The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1865-11-19
raj action, and belonged exclusively

| raj aCLlOn, ana belonged eAcluSlYely
to that Of the State BIZ. there IS
nothing in the Southern Constitution
that would have precluded any Of its
States from emancipating its negro
population by the act of its own Le-
gislature. The principle which stopped
the interference of the central 60
vernment told both ways. The Rich
mond Congress could not interfere to
free the slaves, but it was equally
powerless to prevent their being freed.
Hence all that has been said of slavery
being the corner stone" of the
Southern power is mere windy decla-
nation. The metaphor was, indeed,
used by Mr.. Stephens, but not rs it is
invariably and enormously quoted.
He was replying to the very absurd
dogma of the Declaration of Inde-
pendenee, that ';all men are created
equal;" and asserted that, on the con-
trary, inequality is the law OF nature,
and that the inferiority of one race to
another was the cornerstone of the
system. But whatever Mr.. Stephens
might say or mean, nothing could
well be more absurd than to fix upon
many millions of people, the great
majority Of whom had nothing to do
with slavery, the sentence or the
epithet of speaker expressing his
individual view, on his sole response
bility. The use to which the epithet
has been put is 10 less illogical. The
cornerstone of the Southern Confe-
deracy was obviously its Constitution.
With it, there existed a Confederacy /;
without it, none. Here was the base
on which rested the whole fabric. as q
political power. Now, when we see
that this Constitution permitted any
one, every one, of the States to abo-
lish slavery, we shall see the abslrtlity
of terming that the cornerstone of
an edifice which could be removed at
any time at pleasure, without dctri
ment to the structure.
In the persplcuOus account given by
Colonel Fletcher of McClellan's re-
markable and ill-fated campaign, we
are struck with the treatment he re-
ceived at the hands of Mr.. Lincoln,
to which his failure may be largely
attributed. Had it been the object to
render success impossible, it could
hardly have been better pursued. No
sooner had Mcclellan left Washing
ton, than the President commenced a
series of measures unparalleled in
their way. Nay, even before this,
and without consulting his Command
erin-Chief, it appears that he issued
positive orders for the movement of
the troops which enforced the ahor-
tive advance on Manassas failure
that threw sinister influence over
the campaign. During that advance
Mcclellan learnt by the columns Of a
newspaper, and without the slightest
previous intimat;on, that he was re-
duced from the command in chief to
that of the forces around him. This
step withdrew from his control the
troops in the valley of the Shenandoah,
which formed an important part of
his combinations. It was followed
by the withdrawal, in a similar man
ner, of another body of ten thousand
men, under Blenker. The next step
was to place beyond his control the
very base OF his own operations, Fort
Monroe, reducing his resources by
another ten thousand men. Finally,
IHe eHt1Ic dIulJ corps ol mcdowell,
whose cooperation was vital to the
plan of the campaign, was suddenly
withdrawn from his orders. The
wonder is that any general SO treated
should not have resinded in despair.
Colonel Fletcher observes
Ignorant of military, and indeed
of most other matters of which a
knowledge is expected from men in
high position, weak in character, and
consequently obstinate, Mr.. Lincoln
was singularly untitled for the station
of life he was called upon to ell. His
very character for honesty was mis-
fortune, as it afforded sort of colln-
teIpoise to his defects, and led men
to suppose that his straightforward
dealing i'll private life would bc car