The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-02-09
Te1eEaph.
T-3
The Freedmen and the Sen Islands,

BY Te1e1aph.
Tho Freedmen and the Sen Islands,
WASHINGTON, February 6.-Thc following
is the section in full rclating to the freed
mems occupation Of the South Carolina
crtton lands, as it passed the House to-
day. 1t goes to the Senate for concur
renee:
SECTION FIFrH.-And be IL further en-
acted, That the occupants of land under
MajorGeneral Sherman's Special Field
Order, dated at Savannah, January six
tccnth, eighteen hundred and sixty-five,
are hereby confirmed in their possession
OF said order, and no person shall be dis
turbed in or ousted from said possession
during said three years, unless y settle
ment shall be made with said occupants
by the former owner, satisfactory to the
Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau:
owners of lands occupied under Gene
raj Sherman's Field Order shall make
application for restoration of said lands,
tine. Commissioner is hereby author
lied, upon the agreement, with the
written consent Of said companies, to pro-
cure Other lands for them, by rent or pur-
chase, not exceeding forty acres for each
occupant; or set apart for them, out of
public lands assigned for that purpose in
section four of this bill, forty acres each,
upon the terms and conditions named in
said section.
Prophecy.
''The President, in this connection,
expressed the opinion that the agita-
ton of the negro and franchise ques-
ton in the District of Columbia at
this time was the mere entering aredqe
to the agitation of the question
throughout the States. and was i'll
timed, nncalled for, apl calculated to
do great harm. He believed that it
would engender enmity, contention
and strife between the two races, and
lead to a war between them, which
would result in great injury to both,
and the determination of the negro
population.
These are words of prophecy. They
come from man who, after many
years of arduous political strife and
an active participation in the bloodi-
est drama of the age, with an expert
ence and sagacity equal to, if not
greater, than that of any other man
of his country, stands upon the watch
tower of the nation, marking the evils
of the present, deserving the dangers
of the future, and warming us, as
Washington warned our forefathers,
of the incalculable evils which await
us as people, if those who now con-
troll the legislation of Congress are
permitted to persist in their madness
and folly. They are not the words of
Andrew johnson, the leader of a
party nor of Andrew J Johnson, partici-
pant,in the wild storm of bloody war
nor even the careless, casual re-
marks of ordinary conversation-bu
the carefully considered and well
weighed words of warning of the Pre-.
sident of the United States, who
fully realizing the gravity of his po-
sition and the magnitude of the i'm
pending issues, has risen to the height
OF true greatness, and is nobly strug-
Cling to rescue his people from the
dreadful calamities into which they
are so rapidly drifting.
He has evidently lost hope in the
return of soberness and reason to the
present Congress. His only resort
now is in an appeal to the people.
10 that tribunal, he turns with conf
dence. He has never mistaken the
people. No one knows better than
he does how to reach their Judgment.
Great evils may come upon the coun-
try before that Judgment can be i'm
pressed; and it may be that there is
so little of virtue and integrity left,
that he will fail in arousing it to any
sufficient purpose. We must not de-
spair, however. Despair is not the
part of patriotism nor the spirit of
true courage. Let us hope that we
have reached the height of the storm,
and that, having spent its chief force,
there will be reactionary move
ment, which the President, in the
hands of q wise and good Providence,
may be able so to control as to bring
us finally into port of safety, with
much left for occasion to rejoice, and
out of which those who shall come
after lis may build brighter and a
happier future.
Nashville Union and american.
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