The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-06-07
OIaT.TMBI-A..
Friaay morning. june /. 1867.
lrhe pel,saios, OF confiseaaion.

other letter on his favorite hobby Of
confscation. From this, as we'll as
his former letters, we learn that the
object of his proposed system of
snnodera.e confscasion is solely for the
benefit of those .sUnion" men who
lost property, during the war, by the
raids of the Confederates, or by CON
fiscation. Even the originator of
this delectable scheme, and the leader
of the party which, par excellence,
claims to be, the only organization
that embraces the true friends of the
emancipated negroes, ignores and
excludes that race from any antici-
pated benefits to accrue from the
project. So far, then, as Stevens is
concerned, he gives no encourage
ment to the freedmen on this score.
The radical missionaries who have
visited the Southern States, Wilson,
Kelley and others, repudiated the
Idea of confscation, provided the
people of these States carry out in
good faith the provisions of the re-
construction laws. There may be
impostors and minor emissaries of
the party who may endeavor to
insinuate into the minds of the credu-
lous portion of the colored popula-
tion that, by separating their inte-
rests from those of the Southern
whites, and acting with the party in
the various elections to take place in
the South, there will be some vague
prospect of their receiving home
steads; but neither the leaders Of the
party, their committees, nor their
press, have ever given authoritative
sanction for such worthless promises,
made by the ''bummcrs" Of the party,
often fog their own gain in the way
OF forced levies from the blacks, and
frequently receiving pay for worth
less scrip, so-called, purporting to be
a valid title to forty acres of land,
when the general division of the
rebels property takes place.
The freedmen should see in those
systematic efforts to delude them
into the support of political party,
that really its manipulators have no
interest in their WELFARE, further than
to stir up strife and such a division
among Southern voters, white and
black, as will inure to their benefit
by retaining them in power. We
have the most solemn public declara-
tions from the acknowledged leaders
OF the party, that if the laws are
faithfully complied with, and the
Southern people thus far carry out
the programme of the dominant
party, there will be no confscation.
We cannot see, therefore, what the
colored people are to gain by going
headlong into politics and adopting
party platforms, without examination
and due consideration of the results
of their action in the promises.
Another fact should be noted by
those. who are likely to be deceived
by the illusory promises we refer to,
that the demands of the extremists,
and even the sentiments and lam
guage indulged in by some of their
speakers and writer's, are producing
already n reaction in the public
mind Of the North, and is ominous
for long continuance in power by
thai wing of the Republican party
Our newly made voters ought to re-
fleet on these points, which we have
briefly alluded to, and particularly
ought they to remember that, while
some may promise to them practical
benefits from the success of the
party, its prominent leaders tell the
whites their property will not be dis
turbed, if the work of reconstruc-
tion should be perfected. There are
but few, we believe, in this State who
have been deceived by this delusion;
but it may be advisable to bring the
more prominent points to the atten-
ton of any who may have not given
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