The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-08-28

may TlSntIully De cOmpelled TO SUBJ
nit to and support Government
that they do not want; and that resist
ance on their part makes them traitors
and criminals. No principle that is
possible to be named can be moro
self-evidently false than this, or more
self-evidently fatal to all political
freedom. Yet it triumphed in the
field, and it is now assumed to be
established. If it be really establish
ed, the number of slaves, instead of
having been diminished by the war,
has been greatly increased; for a man
thus subjected to Government that
ne does not want, is slave; and there
is no difference in principle, but only
in degree, between political and chat
tel slavery. The former, no less than
the latter, denies mans ownership
of himself and the products of his
labor, and asserts that other men may
own him and dispose of him and his
property for their uses and at their
pleasure. Previous to the war, there
were some grounds for saying, that
in theory, at least, if not in practice,
our Government was free one-that
it rested on consent. But nothing of
that kind can be said now, if the
principle on which the war was car
ried on by the North is irrevocably
established"
Here we are told in emphatic Ian
guage, by q Northern man, whose
mind cannot be obscured certainly by
the so-oalled heresies of Southern
doctrines, what was the principle on
which the war was waged by the
North, and we are warned grant
that the warning may not be in vain
what will be the result if this princi-
pie is irrevocably established. Let it
be established, and we may bid adieu
to constitutional iberty-republican
institutions will be swept away in the
storm that will arise, and we shall
enter on those dark and gloomy
scenes which always precede a ma
tion's death. The time will then in
deed have come for us to pray, in the
words of fearless and eloquent son
of Georgia, for the speedy advent of
"the American Caesar" The whole
recent legislation of the fractional
Congress at Washington seems to
have only in view to break down all
the barriers of the Constitution of the
United States; to ignore the immor-
tai truths OF the great rebellion of
'76, and to convert a Government,
which had, as its only foundation,
"the consent of the governed" into
one sustained by force alone. None
of the radicals pretend that the mill
tary bills are constitutional. They
admit perhaps should say, rather,
they trust-that these measures are
unconstitutional, while they endeavor
to make the South ratify them, by
arousing and appealing to the basest
passions Of human nature, fear and
cupidity. They threaten us with con-
iscation, on the one hand, if we do
not accept these measures; they give
them the semblance of law, while on
the other they attempt to bribe those
amongst us who are 80 base and
venal as to be willing to purchase i'm
munity for themselves by selling the
liberties of their county.
Are these despicable motives strong
enough to corrupt the virtue of the
Southern people? Will that people,
who have proved themselves capable
of making any and all sacrifices for
the sake of their principles, sink so
low rs to buy the mere privilege to
live-even if they live slaves-by Civ
ing up all that they have heretofore
held sacred, and all that makes life
itself worth having? Will they allow
their action to be influenced by
threats2 Threats can never govern
brave men. Are they afraid of con-
fiscation by Congress? If they adopt
these reconstruction Acts, they will
most assuredly suffer confscation in
its worst and most tyrannical form,
through the reconstructed" States.
1t is for them to determine these mo-
mentous questions for themselves.
They have already carried concession
to the verge of folly. Hear what
another Northern writer says on this
point:
"The programme of the ruling
party cannot be altered or changed by
concessions. That has been tried in
the South. All the demands Of Con-
gress have been complied with by the
States lately in revolt. They have
altered their constitutions, adopted
the amendment abolishing slavery,
attended to the condition of the
freedmen repudiafed tha debit con-