The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1865-11-19

restraints on the commerce and cor
rcspondence of the country. Thus
the Union party, although originally
a minority, would have grown daily
under such influences, and probably
i'll less than the four years which have
gone by, would have become major
ity, and have brought back the States
into the Union. The policy which
might have produced these results
was the only ono permissible under
the Constitution. It grants no power
to coerce State, and such power was
excluded advisedly, on the reasoning
of Madison-that it would be mon
strous to provide for the maintenance
by force of Union that was based on
free Will. The coercion thus excluded
by the founders of the Union, Mr..
Lincoln resolved to employ 1t was
an error disastrous to the country.
For not only was there simple way
to attain the end desired, but the use
of force for the purpose was destruc-
tive of the very object sought BY
force it was quite possible to conquer
the South, but not to restore n Union.
To apply the namc Of L Union to the
relations that exist between Russia
and Poland, would be ludicrous such
are now the relations OF North and
South. Between senticnt beings union
implies joint, a mutual action that
can only proceed from accordance of
will. The same principle holds good
with great communities And when
one section has conquered another
section of the same people, slain the
flower of its manhood, devastated its
soil, and stands amidst the l1.;n it has
made, in the triumph OF superior
power, this cam only be called the
restoration of q union by substituting
the sound for the true sense of the
words.
And when Mr. Lincoln made this
dcplorablc error, how did he carry
out the policy which he had chosen !?
BY sending back the lcputation that
waited upon him from the Border
States, with an answer SO offensive as
to force upon them the decision to
leave the Union. BY calling out 49,
600 men for three months, exhibiting
an ignorance of the magnitude and
resources Of the country he proposed
to coercc, such us hardly could have
been found in Europe. BY fitting
out a secret expedition in New York
to reinforce Fort Sumter, although an
understanding of honor existed with
the Commissioners whom the South
had sent to Washington, that no
change should be made in the statuS
quo But there is matter more grave
even than this. The reason assigned
by Mr.. Lincoln for deciding on the
invasion of the Southern States was
the oath he had taken to maintain the
Constitution. But the President does
not take any oath to maintain the
Union. He went on to do what his
oath did not compel, and to break
what that oath enjoined. To main
tain the Constitution required him to
maintain those great ghts-freedom
of person, of speech, of the press
which 1t expressly guarantees, and
which his Government trampled upon
without any real necessity and with
out the smallest concern. If so ter
rlble means as the sword must needs
be employed under stern sense of
duty, that duty plainly required that
he who proceeded to destroy the lives
of others for an alleged breach Of law
should himself maintain that law with
the most scrupulous care. Now, there
is hardly one great principle Of that
Constitution-nay more, we cannot
recall any one great political principle
avowed and cherished in America,
whether within or outside of the Con-
stitution-which was not violated by
Mr.. Lincoln's Government
The Declaration Of Independence,
for instance, announced III sonorous
terms that governments ''derive their
just powers from the consent of the
governed" What aD illustration of
this, to force q detested government
upon a people who refuse their con-
sent. Again, that same document,