The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-06-06
"Against tho United s.ate..,,

alleged offence of treason against the
United States, and will, of course. be
convicted, as per order; even TINT
once fair dealing sheet, the National
I,,telHgence'., speaking of him as .in
the iron grasp Of the law, before
whose awful tribunal he is about to be
arraigned, with a judge and jury of =
character to satisfy the most unmer-
clfui OF his enemies, and from which,
to speak in the mildest terms, he can
by no possibility escape full retribu-
slon. His murder, therefore, being
already predetermined, it is not pro
posed to discuss the matter from an
American standpoint, but present it
as 1T will strike the European eye,
and stand hereafter, in its bloody
truth, on the page of universal his
tory.
Treason against the United
States, says the Federal Constitu
ton, "shall consist only in levying
war against them, or in adhering to
their enemies, giving them aid and
comfort" but, under this showing, it
Will be hard work to persuade Europe
that the death of Mr.. Davis is other
than judicial assassination. 'sThe
United States has, in the distinctive
language Of diplomacy and public
law, n peculiar meaning, and this
meaning, rest assured, will never be
altered by Christendom to suit the
purposes of victorious section in n
civil war. Prior to the Goth day of
December, 1860, "the United States"
was, III the eye of Europe, the name
OF a confederation of thirty-two
North American States. BY the 18th
OF August, 1861, when Missouri
wheeled into line, the United States
OF North America had, 80 far rs foreign
nations were concerned, ceased to
exist. On the one side, they beheld
twelve States, calling themselves
Confederate, with an army, q navy,
civil establishment, q currency, and
policy of their own On the other,
twenty one States, calling themselves
United, with a like distinctive army,
navy, civil establishment, currency
and policy. But nowhere the old
United States, as that phrase was
understood in all Federal laws.
treaties articles of confederation, or
Constitution, from ITS to 1861.
That United States was disrupted
into the united States of the North
and the united States of the South.
and so remained for years. Then
came victory to the twenty -one States
and subjugation to the twelve. 1t is
not for the vanquished to give law to
their vanquishers, and the victors
had everything their own way. 1t
was loudly proclaimed that the twen-
ty-one Northern united States were,
and had been, the whole (thirty-three)
United States, and that those who
had fought against them (the twenty
one) had i'll reality fought against
the whole thirty-three, themselves
included. What could the twelve
Southern united States of the old
Federal United States do? Simply
nothing. They had been beaten in
arms, and We're impotent in speech.
Their leader was taken, was tried
he who had led twelve States against
twenty y-one- for waging war on thirty
three States, was convicted, and was
hanged for that impossible offence.
Now, fanciful as it may seem, such
will be the verdict of all Christendom
on the effort of twenty-one Northern
States to hold themselves out as in
peace or war, i'll trial and in Judgment,
the United States Of America They
are not the United States of our
fathers. They never have been. They
never will be- They arc but part
Of the whole, and if, in the name of
the whole, they put Jefferson Davis
to death, the villainy Of falsehood
and the stain OF blood -guiltiness will
cleave to them and their children for
ever.
We care nothing for names, and if
the Northern States dnring tho war
saw fit to call themselves by the name
of the United States, have nothing to
urge against that nomenclature, save
that it should not be juggled into
meaning what the same terminOlogy
meant before, or has come to mean
since, that struggle. Jefferson Davis,
no, nor no man of all the seven mil
lions that backed him, ever waged war
against "The United States" rs En-
rope understands that phrase or as
that phrase can be shown to bear
meaning in the Articles Of Confede-
ration, i'll the Federal Constitution,
in the Preliminary or the Definitive
Treaty Of Peace with Great Britain,
III the treaties of 9th February and
LIST September, ITS, with France, Of