The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-05-25

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freedom and constitutional liberty
that the Government, by the release
from prison of Mr.. Davis, has shown
will to carry them to their legiti-
mate conclusion, aud has not let the
escutcheon of this great republic go
down to posterity stained with the
charge TINT she denied trial and
kept in prison until he languished
and died q noble old citizen, because
he obeyed the laws of his State and
imperilled his life and fortune for her
independence ond self-government.
The first one of the bills begins by
affirming that "no legal State Go
vernment exists in South Carolina"
that is to say, South Carolina politi-
cally is dead, but geographically she
still ives-the word State being two
fold in its Specification. The bills
then give in detail the nsodus operandi
by which political life may be infused
into her inanimate form, and she may
be raised to her former position of ON
independent sovereign State in the
galaxy of States that compose the
Union. Whether or not oil the pro-
visions of the bills are rs wise and
just as brave and gallant people
might have expected from a magnani-
nous foe and an enlightened states
manship, is not for us to pause and
discuss, but for history to tell, and
upon which coming generations will
pass sentence, fOrit is not alone upon
us that they are to make their i'm
press, but upon generations yet un-
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possibility, for to accept implies the
right to reject, and as n vanquished
people, held down Mt the point of the
bayonet and the edge of the sword,
we have no right or power to reject;
therefore wo cannot accept The
only thing left lis is to bow courte-
ously to fate-to submit to and carry
out tho terms strictly and to the
letter.
just as certain rs sovereignty re-
sides i'll the people of tho several
States, and South Carolina, by the
interposition of her sovereignty,
withdrew from the Federal Union
just so certain do the States that re-
mained in the Union constitute the
Union, and the Government is theirs,
and they have q right to impose upon
those that withdrew terms Of read
mission. HadIthe States that seeded
and withdrew from tho Federal Union
succeeded in establishing the new
union and government for which
they fought, they would have been
known among the powers of the earth
as the Confederate States, and the
States that remained in the Union
would have constituted tho Union,
and they would have been known as
the United States. "The ratification
of the conventions of nine States
shall be sufficient for the establish
ment of this Constitution between
the States so ratifying the same"
(Art. Ii, Sec. 2, Con. U. S. The
act of ratifying, then, created the
word Union, and the people severally
of nine States was sufficient to do it.
There was originally thirteen indie.
pendent sovereign States, and rs the
Constitution declares that the ratiti-
cation of the conventions of nine
only of them was sufficient to esta-
blish it between the States ratifying,
If the conventions Of only nine of
the States had ratified it, it would
have been the Constitution between
the States rntifying, and the Union
would have been created. The other
four States, if they desired, could
have formed n different government
or governments, as each one acted
voluntarily and for itself, in its indie
pendent sovereign character. What
ever is sufficient to create is sufficient
to preserve. Nine States alone was
sufficient to create the Union. Nine
States alone, therefore, is sufficient
to preserve it, and it can never be
dissolved except by the voluntary
secession and withdrawal, in their
independent, sovereign character, of
sufficient number of States, and
the establishment of the position
they assume, so rs to reduce the
number of States that remain in the
Union below nine-the minimum
number sufficient to crente and pre-
serve the Union. The penalty of the
interposition of State sovereignty
and withdrawal from the Federnl
Union, and the failure to establish
the position assumed, is to be crush
ed politically, and re-moulded and
re-admitted into the Union upon the
terms of those States that remain in
and constitute the Union. This is
the ordeal through which we are now
| passing. just rs certain os o,Irs ia n