The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-04-14

self all the wisdom and patriotism in
the, State, and calls those who differ
from him fools, knayes and traitors,
certainly betrays great ignorance and
IoiiY.F ne rs very apr illustration
of the truth of the great poets pithy
lines: 80
'Man, proud man, clothed in a little brief
authority, ~ ys'C
Plays such fantastic tricks before high
Heaven $50
AS make the angels weep" ,
Such thoughts aud reflections passed
through my mind while reading the
address of Mr.. Simeon Corley, of
Lexington, n nominee of the Repub
hcan Convention for Congress. to the
voters of the Third Congressional
District. This is remarkable doou-
ment in its way, and to those who are
unacquainted with the an;ecedents of
its author, it will certainly seem sur
prising indeed, that such q paper
should emanate from the pen of a
native South Carolinian. If I did
not know that he is descendant, like
myself, of good old German ances-
try, who have never manifested cruel
ty toward anything except snakes,
mosquitoes and bed-buds, I could not
help but believe, from the intolerant
and vindictive tone of this address,
that he was tho lneal offspring of
those famous Puritans of New Eng
land, who hung inoffensive Quakers
and poor old men and women whom
they supposed to be witches. His
blood seems to be up to the boiling
pitch, and he is determined to heap
as much abuse and vitureration upon
his opponents as possible, if he can
not have them all hung.
1t is not my intention to ATTEMPT n
reply, in detail, to the violent dia-
tribes and fierce philippics of Mr..
Corley's address, for L have neither
the time nor the space to do so; but
desire to show that some of the
positions he has assumed, are false
and untenable; and to refute some
of the groundless and unwarrantablc
charges he makes against the con-
servative or Democratic party in the
State. And in attempting this, I
shall not condescend to Indulge in
vituperative language, or apply op-
probrious cpithets to even bitter
opponents.
With n singular forgetfulness of
the facts and teachings of history,
Mr.. Corley makes the broad assertion
that the Confederate cause never
would have failed, if it had been
right-that it was an unrighteous
cause, and that was the reason why
it was overthrown. I would ask him
whether the cause of Poland, when
she struggled for liberty, was not a
just one; and yet, she was over
powered and crushed by her formid-
able enemies; the noble Kosciusko
fell, and Pulaski and his compatriots
went into exile. The cause of un
happy Hungary was just one; but
Notwithstanding the oloquence of
Kossuth and the sympathy of Eng
land and America, the independence
of the unfortunate nation was blotted
out. Similar examples might be
multiplied, for the pages of history
are full Of them; but these are snf-
ficient to show that it is not every
good cause, not always truth and
justice that triumphs, and that often
might, and not right, prevails. The
South may have made mistake in
appealing to the sword, but that does
not prove that the principles of con-
stitutional liberty for which she bat
tied, were wrong. Time alone will
decide that question.
Another false and unwarrantable
ground taken in this address, is the
gratuitous assumption, so f1ippantly
used by the destroyers of the Consti-
ton, that the leaders of the South are
traitors. If they are traitors, why
have not some of them been tried
and convicted of treason? Why has
not Jefferson Davis, the chief, been
tried. Mr.. Corley would have us to
believe it is "the unparalleled lenien-
cy" of the Government that has kept
them from the gallows. But the truth
is, they could not be convicted of
treason, il accorded fair trial under