The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-05-15
Our Hope for the Future.

tioH. Ine wager or battle has been
determined, and the weaker have
yielded to the stronger party in the
terms upon which it was declared the
war was being waged, but the work
OF revolution has not stopped The
dominant party in Congress-, and
their co-adjutors in the Legislative
bodies of the States, have avowed
their purpose to revolutionize the
form of Government established by
the fathers, and to which the Amer
lean people have been educated and
are attached. If their efforts succeed.
1t will be the end of free institutions
with us, and the beginning of cen
trallzed despotHm or state of an
archy, of which we can have but n
faint conception at present.
We would fain believe that this is
not the work of the people, but of
usurpers; and that with little more
time for the subsidence of passion
and the return of the sober second
thought, they will dethrone these
enemies to free institutions and re-
assert the cardinal doctrines upon
which American liberty was esta-
bllshed, and as embodied in their or
ganlc law. Others, we know, are less
hopeful and see no relief from the
manacles that are daily being forged
to enslave them. To such we desire
to suggest that this is but the work
of the Legislative branch of the Go
vernment. The people Of the North
have not yet been clearly tested upon
the questions as mo,r presented. We
have much reason to hope that, not
wlthstanding the sad degeneracy of
public morals, they will not be so
blinded to their own interests ns to
uphold the usurpations of tyranny
and consent to Il policy which, in the
end, must ruin them as well as the
unfortunate people of the South.
But we have even Il stronger hope
than this. In this, as in the mother
country, the Judiciary was designed.
and has generally proven the bulwark
of our liberties. The history of all
free Governments have demonstrated
that III times Of great commotion
nothing was more dangerous than
the eNcesses of majorities, and that
their only protection against their
own follies was in IL we'll organized
Judiciary; which, freed from the in
f1uences of the political arena, and
educated to n sense of the dignity
and responsibility of their high office,
would guard the great cardinal rights
upon which society is organized and
political Institutions are based. We
still have this last resort, both in the
States and III the Federal Govern
ment-upon which we may build
hope for the preservation of liberty.
We cannot but believe that the Ame-
rlcan people will yet yield respect to
this great umpire; and, notwithstand-
ing the changes it has undergone and
the efforts that have been made to
corrupt it, we have faith that the Ju-
dietary Of the country will prove,
what it was intended to be, a barrier
against the cncroachments of faction
and the eXcesses of majorities Lee
glslation may be unwisc and delete
rious to the public good, but it is
never dangerous SO long as it is
within the limits of the Constitution.
When it goes beyond this it is the
province of the Supreme Judiciary to
determine. If true to their office,
then, the most obnoxious legislation
of the country, State and Federal,
will fail of its object Let us not
yield to the false notion that legisla-
tive bodies are omnipotent, and that
all their unconstitutional proceed
ings will be held as the law. What
ever our distrust of individuals may
be, the Judiciary Of the country has
not yet proven itself faithless to the
high trust committed to its charge,
and We firmly believe will not, so
long as the people themselves deserve
the name and privileges of freemen.
.NuShrWe Tniou cnd .lmericou.
lIEN. LONGSTREET At \ TENAN PFC
NIC.-Of II picnic at Dickinson, near
Galveston recently, the Galveston
N"'rs says:
Gen. Longstreet was introduced
at the head of the table by Mr.. +. H.
Merrlman, in Il neat little speech ap-
propriate to the occasion, attestine to
the universal respect and esteem with
which the General is regarded in oar
community.
"Gen. Longstreet, i'll reply, offered
toast to the homespun dresses the
Southern ladies wear. preceded by
few remarks, showing the determina-
ton of the speaker to pursue peace
fully and quietly the hOnOrable COLL