The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-11-02
COLUMBIA.
Saturday Morning, Nov. 2. 1887.
Dangerous Condition OF tho country.

Aho DaltlmOre SHn, OF the 2Sth
ulhmo, contains copious extracts
from pamphlet published in that
8 city, signed GA Marylander," on
''the dangerous condition of the
country" The authorship is ascribed
to Hon. Reverdy johnson.
The essay begins with description
OF the dangerous condition of the
country, which affects injuriously
every interest, public and private.
1t then refers to the view with which
the Constitution of the General Go
vernment was adopted-which was
chat without real Union OF all the
States, and they and their people
possessing equal rights, the country
could not prosper. One of the car
dinal principles recognized in the
representation of States, as we no.
ticed yesterday, in the Senate and of
population in the House, was the
equality of the States composing the
Union. To guard against the possi-
bility of any mystification or destruc-
ton of this principle, an amend
ment was subsequently adopted,
which declares that the powers not
delegated to the United States are
reserved to the States respectively or
to the people. Ten of these States,
the author of this essay says, are
denied this equality, and the conse-
quence is, that the whole potential
wealth of those States, which once
enriched commerce, nerved the arm
of industry in all the other States,
and increased the revenue, is lost to
the country. The writer, very pro-
perly, finds the cause of all the pre-
sent trouble in the measures adopted
by Congress, which have suspended
the restoration of the Union.
Tho writer of this able essay then
proceeds to discuss the grounds upon
which Congress claims the power of
holding the Southern States as con-
quered and subjugated; that the in
surrection in the South assumed such
proportions as brought it within the
war power. He shows that the
power to declare war and the power
TO provide for the suppression of in
surrections, are, in their very nature,
distinct powers-the one looking ex-
clusively to hostilities with foreign
nations, and the other to disturbance
at home. Belligerent rights were
recognized in the insurrect;onary
Government, upon grounds of hu-
manity, in order to prevent the
butchering of prisoners. This con-
cession at the same time gave to Con
gress the authority to exclude neutral
nations from all intercourse with the
South. AS far as those nations were
concerned, Congress claimed the
rights of war; and, upon that claim,
declared the Southern blockade and
provided for the capture of vessels
attempting to violate it. These cap
lures were made and adjudged to be
lawful by the prize courts of the
country, and undoubtedly greatly
aided the Government in bringing
the insurrection to close.
In the first of these prize cases, as
the writer says, the opinion of the
United States Supreme Court con-
tains one or two passages which have
been relied upon as justifying the
theory of conquest; but the rest of
the opinion, the author thinks, shows
very plainly that the Court did not
design to announce any such doc
trine. He then refers to the case
tried before Judge Nelson, involving
the personal rights of citizen of
this State, wherein he ruled that "the
constitutional laws Of the Union were
tfhereby enjoyed and obeyed, and
were as authoritative and binding
over the people of the State as in
any other portion of the country"