Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 12.djvu/211

 Reconstruction in South Carolina. 201

them into hopeless apathy. One sentiment pervaded the whole body of them ; they were on their trial, and any false step would prove their ruin, by furnishing President Grant with a plausible pre- text for resorting to the strong hand.

ELECTION OF WHIPPER AND MOSES.

The Legislature met as usual in December. The great event of this session was to be the election of judges. Judge Reed had been elected to supply the vacancy occasioned by the death of Judge Graham, and Shaw to supply that occasioned by the death of Judge Greener. It was supposed that the term of office of these judges would expire with that of the judges to whose places they succeeded. There was also a third vacancy in the Southern circuit. Elliott, determined that the Radical vote should be given to Moses, the late Governor, in place of Shaw, and to Whipper in place of Reed. Chamberlain openly and earnestly opposed the election of these two men. He regarded it as sounding the knell of civilization, and acted accordingly. As long as he remained in Columbia he contrived to keep off the election. The Governor had an engagement of a lite- rary kind in Greenville on the i8th December. A message had been sent from the Senate proposing to go into the election that day. Chamberlain waited in the State- House for an answer. It was laid on the table. In an interview with the Speaker he was assured that the matter would not be called up directly, and with this assurance he went to Greenville. He was scarcely out of Columbia before it was proposed to go forthwith into the election of judges. When the election was going on Elliott, the Speaker, declared that he would measure the members by the votes which they should give on this occasion. The negro Whipper was elected to fill the bench on the Charleston circuit. The election caused a shock like that of electricity to pass through the country. The Governor emphatically declared that the civilization of the Puritan and the Huguenot was in danger. The citizens of Charleston met to protest against the outrage, and to devise means to protect themselves from it, and the bar resolved to ignore Whipper and defend the right of Judge Reed to keep his seat.

On the 2 1 St the Governor issued commissions to all the recently elected judges except Moses and Whipper, which he withheld on the technical ground that as the term of service of Shaw and Reid had not expired there was no vacancy in those circuits and the elec- tion of successors was nugatory. The objection was purely techni-