The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-05-28
The Democratic Meeting on satur-
.-e. day Night.

The following communication we
take from the Charleston Daily Ne,rs,
and we commend it to our readers.
1t vindicates our own views:
Since division Of sentiment is espe.
cially to be deprecated at the present
time among the white men of this
State, it Is proper to inquire upon
whom rests the blame of the incipi-
ent discord which is more than
threatening us. The complaint OF
those OF the Democrats of this
city, who approved the proceed
lngs at the Hibernian Hall, on Satur-
day night, is, that they were not
represented in the recent Convention
held in Columbia. We ask-why
were they not so represented The
want Of time, &c alleged, Is not d
sufficient explanation, for it appears
that delegates were present from
many sections of the upper country,
to which information was much less
accessible, and from which there was
by no means the same facility for
travelling to Columbia. The tele-
graph duly informed us of the call.
and the railroad, twice in every
period of twenty-four hours, trans
ports passengers from the one city to
the other. We are not defending
the action of those who called the
Convention on the score of sufficiency
in the time, for we think the haste
displayed was calculated to prevent
the full amount of good that may
have resulted, and that it was not
warranted by any urgency in the
circumstances. But we do contend
that the people in this city, on
account of their superior facilities,
both of information and of travel,
are precluded, to a greater degree
than the inhabitants of any other
portion of the State, from urging
this as the reason of their absence.
Again, while we are prepared to
advocate, as strenuously as any one,
the propriety of our taking the lead
IN political movements, on account of
the greater antiquity of our commu-
NIFTY, and on account of the fact that
this city is the material and intellec
tual centre of the State, we cannot
acknowledge this to be sufficient
reason Tor our recusancy in case in
which others have merely been more
active and jealous than we have been
in the beginning and forwarding of a
good cause. Importance in the coun-
ellis OF the State is not O right to
which Charleston is entitled by pre-
scription. but simply a privilege
which she ought to use of herself, by
virtue Of her inherent superiority,
on the grounds stated above; and if
we are anticipated in any movement
by some other portion of the State,
justice and common sense demand
that, instead of peevishly objecting
to their forwardness, we should mere.
ly accuse our own delay. We ask,
why did not this movement ori0inate
here? And since, to our shame-at
least, as it appears from the resolu-
tions of Saturday night-it had its
beginning elsewhere, why should q
sense OF our own short coming deter
mine us to n noncompliance with
such action by our fellow citizens as,
in itself considered, we are prepared
to endorse. Neither is pique gene
rous emotion; nor can any such mar
row feeling be the ground of an en-
lightened and comprehensive public
policy. And in behalf of those of
our citizens who, with calmer and
more magnanimous consideration,
are unwilling to be belittled in the
estimation of the State and the coun-
try at large by such an unworthy
attitude, we declare that, in our OPT
Mon, the ideas which inspirited the
proceedings of Saturday evening do
not command the approval of a ma
jority of the white people of this
place, and still less of the Inhabitants
of the Districts along the const,
whom, without authority, the recu-
SAINTS assume to represent.
Moreover, if any individual, or in
dividuals-and it is merely possible
that this article brings us nearest of
all to the bottom of the matter-deem
that, on account of past services, or
on account of any fond estimate by
themselves or by their personal
friends, of the advantages that would
have resulted from their concern in
this movement, they were entitled to
be consulted upon the subject-with-
out discussing the question ut all; in i.
deed, even although we should grant
this view to be ever so just. we con-
tend, nevertheless, that universal dis