The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-09-29
rae Reign OF Confasion s,a the South.

Ehe AeiBn OF VOn1Ishon sh the Souths
i The whole South is In state OF
confdsion, excitement and alarm.
There is distrust, doubt and hncer-
tainty everywhere. One State .cannot
trust another, and the feeling of dis
quietude has spread to local conmu-
mites, and even to domestic neigh
borhoods. The alarming frequency
of unspeakable crimes, the lax ad-
ministration, or rather the non-ad-
ministration, of any law except that
of Judge Lynch, the unprotected
condition of remote Districts, the
savage nature and open threats of the
race just liberated from bondage,
alright the timid and abash the
courageous. But above and beyond
the black clouds that now enshroud
the South, there is bow of promise
which betokens O bright and happy
future.
The truth is, the reconstruction
policy Of Congress in the South,
under which all these evils have
arisen, has failed. The reconstruc
tion laws are fast becoming, if they
are not almost already, things of the
past-null, void and imperative
dead letters, politically and morally.
The radicals relied upon the negro
vote to carry out their policy, and
now they feel that they are fast los
ing their grip upon Sambo. The
ambitious colored Demostheneses are
disappointed. They boil with in
dignation when they reflect upon the
treatment of their fellows by the
radicals in the Georgia Legislature
their ignominious expulsion there
from-whereas not n single Northern
adventurer would have found seat
therein, had it not been for the black
vote. They have been promised
houses and plantations and eminent
political position, and have been de-
ceived and befooled. They have been
formed into secret leagues and armed
bands under the delusion that such
organizations were necessary to en-
able them to preserve their freedom
against the injustice and encroach-
ments of their former masters. But
they are becoming awakened to the
motives of their white radical leaders
in forming them into these bodies.
These white radicals, as an intelli-
gent Southern contemporary OBJ
serves, wanted "means of binding
the negroes together-of giving the
political league power for attack and
aggression-and of protecting them
selves, if necessary, against the peo-
pie whom they had outraged and
wronged." But, adds the same
authority, cit remains to be seen
whether they will be able so to direct
the huge machine that it will always
move or be still at their bidding.
There is danger that the white radi-
Gals may be hoisted with their own
petard. Their tools will, sooner or
later, learn that tho justice of the
Southerner is safer than the PARTIAL
ty of the needy adventurer. They
already know that they have neither
land nor money nor Office to expect
from their white leaders. They are
aware that their armed organizations
are in appearance a gigantic power.
And they may ere long be tempted to
take up arms to secure their share of
the spoils of war, their share of pomp
and state, their share of profitable
plunder. Every day lessons the dan
ger OF q serious collision between the
negro and the Southern whites; each
day increases the hazard that the poor
negro worm may turn upon and
wound the miserable knaves who now
tread him in the dust"
Here, then, we see the bow Of pro-
mise of which we have spoken. The
reconstruction laws Of Congress hay
ing failed to preserve order and pro-
tect persons and property in the
Southern States, but having, on the
contrary, given license to outrage,
robbery, rapine and bloodshed, the
true blackey comes to the rescue
and wakes up the South to a new
position and more congenial
destiny. The true blackey holds the
future fate Of the Southern country
in his hands. He holds, not only the
balance of power, but the power it.
self, and, as he Yields it, so will it be
for the veal or woe of the Gland he
was born on" Now comes the big
struggle. Who shall have the black
eys? The radical adventurers from
the North and West, who, not being
able to make q living at home with
out getting into the penitentiary,
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