He preferred to await the "test," demanding the
prisoner's release through the proper authorities. That release,
instead of being "a few days after this," as the message sets forth,
was-not effected until the fifteenth of May.
Let the Governor institute an inquiry into the treatment of these
men by the officials, and the prison regimen, and he will find the
truth of what we have said. Public opinion will not credit his award
of "characteristic kindness" to those who set up a paltry pretext as
an apology for their wrong-doing.
If men are to be imprisoned upon this singular construction of law,
(which is no less than arming the fears of South Carolina,) is it
any more than just to ask that she should pay for it, instead of
imposing it upon innocent persons? Or, to say the least, to make
such comfortable provision for them as is made in the port of
Savannah, and give them what they pay for, instead of charging
thirty cents a day for their board, and making twenty-two of that
profit?
Had the Governor referred to the "characteristic kindness" of the
jailer, his remarks would have been bestowed upon a worthy man, who
has been a father to those unfortunates who chanced within the turn
of his key.
In another part of his message, commenting upon the existence of
disgraceful criminal laws, the management and wretched state of
prisons, he says, "The attorney-general, at my request, has drawn up
a report on the subject of prisons and prison discipline.
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