The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-03-22

ARCH 90. 1862.
things and try to make the best they can out Of a
bad situation. No State can boast Of q code of
laws more just and less discriminating in it's opera-
hon-no people Of laboring class have more safe
guards Of law thrown around them than the freed
men Of Alabama-no State has provided more fully
to protect them in their rights Of person and prop
erty. They are bound to feel, know and appreciate
this; and no mawkish senhmentality shoul1 keep
those whom they have known and served from
their youth up, from inculcatng the fact that their
best and truest friends are those among whom
they have always lived Ii is time now to set upon
the great and important questions before the
country and the sooner it is done will be the bet
ter for the State.
The Daily Mississlppian lectures the Clarion
and it's correspondents for favoring tsthe odious
amendment" It closes one Of its late editorials in
the following appeal: i
We will not be SO invidious or uncharitable as to
call in question the motives OF men who blindly
lean to degradahon; but the public will demand
more reason than has yet been developed to con-
vince them that it is our duty to play the misera-
BILE part Of aiders and abe tors in elevatlng our
former slaves to position politically superior to
the whites Of the country. For heavens sake, and
our own honor, let the people scorn the advice of
these seventh age politicians. ~
The Vicksburg, Miss, Herald says: =
Shall the people Of Mississippi continue to gov
State pass into the hands of Radicals and negroes2
This is the only issue, and one or the other is as
inevitable as fate. There is no halfway ground.
Unless the people Of the South exert themselves
to derive the greatest benefits from our present
condition, they will certainly experience the great
est evils.
The. Daily Clarion, published in Jackson, Miss,
z % 49, 4. 4,
Of Mr.. JEFFERSON DAVIS in the Confederate Con-
gress. It will be seen, from the following, that he
is ready 10 accept the situation, and gives good
counsel to his readers:
We would not have the people Of the South de-
luded into the belief that they can adopt any line
Of policy by which to ward off the scheme Of negro
suffrage. II is true the second section Of the Con-
stitutional Amendment provides that whenever
the right to vote a+any election shall be denied to
any class Of citizens, etc., the basis Of representa-
tion shall be reduced in the proportion which the
whole number Of male citizens, twenty one years
Of age, in that State. But the Sherman Bill de-
clares that 'swhen the Constitutions Of the (nis-
called rebel States shall provide that the elective
franchise shall b. enjoyed by all such persons as
have the qualifications herein stated for election Of
delegates" ssaid State snail be entitled to repre-
sentation." Now the Qualifications herein pre-
scribed" include male citizens ''twenty-one years
old and upwards, Of whatever race, color OF, pre-
yious condition" Hence it VIII be seen, as @ CO.
is framed with such singenuous ma1gnity" that
whether We adopt the Constitutional Amendment,
or prefer to live under military despotism with
out representation, We cannot avoid negro SUIT
frage. e. !;
gro suffrage is inevitable in either e-naamuch
as We cannot avert it by enduring the terrors Of
military rule and remaining unrepresented with
certain prospect Of still greater evils IN the future
in the form Of wholesale conAscation and disfran-
otisement-shal we not go o step further, and by
adopting the Constitutional Amendment, obtain
relief from the military yoke, rid ourselves. Of o
standing army, secure vote in the election Of
President and in the Legislative department Of the
Government, and establish peace and quiet under
circumstances not agreeable, but greatly yprefera-
pe to martial Inv and negro rule, in the present;
with no other certainty in the future, but q long
night OF gloom and darkness.
It is doubtful whether any Legislative body hasbe-
fore been so insersible to appearances Of Justice
ment to the people for whom they legislate. The
South can do nothing but act in tho matter as q
defenceless man would act in dealing with outlaws
employing like argument.
The Columbus Missy Tnde1, Of the 10th, con-
tains q long article on the situation, counsellins
''masterly inactivity" We make the following e1,
tract from the Columbus MISSY Iades: 2.
Suppose we: oct, call conventions, and sccept al]
that is required Of us, have We any :any
pledge on.the part Of Congress-, that the Bacrtfce
will be Iewarded2 the State Governments We
organize, the State Constitutions we frame, the
men We elect tn REPRESENT us, be they black o.
white, will be recognized, accepted and admitted
We have not. The man among us who says we
have is either deluding himself or L. trying to de-
lude others. No such assurance, no such pledge
can be found in the Military Bill or any other
measure respecting the South that has been adopt
while we have ne guarantee that the low, order
and system which we Wiah, yearn and pray for, vii
be restored to US, We viii Fave the terrible truth
brought home to US that we have become parties
bound by solemn covenant to q movement which
struction Of the constitution and the overthrow oi
every vestige Of personal liberty in the lind. :
But suppose We take no action. viii power pass
from our hands into the hands Of negroes and
Southern loyalists2 will we have to meet the ter
rors Of q confscation bill This is the way the
question is put in virginia, South Carolina and
Georgia, It is best answered by the query :: ls il
not the purpose Of Congress, as revealed by dis.
cusson and bills to take the power from the hands
Of all who voluntarily aided the rebellion,
and place it in the hands Of those who did not
It certainly is and tho history Of all tie recon
struction schemes conclusively proves, that dc
what we may, we cannot change the purpose of the
Radicals in this respect. The fiat has gone forth
and to call it back would be political death te
Radicalism. AS to confscation, that is q contin.
genoy the Radicals themselves are hardly prepared
to meet, ,'o
The Virginia pre- So ,is almost a unit in favor o,
prompt and united action under the Reconstruc.
ton Bill. From B number Of papers before us we
select the following excellent article;
From the Richmond Waig Of 9nesdasl
TIE PaEsa Aap TEE PEOPLE. The press Of Vir;
einia owes it to Hhe people Of Virginia, now that
there is prospect Of getting into practical rela.
the effort to adjust affairs in the only practicable
mannner-that prescribed by Congress-, While
there was anything Of free agency, anything ol
option allowed between modes OF reconstruction
the press, at all risks and without regard to con:
soquenoos, took The high ground that we should
not yield or abato any Of our rights. So long at
Congre :sional ao;ion vas made dependent on oul
consent, the newspapers all urged non-aoquies-
cenoe and tho people followel that policy.
SO conspicuous was the influence Of the press II
all through tho North, 2 Southern press was re-
gardeQ as the dominant and peculiarly dialoya
clement, md was held responsible for the action q
our people, Selt-constituted or not, the press was
the recognized guardian Of Southern honor, and
faithfully did it perform that office. IF the press
erred in an oVer-strained adherence to honor, the
people we're the sufferers, and their manly refusa
| to accept privileges by consenting 10 degrading
conditions paced them in q high and imposing
attitude
Circumstances have changed. Without theh
consent the muoh-dreaded law has been passed
and they have no choice in regard to obeying it
They must obey it. The practical question fo1
them to decide lis whether, while submitting, at
they must, to its harsh requirements they will moi
avail themselves Of it's permissiye features, an6
extract from it all the good which it is capable o
yielding, 1t gives negro suffrage; it also give:
white suffrage. If the whites choose to vote il
Virginia, and to tale discreet measures to attrac
enabled to harnonize the whole State, With th'
exception Of those factious and incendiary ele
ments that would make hell of Heaven.
| They will by such cooperation, be enabled j
the very beginning Of the new order of things t,
avert from this State an unnecessary conflict O