The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-05-26
rae Political CrIIss q fls. pay-sT,hs
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The Politieal CrIIse q fhe pay-sEhs
Extreme RadicaIs. 1,
q Will no disposition TO ezsg gssate,,
but with the sintention to adhere
strictly to the truth, we say. ID aiI
sincerity, that the history Of parties
mo where shows such an uIreason-
able, vindiotive, faotious spirit, as has
been exhibited by the extreme men
Of che radical party Of this country.
When the South laid down her arms,
at the close of the late war, and
accepted, with manliness aud candor,
the result Of her defeat, the magma
nimity OF Grant and Sherman, and
the course of those North who advo-
Gated the same generous and con-
siderate policy. promised an early
restoration of the peace and unity of
the land. All were disposed to for
'e. if they could not forget. But
soon did the malignant spirit of the
extremists North show its purpose.
Not enough for them was our surren-
der of slavery, our acknowledgment
of defeat on the question of the
peaceful right of secession; not
enough for them our ruined home
steads, our ravaged fields, our broken
fortunes, our struggle for bread. our
disappointed hopes; not enough that
we mourned for the flower and pride
of the land we love, fallen upon the
field of battle. But we are called
upon to spit upon our past record,
and, in the celebrated amendment
article, ourselves to set the seal Of
condemnation upon the honored
names Of the war-the names con-
spicuous either in the cabinet or the
field. The South almost unani-
mously refused thus forever to put
upon her own brow the brand of q
shameful reputation, and we honor
her for the rejection OF the proposed
amendment to the Constitution. But
this is not the great charge upon
which the radical party might be
arraigned before the high court of
civilized nations---and arraigned,
too, to certain conviction. That
party has done what was never done
before. Its party crime is original.
We have heard of Jewish vengeance,
of Grecian and Roman conquests, of
Gothic outrages, of Moslem tri-
umphs. But it was reserved for the
radical party of this country, under
the inspiration of the Puritan mind
of New England, to perpetrate, or to
seek to perpetrate, an enormity
heretofore unparalleled in the world 8
history, in the case of either civilized
or uncivilized peoples. in ancient or
modern times. We mean the put.
ting, or the effort to put, the domi-
nant race under the foot of the infe-
rior-the esubordination of the wealth,
the integrity, the worth, the brains
of Bsection to the control of an
inferior race, lately slaves, and want
ing, for the present at least, in all
the elements OF q governing class
Ignorant, poor, weak in mind and
morals, with no political experience,
and utterly deficient in the attributes
that should attach to those who are
given the exercise of political control.
This is the great crime of the day.
This the work of extreme, insane,
hate-blinded radicalism. And for
this violation of the laws, both of
God and man, and for other enormi-
ties, which time would fail us were
we to attempt to recount, that party
is doomed; and even now may be
discerned in it signs of approaching
dissolution. Let it go down, and
with it sink into political death its
Southern adherents, and over its
grave we may be enabled to raise
again the fabric of another Union,
u,b;o aI,,n 1o tI,o 2t,ooL