The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-05-12
A Foreign Review.

struction of the Union" makes n
very fair and comprehensive review
of the spolitical situation of the
United States since the war and the
accession of Andrew johnson to the
Presidency. His views are those of
an educated and well-informed Eng
lishman, and will command attention
throughout the British Kingdom.
He seems to understand thoroughly
the character, motives and policy of
President Johnson. Speaking of the
occasion of his accession, he says "the
people were in grim, it might be said
in savage, earnest, and they gave Mr..
Johnston an earnestness of support
never before given, because never be-
fore required, in the history of the
nation. Even Washington, at the
acme of his glory, never received
such spontaneous, such unqualified
and such unanimous adhesion as was
accorded to this man, who gloried in
being 'plebian,' in what seemed
the very darkest hour Of the national
fortunes. And it was because of the
very darkness, that the least departure
from law might have intensified, that
the people gathered around the light
of legality, and saw in Mr.. Johnson's
rule the best and only chance of
guidance and deliverance.
He then traces the'policy of the
President step by step, fairly and
with an evident knowledge of its in
terests and objects, and with pretty
clear idea of the purposes, the hopes
and the fears of the radical party.
On the latter point DR.. Mackay
says:
The party opposed to the Presi-
dent dread, and apparently in good
faith, that the reconstruction of the
Union, i'll the mode proposed by the
President, will lead to three several,
and in their opinion, three enormous
evils; first, victory for the Demo-
cratic and State Rights party, and
the re-assumption of power by South
ern statesmen, reinforced by the
Northern and Western Democrats;
second, the re-estabIshment of negro
slavery-if not in name, in fact;
third, the repudiation by the South,
aided by large party in the North,
of the national debt Rather than
one or all of these things should be,
the party that is only a majority by
the exclusion of the South, would
hold the cotton States for an indeti-
mite period as conquered dependen-
cies, and govern them by military
authority, at any cost to the public
purse and the public liberty. Ad-
mitting to the fullest extent the ho-
nesty and sincerity of the Northern
politicians who continue to hold these
views, let us inquire dispassionately
whether their fears have any founda-
tion i'll the facts or probabilities of
the case.
In the concluding paragraph, he
pays the following high compliment
to the Presidents patriotism and
craftsmanship. Speaking of the pros
pect of Il real union of these States,
he says that ''if such ilnion is to
bc the result it will lie the imnnrish-
able glory Of President Johnson, and
his undying claim to the gratitude Of
his country, that he was sagacious
enough to see the right course, and
bold enough to follow it. Among all
the statesmen of his age he stands
prc-emincnt. There is not public
man in Europe, unless it be the En-
peror Nal oleon, who does not appear
dwarfed when placed i'll comparison
with him. Greater is his task than
that of Washington; brighter will be
his place in history if lie perform it. u"
We have not room in our columns
for the whole article which appears
in the New York NeWS. 1t is one of
the fairest as we'll rs ablest reviews of
1.-The situation" that has yet come
from England
Letters received in New York state
that Bishops Stevens, of Pennsyl-
vania, and Whitehouse, of Illinois,
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