The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-08-25

Ii there is one counsel, which,
during the next ninety days, should
be Impressed with more freauencyI
and more force than all others ,nnaI
the Southern people. it Isl this: I. Be
cautious, ias aoo,'d and dct.t 8
We entertain the most sanpuine
hopes that the . d e election
viii result in q decisive triumph for
the friends OF liberty and law, and
restored ton of the, Government to its
ancient foundations, now so far re.
moved. And, while in the advance
ment, of that most desirable issue,
/. little is afforded us to do, it is unfor-
'tunately; true that we may do much
to imperil, or, at least, retard it. In
that regard, the near, past rises be-
fore no With the. most solemn moni-
tions.
1t is by no means certain, that the
people of the North would not have
sustained the President in the fall
elections of 1866, defeated Congress
sional radicalism, and anticipated by
two long years, the glorious victory
on which we count in November;
but two unfortunate circumstances
conspired to thwart the retracing
steps of those people, and to dash
back the tide of returning reason
and magnanimity which promised
such happy results for the general
prosperity of the republic. One of
these was the extreme imprudence Of
certain of the public utterances of
the President, but the far more fatal
ly effective obstacle was the riot in
New Orleans!
1t is no exaggeration, to say that
that melancholy occurrence turned
the scale in fifty doubtful Congress
sional Districts, and thereby secured
that two-thirds vote in the House
which is accountable for all the enor-
mites of the most prohigate legisla-
tion that ever cursed q people with
even the traditions of freemen.
Thus was lost, for two years, the
chance of peace; thus was gained
military despotism, carpet-bag Con-
stitutions, negro supremacy, the ten
ure of Office bill, and all the multi
form enormities which disgraced the
last session of the Thirty ninth Con-
gress and the first session of it's sue
cessor.
Again an election approaches in
which the very issues of 1866 are to
be passed upon once more. The
country is called on in the light of
the practical experience of two bit
ter and fateful years to review its
former decision, and hear the great
appeal of liberty and the Constitu-
tion. The circumstances of this
trial are oil in our favor. Congress
has marked each passing month of
those intervening years with a new
outrage upon us, and q new argu-
ment, therefore, in our favor. Re-
construction, in its every develop
ment. has startled the public ear
with some new violation of law, pri-
vate right and public liberty. The
ultimate purposes of radicalism,
shadowing forth the entire subver-
sion of the constitutional rights of
States and people, have been fully
revealed. The utter and abandoned
profigacy of Congressional govern
ment has been laid bare to oil eyes.
The thorough failures of recoustruc-
tion to accomplish anything but the
ghastliest mockery of freedom, is
sorrowfully admitted even by Repub-
licans themselves. The waves of
war have had further and full chance
for perfect subsiding, and finally, the
conservative men of the country
have now had abundant time to rally
from the terror which the despotism
inaugurated by Lincoln SO widely
spread; they are wondering that 80
beastly an idol could ever have been
thought god, and are fastening to
compensate for their supineness hith-
erto, by unwonted diligence and de-
termined effort now.
In this most fortunate coniuncture
of our affairs, our triumph and the
triumph of the Constitution can
scarcely be jeopardized, save by our
selves, certainly by no party and no
agency can it be so much jeopardized
as, by ourselves. It is vaguely whis-
pered, and the recent disturbances in
this city, ut the Federal Capital, at
Atlanta, at Charleston and elsewhere,
give grave countenance to the rumor,
that instructions have been issued
from certain radical leaders in Wash
ington, that conflicts with the ne
groes must, at all hazards, be pro-
voked at the South between this and
election day. This is precisely what
every one acquainted with radicalism