The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-03-02
A Very Grave Crisis.

aver that we have no part or lot in
the matter or in the business trans
acted. This is all wrong; the news
papers of the Sonth do not discuss
politics as in the olden time-they
merely give the facts actually occur
ring in the radical conclave now legis-
lating for the people of these States,
and which legislation, no matter how
oppressive, dishonoring or despotic
it may be, they are powerless to
modify or resist in tho slightest de-
gree.
There never was, even while the
the question Of secession occupied
their attention, graver crisis for the
people of the Southern States, and
their journalists would be recreant to
their obligations and responsibilities
were they to ignore the political
storm which threatens to burst over
them and sweep away the remnant
which has been left them of all they
can call their own. The legislation
now being perfected affects every in
tcrestein the Southern States, for the
iron heel of radical hatred and fana-
ticism is lifted to crush them out.
The Richmond Times has an article
more Immediately addressed to the
Legislature of that State, from which
we extract the subjoined paragraphs,
as applicable to the Southern States
generally:
In ten or fifteen days, AZ of us
will know, not only the fate Of the
Sherman abomination, but also the
measure of relief which we may hope
for, Gf it becomes a law. from the
action Of the Supreme Court, as we'll
as from the manner of its enforce
ment by the order of the President to
his subordinate officials. For light
upon this subject, we must wait a
short time. We think that there can
be no two opinions as to the propriety
Of the Legislature continuing in ses-
sion, during those few days of anxious
uncertainty which must elapse before
the time for prompt and decisive ac-
ton upon the part of that body ar
rives. And when the time comes for
taking the initiative to decide the
question of white or black supremacy
in Virginia, no man should be GO
verned or controlled for a moment
by musty precedents of ACTON, which
fail to meet the terrible danger at our
doors. When the time for quick and
| determined action arrives, we hope
so to exert the talents which God has
given us as to most surely sustain the
supremacy Of that noble race of our
own blood and color, which has made
this ancient Commonwealth great,
noble and honored for centuries.
Negro suffrage having been thrust
upon us at the point of the bayonet,
and with such devihsh ingenuity that
we cannot avoid it, we shall advocate
any and every system of legitimate
action which shall be necessary to
maintain our supremacy upon the
soil of the Old Dominion. We are
entering upon a new order Of things,
and our self-preservation demands
that we should prepare to grapple
with new dangers and emergencies.
1--WE believe that the march of
events will soon render differences Of
opinion among the respectable white
men of Virginia impossible, but un-
til that time arrives, let us invoke
tolerance, confidence in the rectitude
of each others purposes, and the
Punishment of acrimonious and bitter
feeling where difference of opinion is
impossible Dissension among us
now would give to the world a spec
tacle as deplorable and revolving as
that which the doomed and wrangling g
tribes of the Jewish Covenant pre-
sented when the stern, remorseless
and long drawn lines of the army of
Titus environed the city of Jerusa-
lem"
The only legitimate action the
States, as such,' can take to ward off
the full force of the aggressive. if not
final blow, is to invoke the interposi-
ton of the Supreme Court to test the
constitutionahty of the military bill
Should that august tribunal pro-
nounce it unconstitutional, the Presi-
dent would be fully relieved from the
responsibility of enforcing its provi-
sions. To ignore the consideration