The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-05-22
mr.. Perry and EIis Letters

by theHon. ByF. Perry. advisory y
the citizens Of the State ii their pre-
sent anomalous, condition. = These
letters, addressed to the public, are
open to criticism without an imputa-
ton of q personal attack. Their con-
ception may have been dispassionate,
but they are certainly dogmatical,
illusory, ill-timed and mischievous,
and the last one is mongrcl argu-
ment on both sides of the question,
which, if worth anything at all,
proves that Mr.. Perry is, as he has
always been, consistently wrong.
No inspiration of prophecy is claim
ed, but Mr.. Perry continually pro-
phecies, and always affirmatively; his
sooth-saying should enlighten us
from negative stand point, and fore
tell the result if minority of the
ballots are endorsed "No Conven-
tion." He predicts direful future
if we hold convention; does this
argue less evil consequences if We
hold no convention? Suppose ma
jority of the voters of South Carroll
no-white and black-coincNe with
Mr.. Perry, and vote rs he suggests,
will he:guarantee q short-lived mill
tnry government over the State, and
n, moro. speedy restoration to the
Union. with our old State Constitu-
ton intact? Can Mr.. Perry OF any
other Sane man anticipate such po-
litical future for any of the Southern
States? Does he not know and ex-
perience the fact, that South Carolina
is virtually and practically rs much
out of the Union rs ifsecession had
been success? Is he, and are we
not NIL, painfully but forcibly taught
by the occasionally published orders
from military headquarters, that we
are but conquered provinces, at the
mercy OF our conquerors, and that
State sovereignty is extinct? If such
is not the case, wherefore these mill
tary subdivisions of our Statep If
we have single individual right re-
served to the State, why can we not,
as State, open our courts and exc
cute the laws of the land? If we are
q State, how is it that Gov. Orr con-
tinues to occupy the gubernatorial
chair by mere sufferance? These,
with many others too patent, are
facts, and melancholy facts, which
prove that we as n State may claim
none other than the simple right of
obedience, if this be right. IF.
then, the former citizens of South
Carolina coluntdrilp obey the laws
imposed upon them, the enfran-
chised class will lie required to do the
same. BY this means, increased pri-
vileges will be given to one class,
while additional rights will be secured
to the other. The reverse of this
course would create antagonism be-
tween the two races, and array the
"powers that be- in open hostility
against the whites. Then why "kici
against the pricks," as Mr.. Perry adj
vises? True, the Reconstruction Act
allows the ballot to declare conyen-
ton or no convention, in letter, but
its spirit, and the tenor of all the
legislation of the recent Congress.
plainly reveals the inevitable neccssi-
ty of vital alterations in our State
Constitution, which, if not made by
ourselves, will be made by Congress.
MIR. Perry may say this would be nm
constitutional. Suppose it would be,
what is constitution more than n
mere parchment to radical Con-
gress? Let the vetoes Of the Presi-
dent and the recent lodgings of the
Supreme Bench answer this question.
Another point. We think Mr.. Per
ry has discovered mares nest, and
flushed bugbear in the plurality
negro-vote, which frightens only him
self. Nearly one-half the Districts of
the State have white population
equal to, if not more numerous, than
the black. In those Districts where
the blacks are in the majority, does
it necessarily follow that the black
males over twenty-one years of age
are more numerous than the white
males of the same age? II one in
eight of the whites before the war
were voters, we think it questionable
whether one in ten of the blacks were
OF that age and sex which would en-
title them, under acknowledgements,
to vote; for it has always been q con-
ceded fact, that among the negroes
there were more women and children
than amongst the white race. What
is the case to-day? The youths of
South Carolina, who have grown into
phDo1 a,,oo 1000 ILL