The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-11-15
Good Sense.

On the opening of the Georgia
Legislature last week, the Speaker of
the Lower House, Mr.. Hardeman,
among other things, said:
Condition after condition has been
prescribed as the terms upon which
we should have restoration and union ::
but no sooner are the humiliating
requirements complied with, than
others more exactlng are profered,
and thus we have been led, step by
step, to the very throne of power,
where we soon discover, written over
the great door of the temple, re-
1aoatnce you7' manhood and your honor,
and it shall be opened unto you.
For one, rather than enter upon
such humiliating terms, I will sit,
like Mordecai, at the Kings gate,
clothed in sack cloth, and mourn the
fate of my people. [ refer to our
national troubles for the sole purpose
of impressing upon them how little
you may expect from the Federal
Government in rebuilding the ruined
fortunes of our down-trodden State.
Upon ourselves alone we must rely,
and by wise, wholesome, economical
and constitutional legislation, stimu-
late her sons to labor for her deliver
ance and her redemption. Our people
are depressed and despondent. Hea-
ven, as if to chasten them more, has
withheld her showers and her smiles,
and scant harvests barely reward tie
husbandman for his labor and MS
toll. Want and poverty is the 10; of
many, who have in vain scattered
their seed, hoping in due season to
reap the reward of their labors. From
mountain and vale, from village and
city, the cry of distress falls upon the
ear, asking deliverance. [ trust I will
be pardoned the expression of hope
that the wisdom of this General AS
semhly will devise some mode of
relief that will do justice to all, and
that will stand the tests of constitu-
tions and Of courts. Let us show our
appreciation of their condition by
curtailing the expenses of the Go
vernment and by practicipg rigid
economy with the peoples money.
Georgia needs but little legislation;
let us enact it and adjourn. Expe-
rlence has convinced me there is more
danger of too much than too little
Legislation. Let US do but little, and
do that little well. Not being per-
mitted to participate actively in your
deliberations, pardon q suggestion,
too, upon the duties of the session.
Guard well, with proper safeguards,
these Trojan horses that yearly enter
this hall-the many applicants for
chartered privileges. Encourage, by
wholesome provisions, manufacturing
in our State-elevate to the dignity
of their claims the mechanic arts.
Rebuild your waste places, by en-
couraglng the immigrant to settle in
your midst; bind him to the soil by
the ties of homestead; welcome him,
by repeating all laws on your statute
book that deny him the privilege of
owning the soil he would reclaim by
his energy and industry. Encourage,
from every quarter, capital and labor,
and Georgia, under these wholesome
Influences, will soon elevate her fallen
credit-business will revive-com-
merce will no longer languish-our
granaries will be filed with the pro-
ducts of our fields-our mines will
enrich US with their hidden treasures,
and our people, revived and re-ener-
glzed, will be made to feel "there is
life in the old State YETI