The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-05-03

followed. hy, very different results.
An acquiescenGe on our part In negro
suffrage is surely, not the way to
ayouse the Northern mind against it.
Nor does it seem to. as nnsaihle ne.
50 nonstrous q Government can ever
be effectnaIly fastened on us, If the
white people of the State will main
tain firm, determin ed and unfalter-
ing attitude. .,H
It is proper, however, to remark
that is by no means certain, nor do
we think it probable, that Congress
will impose. this Constitution on us,
! IL we shall reject it. The instrument
is very different in its character from
that contemplated l,y the Acts Of
Congress. These did not profess
more than the purpose to provide for
protection TO the negro; but the Con.
stitution. framed leaves it necessary
to provide for. the protection of the
white man. It has been suggested
that the political party in possession
of the Federal Government, prepara-
tory to the Presidential election, are
anxious. to have the Southern States
lii the Union; hnt were it admissible
to entertain the hypothesis that party
considerations would influence Con
gress i'll this matter, Virginia might
we'll be an exception to the Southern
States in general, as her vote would
probably be cast against the party in
question a. the Presidential election !;
and, indeed, must be, If the whites
will only take, care to. register, MS We
can com mmand Il white majority oi
35, 900. ~ va"
| It is our duty. then, to act toge-
ther; to avoid all divisions; to disre-
gard all cavilling objections, and to
vote down the proposed Constitu-
ton. To say of such Constitution
that it would be insupportable. is
language too feeble. To say (if it
could be maintained twenty years)
that it would lead to absolute social
death, is too obvious to need embel-
lishment. 1t is m inundation, n
cataclysm, whose black billows would
submerCc, even in that short time,
every monument of civilization, aud
leave the white race in hopeless de-
gradation. Judge Sneed, of Acco-
mac-one of the ablest of his party,
consistent Union man during the
war, elected to the Convention as q
radical, and acting with his party for
three months of the session of the
body-was compelled, at the last mo-
ment. to declare that the Constitu-
tion established negro supremacy,
and that, although in favor of negro
suffrage, he had no alternative left
but to vote against it at the polls. 1t
is strange spectacle, that large
portion of the American people,
however embittered by the antago-
nisms of civil war, should be willing
to see members of the same family
pass, even temporarily, under such a
yoke. 1t is one Of the noticeable
incidents of the age, that, in what
claims to be the most enlightened
country of Christendom, q frenzy
like this crusade for negro suffrage
SO resembling the delirium OF the
French Revolution-should take pos
session of the public mind. To us
at the South, the absolute indiffer-
ence with which the people of the
North contemplate the application
now being made of this system at
the South, is a matter of astonish-
ment.
That the negroes Of the South can
establish themselves in any perma-
nent supremacy over the whites, we
do not, however, accept for q mo-
ment. If it shall be the pleasure of
Congress-, as it has the power to do.
to put upon us Constitution which
they have invited us freely to pass
upon-a Constitution giving the ne
groes ten-fold the power they have in
Jamaica-we shall interpret it as the
decree of God for sharp and deci-
siye settlement of the controversy
between the white and black races on
this continent. 1t will fearfully en-
barrass, but it will not destroy, the
white race of the South. The white
race of the South cannot be de-
stroyed. When the negroes are pnt
over rs, then, at least, we shall put
forth our strength. We shall offer
such inducements to white immigra-
tion that these sparsely settled States
must rapidly ill up. The negro will
he overwhelmed with numbers, ana il
will be too late to make any terms.
1t is perfectly evident that Provi-
dence designs the territory of the
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