The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-09-07
IssssFy svarsl Hsscnaes.s

sssssfy ssaFd Bsssnes.
We make extracts from q letter
written by Rev. Henry yvara Beech-l
er,s in reply to an invitation TO be
present as the Soldiers Convention,
to be held al Cleveland, on the 18th
inst. The letter has attracted gene
raj attention ut the North, and will, |
unquestionably. exercise 'tremen-
dous influence in the ranks of the
Republican party: ,',-a
GENTLEMEN: am obliged to your
for the invitation which you have
made to me to act as chaplain to the
convention Of sailors and soldiers
about to convene of Cleveland. I
cannot attend it, but I heartily wish
it and all other conventions, of what
party soever, success, whose object
is the restoration of all the States
late in rebellion to their Federal re-
lations. :.
Our theory of Government has no
place for State except in the Union.
It is justly taken for granted that the
duties and responsibilities of State
in Federal relations tend to its politi-
L cal health, and to that of the whole
nation. Even territories are hastily
brought in, often before the pre-
scribed conditions are fulfilled, as if
| it were dangerous to leave n commu-
nifty outside of the great body polite.
Had the loyal Senators and Repre-
sentatives Of Tennessee been admit
ted at once on the assembling of Con-
gress, and, in moderate succession,
Arkansas, Georgia, Alabama, North
Carolina and Virginia, the public
mind of the South would have been
far more healthy than it is, and those
States which fingered on probation
to the last would have been under O
moro salutary influence to good con-
| duct than if dozen armies watched
over them.
Every month that..we delay this
healthful step complicates the case.
The Federal Government is unfit
to exercise minor police and local 60
vernment, and willinevitably blunder
when it attempts it. To keep half
score of States under Federal autho-
rlty, but without national ties and re-
sponsibilities; to oblige the central
authority to govern half the territory
of the Union by Federal civil officers
and by the army, is policy not only
:uncongenial to our ideas and princi-
pies, but pre-eminently dangerous to
the spirit of our Government
It is said that if admitted to Con-
gress, the Southern Senators and
Representatives will coalcsce with
\ >.t1
country. Is this nation, then, to re-
main disncmbcred to serve the ends
of parties? Have we learned no Wis
dom by the history of the last ten
years, in which just this course of
sacrificing the nation to the exigcn-
cies of parties, plunged us into rebel
lion and war?
I hear with wonder and shame and
scorn the fear of few that the South,
once more in adjustment with the
Federal Government, Will rule this
nation. The North is rich-never so
rich; the South is poor--never before
SO poor. The, population of the
North is nearly double that of the
South. The industry of the North,
in diversity, in forwardness and pro-
ductiveness, in all the machinery and
education required for manufactur-
ing. is half a century in advance OF
the South. Churches in the North
crown every hill, and schools swarm
in every neighborhood; while the
South has but scattered lights, Mt
long distances, like lighthouses
twinkling along the edge of cont
nent of darkness. In the presence Of
such Il contrast, how mean and craven
is the fear that the South will rule
the policy of the land That it will
have an influence, that it will contri-
butte, i'll time, most important in
| huences or restraints, we are glad to
believe. But ifit rises at once to the
control Of the Government, it will be
because the North, demoralizcd by
prosperity, and besotted by grovel-
ling interests, refuses to discharge its
share of political duty. In such a
case, the South will not only control
the Government, but it ought to do it.
It is feared, with more reason, that
the restoration of the Sonth to her
full Independence, will be detrimental
to the freedmen. The sooner we
dismiss from our p>inds the idea that
| the freedmen can be classified and
separated fromAHthe white popuIa-
tion, and nursed and defended by
| +1a,,,ca1uo. f1,o will CO.. ~,