, 

 namely : 



That whereas it is provided, by section 33 of 

 Chapter XII. of the Eevised Statutes, that "the 

 Treasurer shall, at the end of every month, report 

 to the Controller-General an accurate statement of 

 the cash transactions of the Treasury of every de- 

 partment," yet the said F. L. Cardozo, State Treas- 

 urer, has, since the 31st of October, 18V4, wholly 

 omitted to report to the Controller-General any 

 statement of the cash transactions of the Treasury. 



To the tenor of this address the committee 

 subjoined the recommendation 



That a copy of the charges be served upon the 

 Treasurer, and that he be required to appear be- 

 fore both Houses in joint assembly, on Tuesday, the 

 16th instant, to make answer to the same. 



The committee also promised to submit rules 

 of procedure in due time. 



This report was presented to each of the 

 two Houses separately, and, after discussion, 

 adopted in both. The rules and regulations to 

 govern the proceedings of the trial were sub- 

 mitted, and, after deliberation, adopted. 



By a letter, under date of March 12th, the 

 State Treasurer requested of the Legislature a 

 postponement of the hearing of the case for 

 ten days, that his counsel might have time to 

 prepare his defense. His request was voted 

 upon in the Senate, and rejected yeas 7, 

 nays 17. 



At the request of the Treasurer's counsel, 

 consisting of three distinguished members of 

 the South Carolina bar, the General Assembly, 

 on the 16th of March, postponed the hearing 

 of the case to the 18th. The matter was then 

 argued for the defendant by his counsel. Their 

 argument occupied two days. 



On March 20th, the General Assembly, each 

 House by itself, deliberated on the subject, 

 with the following result: The address to the 

 Governor for the removal of F. L. Cardozo 

 from the office of State Treasurer was, after a 

 lengthy discussion, put to the vote on its adop- 

 tion, and it was rejected : in the House of Rep- 

 resentatives, yeas 45, nays 63 ; in the Senate, 

 yeas 11, nays 18. 



For the purpose of filling the seat on the 

 bench made vacant by the death of Judge 

 John T. Green, the two Houses of the Legis- 

 lature met in joint convention on February 

 11, 1875. The nominees were Franklin J. 

 Moses, Jr., ex-Governor of South Carolina, L. 

 C. Northrop, Archibald J. Shaw, C. D. Melton, 

 and W. J. Whipper. After the sixth ballot 

 in which the vote stood, Northrop 69, Shaw 

 36, Moses 35 Mr. Moses stepped on the floor 

 of the House, withdrew his name as a candi- 

 date, and urged his supporters to cast their 

 votes for Mr. Shaw, the Conservative nomi- 

 nee. At the seventh ballot Mr. Shaw received, 

 in consequence, 76 votes out of 136, the whole 

 number cast, and was declared elected. For 

 Controller-General, Thomas C. Dunn, a mem- 

 ber of the Senate, received 92 votes, and was 

 declared elected. 



On March 26th the General Assembly ad- 

 journed sine die. 



Among the most important acts of a public 

 character passed at this session are the follow- 

 ing: 



Joint resolution to ratify the amendment to 

 the constitution of the State relative to the 

 terms of office of Controller - General, Sec- 

 retary of State, Treasurer, Attorney-General, 

 Adjutant and Inspector-General, and Superin- 

 tendent of Education. 



