The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-11-23
COLUMBIA. g.
sataEdAy lIorning. nov. rs. .IBs7.
Tlae Conatatutior,.

The Conseatutfoa. " . ~
Have our. readers any recollection
OF this once venerated docunentp
HAVE they thrown it away, with
other literary rubbish, as an obsolete
theory Of popular government, good
enough for the times in which the
old, ,fogies who enacted it lived, but
wholly inapplieable to this day and
geneEation2 IL they have, we pray
them to rescue it from final destruc-
tiofa-for we believe that it will be
yet the Textbook of politics for the
American people, none OF whom will
obtain the hrst fhonofs in their gift,
unless they have ee-ss,,J ee-ss:,,J studied IL
and declared their adhesion to its
principles and teachings.
Even Senator Sumner, who be-
longs to the party-or the party be-
longs to him, Stevans;& & 90. which
styled the ancient document ga cove
nant:with hell" condescends to, no.
,tice its adoption, and in his remarks
not only comedies its authenticity,
but its binding authority. In dis
cussing the phrase, eve the people
ofSthe United States" he says that
"the sacred charter of our liberties
was framed by the people of all the
States in consolidated sense"
There is in this a grave and impor-
tant concession, viz: that the Oonsti-
tuition is ''the sacred charter of our
liberties" But where did the erudite
Senator discover that it was framed
by the people of all the States in a
consolidated sense? If we have read
the history Of the Constitution
arigM, it was adopted and ratified by
the States as States; that New York
did not ratify it until ten months
after its enactment by the Congress
of the Confederation; that North
Carolina did not ratify it until ten
months after the inauguration of the
first President; and that Rhode
Island did not ratify it until thirteen
months after that Inauguration; so
that the Government was in full
operation for over o year before some
of the Original thirteen" saw fit to
adopt the 'tsacred charter of our
libefties. ..f ~
These statements as to the adoption
Of the Constitution are historical
facts, for we have the dates and docu-
ments beforeus. What, then, becomes
Of the theory of the learned. but
conceited, Senator from Massachu-
setts? But what induced these re-
marks, was the notable fact that
Sumner recognized the existence of
such a document, or organic law, at all.
His silly Interpretation of it is only
another evidence of the mnddling of
his brain, whether by the just fagel-
lation Of o cane, or from some other
cause, we do not know, nor do we
care. ~
But the Constitution 'sstill lives -
even in Massachusetts,; and it is on
this account, we have full faith and
confidence, that, Notwithstanding
many of us at the South doubt its
present existence, it will yet become,
as it was in by-gone days, the bull
wark of our liberties, and the saliva
tion Of the country. The returning
good sense Of the people of the
North. the detection of the former
partizans Of extremism, rs well as
Summers acknowledgment, warrant
us in saying that the day is coming,
when the Constitution of the United
States will be acknowledged as the
. temple and safeguard of the liberties
of the American people. AS the
Scotch bard writes:
ssThen let US pray, that come it may,
.sks come it will for g. that;
&That sense and worth, DER a. the earth,
May bear the gree and a. that"
sODD FELLOWSHIP. THE report OF
the Grand Secretary of the Order in