The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-05-10

Summer heard for appellee; Mr..
Sullivan on same side.
Shall the South Desert the Pr-si-
dent!
In giving his evidence before the
Reconstruction Committee, Mr.. Ste
phens, of Georgia, took pains to i'm
press upon the minds of the members
of that secret conclave the fact that he
was fully Of the belief that, being al
ready i'll the Union, and having never,
according to the Federal authorities
on the subject, been able to secede, the
Southern States would be wanting i'm
dignity should they agree to any con
dltlons as necessarily precedent to
their restoration to all their rights us
States. Mr.. Stephens might have
added, that to make such terms
would be to desert the President.
The radicals, in proposing terms to
the South, are either anxious to have
them accepted and the Presidents
theory repudiated, or they desire to
induce the South to reject their pro-
posal that they may have an excuse
for perpetuating their own ascen-
dancy. Now, the people of the South
have certainly no idea of repudiating
the Presidents theory or his policy.
Neither do they desire to assist the
radicals in their effort tdsrctain power
in their own hands. And yet it would
seem that they will be compelled to
do one or the other. Fortunately for
us, the radicals have proposed terms
of so degrading nature that they
have not thrown in our way even
temptation to desert the President
When they ask us, among other
things, to ostracise the men who have
only exceeded ourselves in the sin of
rebellion because we asked them to
lead us, tho radicals propose condi-
ton which no man of Southern feel
ings will be disposed to accept, and
therefore we are not likely to be called
on to decide upon the question whc-
ther an opportunity to procure liberal
terms would justify us in rejecting
the Presidents idea that we arc al
ready in the Union.
These reflections arc INDUCED in
0p,'opoS of hint thrown out by For
ney, that Congress may, perhaps,
relent and allow us better terms than
those proposed, as ho does in the fol-
lowing words in late letter to the
Philadelphia Press:
Suppose, however, that Congress,
satisfied that the Southern people
are willing, in good faith, to accept
the other portions Of this compre-
hensivc programme, should consent
to allow these classes to vote, and
should follow this by granting every
Southern State that ratifies the new
article of the Constitution immediate
representation
We will suppose another case: In
Virginia, the State Constitution al
ready forbids any debt contracted in
aid of the rebellion to be paid,
whether the contract was made by
the State itself or by any corporation
within its limits; and yet if the radi-
Gals were to do what we have Just
said they will not do, and were, for
the purpose of ovcr-reaching Mr..
| johnson, to make it the sole condition
of our admission that we were to
agree to insert this very provision in
the Federal Constitution, we should
| Ilot even III UIlIC case Dc 1tlSClIlStt III
closing in with their offer; for the
principles Is the same, whether com
pliance with one condition OF q dozen
be required. The point for which
the President contends, and which
we must not yield, is that we are al
ready in the Union, and are, as a
matter of righ, entitled to represen-
tation. To abandon this principle
would Re to give up the whole con-
test. We have disowned the debt,
and have no idea Of paying it; but,
then, that is matter which has
nothing to do with our rights as a
State. These We are entitled to under
the Constitution of the United States,
or had before there was such Con
stitution in existence, and we have no
idea of acknowledging that they may
be purchased from Thad. Stevens
and his followers
Richmond Dispnich
Discretion in speech is more than