The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-10-14
COLUMBIA. Col
Wednesday Morning, Oct. IA. 1865
The, PerlIs That EnCompass Us.

The Perlis That Encompass. Us.
IF there is tide in the affairs of
men, our luck, which has stood
against so much bad management,
may turn at last. When we started
in the race of nations, not eighty
Years ago, wei had q Government as
yvirtuous as that of ancient Sparta.
IF Washington had to appoint to
place, he asked for the best men; if
public measures were in question, he
looked to the welfare of the country
as q fatherto thehappiness and honor
of his children; and his great exam
pie was followed at humble distance
in all parts Of the United States. For
nearly thirty years after his time, till
the line of Virginia Presidents ended
with Mr.. Monroe, we continued to
be pure and honest; we boasted, not
without some reason, that we were
the model Republic. But without
drawing lines invidiously close, or
ventufihg to inquire when and under
whose consulship it began, it is plain
that less than half century has
made for us a terrible change.
What are the signs of on oppressed
people2 Debt and taxes. We have
the heaviest debt in the world, and
pay the heaviest taxes. What are
the signs OF decaying virtue in a peo-
pie? The corruption of their Co.
vernment. We, have e Government
admitted to-day on all sides to be, in
most of its departments, Federal,
State and municipal, perfectly cor
rupt. What is the sure undoer of
free institutions? Take the answer
in the words Of Washington: "Over-
grown military establishments, which,
under any form of government, are
inauspicious ito liberty, and which
are to be regarded as particularly hos
tile to Republican liberty"
But it was faction against which
Washington, in his farewell address,
raised his prophetic and warning
voice to the loudest pitch, and he
was right-for the heats = of every
four years to make a President. and
which are upon us more than half of
all our time, seem to have given at
last to this bane of free institutions
growth Of the rankest luxuriance.
From copstrqipgy the Constitution
down TO who is to be mayor or con-
stable, everything is ruled aud ruined
by it. 70 it everything has been
sacrificed, until at last here is the
Republican party to-day, which,
being party Of yesterday, without
integrity, cohesion, principles. histo-
ny ortraditions, comes to the contest
for the Presidency as a jockey to q
horse.race-to win, no matter how.
After marshaliug their ranks with the
sword, if they wsyer and the general
of the army is likely to be beaten,
they change their front, abandon q
vote at the polls and fall back upon
their negro Legialatures; and should
Legislatures fail them in the South,
Northern Legislatures may be ap-
pealed to, and not fail them. TO
this complexion, says the Newark
IN. J.) Journal, has come large por-
tion OF our population; and if Wash
ington, before he closed his eyes on
his native land, could have known
what the people were coming to, the
father OF his countrywide was no
enthusiast might perhaps have said
that "if one party were not better
than the other, the general of the
army was good enough for them, and
liberty impossible" t3 r&