The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-10-02
How Our Political Contes, is Viewed
Abroad.


existing on the absolutiSm of popular will.
and the American conservatives are de,
sirous of retaining these obstacles TO tho
tyrannical power of numbers 1t was the
President of 4 Democratic republic who
told us, the other day, that the tyranny of
the many was worse than the tyranny of
one. The axiom is not new III politics. but
it sounded strangely i'll the mouth of a re-
publican magistrate. To all appearances,
however, there are many in the United
States who feel ito force. and the impcnd-
ing struggle will show us how opinions arc
balanced.
at the outset, and on tho surface of
things, the new political conflict lust for
mally inaugurated i'll America is but the
revival of old party strife.
The prospects of the conflict, it is s,tid,
are pretty evenly balanced. Tie Republi-
cans have the advantage of mature or
ganization, 4 successful policy and the
possession of power. Thew and thcv onlv
brought the civil war to Il triumphant issue.
They prevented the division of the Union
into two States, not only without much aid
from the Democrats, but, az was suspected.
in spite of their clandestine opposition
This naturally gives them favor and intlu-
ence now; nor would it, perhaps, have been
possible to construct any strong party
against them, except by the aid of their
own principles. The Democrats now charge
the Republicans with attempting u revolu-
tlOI IcScIlOllES llldU Ol IIt SOutu 1tSCH,
and with desiring to establish q division of
the Union for Their own political benefit.
They say that the war IS over, that slavery
Is extinct, that the people of the Southern
States are willing to accept all the obliga-
tions of citizens, and that to exclude them
from representation for the mere purposes
of party in Congress is to maintain and
pcrpetuate IL disunion of the republic
Nor can these imputations be rcbutted by
the Republicans. who arc undoubtedly
keeping the Southern States from repre-
scntation by Imposing upon them such
conditions of rc-admiSSion to Congress as
il is we'll known will not be accepted. Their
only pretcXt for this conduct is, that it
would be unwisc and hazardous to re-invest
so quickly with political power those who
have just turned it to the purposes of civil
war.
1t seems, however, to bc anticipated that,
at this, as at some previous conjunctnrcs,
large mass of Americans, who side ac-
lively with neither party, will emerge from
their comparative neutrality and take part
in the struggle on behalf of the Union
The Democrats arc now Unionists, and
considering how many States are still out
lawed, there is obvious reason in the argu-
ment that they who wish to keep them so
must be ehemies of the Union. We are
told that, whenever either party in America
goes too far, there is 4 mass Of sober feel
ing i'll the body of the nation powerful
enough to recall it to order. On this occa-
sion, it is said, the Republicans will have
the benefit of this political reserve. Many
Americans, staunch friends of the Union
and enemies of slavery, have yet no inclina-
ton to abct the extravaganza of those who
abolished slavery and preserved the Union.
The Republicans have done their work,
and must not be allowed to neutraliZe it
by the maintenance of 4 fatal division On
this feeling much reliance appears to be
placed, and the Democrats will have the
powerful assistance of the President in the
approaching campaign. But the Republi-
cans, on the other hand, have the perfect
organization which carried them through
the trials OF the war, and they hold, in
strenStl9 the positions from which the new
party must dislodgc them. The contest,
therefore, is expected to be long and des-
perate, and the Issue is 80 doubtful, that
no politician Will venture to predict it.
[Lomd0n Times, Sept !.
In the National Union Convention, which
assembled recently at Philadelphia, there
is the best proof that whatever is just or
manly III Northern sentiment opens its
arms to give u brotherly welcome to the
Southern States. There is much buster
in the American charactcr-far more of the
fO,tae, IN re, and less Of the Suauite,. IN
ntOdo, than at times is agreeable. But
there is Senuineness about 1t, too, by no
means insensible to emotions of generosi-
~. Thus, the best Americans, the men
who most truly understand and appreciate
their Constitution, and not that only, but
their national interests as well, say: 'Thc
war is at all end, the Southern States have
accepted the situation, the Union is re-
stored, and all is as it was before the first
fatal shots were fired upon Fort Sumter.
The Union Is now more powerful than it
ever was before, and the great blot of
slavery has been removed from it, the
South heartily consentinS, forever. What
is TO prevent its resuming its old course?
Why should not the representatives of
Massachusetts and South Carolina sit, and
speak, and vote in the same Congress?''
This is the Presidents view, but it is ne.
the view which Congress takes of the mai
ter. There are, however, signs of coming
triumph for Andrew johnson over his Ia,
dlcal Parliament. There is, above all, the
meeting OF the National Union Convention,
at which, In the presence OF II 900 people,
assembled under the roof, the delegations
from Massachusetts and South Carolina
the representative States on either side of
the civil war-tled into the main hail arm
in arm, amid such demonstrations of de-
light at this symbol of reunion that the
beholders shouted, and even wept, with
the thrilling enthusiasm such spectacle
was calculated to excite.
In word, the Union stands IN statu quo
In this Conventon-whese members
style themselves the s'National Union
Party"-Presiden Johnson receives most
important accession of strength. SO do
the Southern States; but TIE Union itself
receives it above all. We confess, however,
we are for the moment more concerned