The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-03-10

Laurens, and Lowndes, and Cheves,
and Hayne, and McDufie, and Cal
houn, is yet warm in the veins of
their descendants, and they will again
make themselves heard in the coun-
cils of the nation, and their grand ex-
ample will stimulate others, and make
your dear old State honored, ad-
mired and respected as in the olden
time. Let us be true to ourselves,
let us endure with that sschivaIry' q
use the word advisedly) which has
been illustrated on so many battle
fields, that it will never again be cast
up against us in reproach, and the
ancient fame and character of our be-
loved South Carolina will be as bril-
liant in the future as it has been
bright in the past. Let outsiders
sneer at your ''chivalry," but do you
remember that you have an honored
ancestry, and teach your children to
remember that they have an inheri-
tance of honor and character to pre-
serve. And so we will live, and so
we will grow, and so we will come
again to maintain the high and dig
nified position which we have always
held in the American Union. We
are entering or new carear. We
thought that State sovereignty and
State rights were facts in politics.
We were mistaken. God in his Pro-
vidence has permitted this question
TO be decided against us, and like
wise men and true men, We must ac-
cept the results of the war, accommo-
date ourselves to the condition of
things, and work out our future with
that faith and confidence which be-
longs to true and earnest people.
Slavery is gone. The problem how
to work the freedmen and to cult
vate our staples to the best advan-
tage, is the one which demands our
most serious and earnest attention.
So elastic is the human mind, that
many Of our Southern planters, not
withstanding the great loss of capital
occasioned by the sudden emancipa-
ton of the slaves, which deprived us
of just 80 much property, think that
we are in better condition now than
we were before the act OF emancipa-
tion. The caring for the old and the
infirm, the nursing and medical at
tendance Of the sick, the rearing of
the young, the support. clothing and
taxes of all, are put in opposition to
the capital invested and lost. I do
not believe in the correctness of this
calculation, because the old and in
firm have still to be cared for, the
sick have still to be attended to and
nursed, the young have still to be
reared, and all have still to be sup
ported and clothed. It is true this
will not now, as heretofore, be par
ticular charge upon the individual
owners, but it will be a general charge
upon the whole tax-paying commu-
nlty, and thus abstract so much from
the general wealth. It seems to be
forgotten, too, that while the planter
has been deprived Of this much pro-
perty, his debts still remain, with no
other security for the payment there
of but his lands. In the past, the ne
gro has worked because we could con-
troll his labor, and with the product
of that labor debts were paid, and on
the faith of that labor debts were in
Cured; but the slave is gone, and the
negro and the debts remain. This is
our serious difficulty; it presses home
upon every mind. In the future, we
have to solve the problem, if this Ia
Dor of the negro, no longer slave,
can be controlled without coercion
I do not think it can be. The expe-
rience of the world is against US. The
example of Jamaica is very discour-
aging. There, emancipation was ef-
fected under very favorable circum-
stances; it was preceded by a period
of preparation, it was effected with
out desolating, deva tating and ex-
hausting war, the owners Of the slaves
received compensation, which ena-
bled them to have in hand q capital
for the payment of debts and wages,
and yet, what is the result In 1909,
the island exported over 93,OOO,OOO
sterling; in 1854, it exported less than
91,000,0O0 Man and Government
cannot work against nature The ne
gro is an inferior type of humanity,
not capable, in general, of high cul-
tivation-without ambition, and sim
ply satisfied to live. I am free to adj
nit that, among the negroes, asamong
the Indians, here and there isolated
cases Of intellectual power and culture
may be found, but these are individual
cases, and cannot be taken as a proof
OF the capability Of the whole race.
AS 1 have said, however, they are
among us, and we have the problem
to deal with. They are a tractable
people, and much may be done with
them by kindness and humanity. This