The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-08-01

WIN. Moore, Abbeville G. H.
julius Poppc, Anderson C. II.
What La Loyalty.
The following eloquent extract is
from the speech of Hon. Edgar Co
wan, in the United States Senate,
July 6, 1866, ON the mis-called recon
struction propositions which have
since passed Congress:
Suppose you pass this amendment
to the Constitution, and suppose the
Southern States, either for the pur-
pose Of getting themselves into line
with you or for the purpose of in
oreasing their political power under
it, should admit the negro to the
franchise will your children, and
your homes and Government be the
more secure for that? What is the
difficulty under which you labor to-
day? LIS it that you have not voters
enough? Is it that the food upon
which the demagogue fattens has
grown scarce, and he has grown thin? :?
Or Is it the reverse? It is not because
demagogism is rife everywhere, and
Is not demagogism rife just in pro-
portion as you furnish it the material
upon which to work? Degrade your
franchise, put it down into the hands
of men who have no intelligence, no
virtue, and, what is worst Of all, no
lndependence-put it into the hands
OF men who have nothing to hope
from it except in so far as they can
use it for corrupt purposes, and shall
we be safer then, ask? Do you sup
pose that the people Of the States in
which there are negroes, will send
you more intelligent, more learned,
more virtuous and more independent
Senators and Representatives here if
you make this change than they w ould
without?
Mr.. Wilson-They will send more
loyal men.
Mr.. Cowan-'Loyal2" Task Mas
sachnsetts what is 'loyal?" What is
the meaning of the word? A fellow
that votes with you! That is like the
chap defining "orthodox''- sortho-
aox is the way I believe; heterodox
is the way the other man believes. !"
Loyal means an abolitionist, I sup.
pose. At least, I find that everybody
who does not happen to be an aboli-
zionist, or tarred with that stick, is
said to be disloyal. Loyalty, Mr.. Pre-
sident, is very simple word 10y
atty means obedience to the laws. It
means legality. Legaiis means law
as well as lea means it. When man
alleges his loyalty to me, let me see
his reverence for the Constitution and
the laws. Show me a man who dis
regards either; show me man who
does not believe in the Constitution
which brought this country to such
a pitch of prosperity for seventy-fv
years, and made us SO happy peo-
pie; show me man that lays sacri-
leg1ous hands upon that instrument,
especially when know that, half the
time, he does not understand it, and
that he never read commentary
upon it IN his life; show me that man,
and show you one who is not loyal.
Shew me man, who, for temporary
advantage, either for himself or his
party, would set foot upon one Of
the country's laws, and he is not
loyal.
ltis time we were beginning to un-
derstand the meaning of words in this
country. 1t is time, now that the
war is over, when passion has sub
sided and when reason ought to come
back and resume her throne, that we
ourselves should be reasonable. Let
, us look at this in the light of the
past; let us look at it calmly and
coolly as we survey it in by-gone
thousands Of years, not as it looks to
the eye, blood-shot with passion, and
red with rage that is hardly d ying
out. Let the lower stock indulge in
passion, if it is to be indnlged in:
but here, in this, the highest forum
OF the nation-here, where, if any,
where, there should be Justice and
fairness, and the broad view over the
whole country, which takes it all in,
and which considers all the people as
the people, virtuous, intelligent, in
dependent enough to govern the coun-
try; Let us here be reasonable, and
especially let us know the meaning Of
our words.