The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-09-24
Radical Treatment OF the south.

ment excited by the English wars In
Scotland and ti English wars in
ireland, Since neaJabAorpti6n OF
treated M by Engla4 ,. with with 5 wise Wis mag nag
nanimity, which has obfiterated all
hostile feeling; and, the efconsequenoe,
is, that each people has regarded with
sympathetic admiration the deeds of
valor performed by the other, when
they were spilling each others blood.
The heroism exhit ted by both sides
is thrown into the common stock of
national glory. Burns patriotic
songs are read with as thorough en-
joyment by The people Of the South
ern part of the island as by the de-
scendants OF the "Scots wha ha' wi
Wallace bled." Walter Scott de-
scribes with as keen zest the valor
and conduct by which his ancestors
were defeated and made to run like
towards, as if every throb of his
pulse were not that of an ingrained
Scotchman. But the Irish poet,
though a far less intense Irishman
than the great novelist was Scotch
man, would sooner have cut off his
right hand than have written stanza
celebrating the prowess of the Eng
lish forces in any of the Irish battles.
Every. engagement on Irish soil is
still q fountain of evaporation to
Irish feeling. The memory of Eng
lish valor perpetuates hatred, but
rouses no admiration. The conse-
quence is, that the wars of two cen
turies ago contribute to the bitter
alienation which makes the Irish
question to-day the most difficult
problem in British politics.
The Democratic party is aiming to
treat the South, since the close Of the
war, as England has treated Scotland;
to respect its local feelings and pre-
iudices, to encourage its trade, to
build up its prosperity, and efface the
unpleasant memories of former quar-
rels and contests. The Republican
party, on the other hand, is treating
the South as England has treated
Ireland; forcing upon it institutions
it abhors, exasperating its local pre-
jndices, repressing its development,
and domineering over it with all the
insolence of conquerors. If the De-
mocratic party succeeds, the South
will be our Scotland; if the Republi-
can party, it will continue to be our
Ireland. In q country like England,
where there is n state religion, it
would seem consistent and logical
that the national church should be
upheld in every part of the empire.
But Scotland was wisely left to wor-
ship according to her own prefer
ences, and was permitted to retain
her own Jurisprudence; while an op-
posite systemin Ireland has kept that
country in state of chronic irrita-
ton and Unsurpassed mutiny. The
Republican party is more absurdly
tyrannical towards the South than the
English Government has been to-
wards Ireland. What language
would be strong enough to portray
English despotism and insolence, if,
instead of attempting to force upon
Ireland the Episcopal Church, which
England adopts herself, she should
use her power to force the Methodist
or the Baptist religion, which she re-
jects? What would be said of the
tyranny and folly of England if she
should undertake to force the Roman
Catholic religion upon Scotland, while
she enacts laws against it at home?
But this scarcely conceivable folly
would be similar to what the Repub-
lican party is perpetrating in the
South. Negro suffrage, which is re-
jected and scorned in the North,
where the negroes are few and it
would do little harm, has been forced
upon the South, where the negroes
are numerous and the danger great.
A more fragrant inconsistency, a
more exasperating insult, cannot be
imagined. If we are going to force
upon the South anything which the
South detests, we should at least have
the apology of its being something
which we do not ourselves reject No
insolence can be more insufferable,
no hypocrisy more odious, than to be
apostles and propasandists of sys-
tenn in which we do not believe, and
to resort to persecution and the
sword to compel people to do what
we have shown by recent examples
that we scorn to do ourselves. And
yet this is the hopeful method adopt
ed by the Republicans for recovering
the olienote1 q offootionc of +ha Co,,tLI