Henry William Ravenel, 1814-1887: Private Journal 1865-1866:Page 50

Sept. 1865 Home

should be cancelled for payment of one half. If the debt is repudiated, the whole loss is thrown upon the crediter for which no good reason can be given. It is a misfortune which has befallen them equally, & they should divide the loss.

T. 12 For several days past little Lissy Dwight whom we had thought was improving, has been failing in strength. At midnight she began to sink more rapidly, & at 6 AM this morning her spirit passed gently away - as gently as the darkness of night melted away in the brightening dawn. Pure little innocent! her sojourn on earth was brief, but she has fulfilled her mission, if in binding up the affections of her parents, she has added another link to the chain which connects them with Heaven

W. 13 The funeral took place yesterday afternoon at 4.30 P.M. at this place. A few friends only attended, & the closing ceremony of committing the body to the earth was done at the grave in St Thaddeus Church yard, where a few friends from Aiken attended - - - Harry & Philip Langley started on their trading expedition yesterday morning

Th. 14 The more I reflect upon the proposal to repudiate by legislation the debts contracted for the purchase of negroes the more disinclined I feel towards the measure as one fit for legislation. The obligation of Contracts should be held so sacred, that I believe legislation should never meddle with it -There may be other modes of relief, which may be effected through courts of Equity, so that every particular case may be examined into, & decided upon its own merits. It would be a hard case to call upon debtors to pay for property which has been taken from them, but these cases of hardship are of daily occurrence. A man may purchase a house, & it may be destroyed by fire, or he may have purchased negroes & they may all have died of cholera or some epidemic, but in neither case would the law interfere to release him from his obligation. A debt is contracted with full warning of all possible contingencies