The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-08-24

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President Johnsop has hcretofore
sused onlygdefsnsivp wespons in fhe
contest wssich ths dicsls have forced
npon hiln.s But iahis recent speech
IS the Consmitsee Of the Phiiaaelphia
lgonventicn, We shink he has taken a
step forward, and taken up q weapon
OF offence, and hope he may handle
it as skilfully and az successfuHyash he
has those of mere defence. The point
we desire to call attention to is con-
tanned in the following sentence:
I'VE have seen hanging upon the.
verge Of the Government, ns it were,
q, body called, or which assumes to be,
the Congress Of the United States,'
while, IN fact, it is q Congress Of only
part Of the States"
The legality and validity Of the
radical Congress is here pointedly
brought into question, for the Con-
gress of the United States is COM
posed of the Senate and House of
representatives, i'll the former of
which, every State is expressly enti-
tied to two Senators by the Constitu-
tion of the United States. This
body, therefore, if not constitutional,
cannot pass an Act that carries with
it the validity of law, and every such
Act is consequently void and of none
effect. = = '''-S =
This journal took this ground some
months ago; and while we were glad
to see the President :contending so
bravely with the faction which calls
itself, or assumes to be, the Congress
of the United States," we have fire.
quently expressed our regret that he
did not boldly and uneqtlivocally treat
that faction as illegal and unconstitu-
tional, and that he in any way recog-
nized its assumptions of the legisln-
tive powers of the Government.
But he now comes to the point,
aud in saying that cit is n Congress
of only part of the States," he says in
as many words that it is not the Con-
gress of the United States, and that
consequently it had no more right to
pass laws for the government of the
citizens Of the United States than
would have any other assemblago not
provided for by the Constitution.
It remains to he seen how this
question is totbe tested, whether in
the Courts of the United States or by
the radicals persisting in legislating
for the country, despite the Constitu-
ton they swore to defend aud main
tain. The civil rights bill has already
been pronounced unconstitutional by
some of the courts of the country,
and it is said, on good authority, that
the Supreme Court has come to a
similar decision; but ON what grounds
it IS not known. If ON the ground
that the body which passed it is un-
constitutional aud illegal, then every
Act and public resolution that it has
passed since the lth of December
last is unconstitutional, null and
void.
How and when the issue will come
and come it will if the radicals he
successful-is yet in the womb of
the future. - The question, however,
arises, if the radical representatives
be not the Congress, does it not be-
come the duty OF the Executive De
partment Of the Government to treat
it as an illegal body? If resistance
by force to the action of the Presi-
dent be attempted, then, as the Con-
stitution prescrbes, he is the com
mander-in chief of the army and
navy, and is clothed with ample uu-
thority to iisperse unlawful and sedi-
tlous assemblies
New SEA ISLAND COTroN. The
Charleston C"'o'ier says:
Mr. r Ro1din sepdu no a 6pa .,,a