The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-10-31

iSEa6e5, 90 We not IND trees standing
upon their tops, and Inounteins upon
their peaksp Us not the pyramid in
Sverted2 Us not intelligence In the
main subordinated to Ignorance, in.
tegritys to baseness, and wealth to
poverty? Is not honesty at dis
count. and q premium set upon ras-
cality2 Is not virtue discarded and
vice put in the ascendancy? Lot
candid men answer. NY suggestions
ere well-founded and true. The
order Of political affairs in She State
and in the South generally is abnor-
NAL. illogical, unphilosophjcal, un-
natural and unreasonable. When
Dean Swift. the greet satirist. sought
to show the great deformity which
human nature might attain, he sent
Gulliver in his travels to the island
of the Yahoos, where the horse ruled
and men were the subjects. 1t has
been reserved to radicalism to i'm
prove even upon the Imagination of
Swift; for, looking at the majority of
those whom radicalism has borne into
Office here in the South, We find that
the donkey reigns, and asses occupy
high places OF power.
4. These Acts are unwise. Look
ing at these Acts in the light of
craftsmanship, we pronounce them
foolish and unwise. If intended to
benefit the black man, if intended to
benefit the white man, if designed to
promote the interest of the whole
country, they are in either case
equally wrong in principle and ruin
Gus in policy. There is no wisdom
in the spirit they breathe, none in
the measures they have set on
foot, none in the order of things
that they have sought to estab-
lish. But we would enter into no
argument upon this point, for it is
evident to every candid mind that
the object of these Reconstruction
Acts was chiefly to build up party,
and not to promote the well-being of
the country.
Gould my voice reach the ears of
the radical politicians of the North, L
would point them, as Senator Doolit-
tie, one of the wisest statesmen of
the Union, has already done, to an
incident in Roman history, peculiarly
applicable to the times. Latium was
conquered by Rome, and the question
arose in the Roman Senate, what
ought to be done with Latium and
the people of Latium. Some said,
"Coniscate their property;" others
said, "Disfranchise them None
said, "Put them under the domina-
ton of their former slaves" But
one man there was, heathen statesman
though he was, who rose to the height
of the occasion. Old Camillus rose
in his seat and said: Senators, make
these people your fellow-c citizens, and
thus add to the power and dignity of
Rome" In the same spirit would I
address myself to those who have it
in their power to control, for the
present, the destinies of the South.
would say to them: Come up to the
lofty standard of Camillus. Treat
the people of the South as your
peers, for your peers they are; do
them justice, respect their sympa-
thies, give them their blood bought
| rights under the Constitution of the
land, and thus add to the power and
dignity of the republic.
B.. The Reconstruction Acts have
within them the seeds of their own
death and must fail. In my opinion,
fellow-citizens, even without any eff
fort on our part, these measures
would, sooner or later, utterly break
down. Come Grant, or come Sey-
mour, they cannot long prevail. The
order of affairs they have brought
about must be changed. So long as
the inverted cone is propped up it
will stand, but remove the props and
it falls PROSTATE to the ground. So
long as these reconstruction measures
are sustained by extraneous force
they may stand, but let that force be
removed, let ordinary political infu-
ences prevail. and they will die natu-
raj death. For one, however, I am
not willing to wait for this natural
death, but in every legal, Constitu-
tional, peaceful method, with the aid
of our Democratic allies at the North,
L would assail the tyrant measures at
every vulnerable point. On the same
principle that the jaiior takes from
his cell the condemned felon and ex-
ecutes upon him the sentence of the
law, although disease would have
carried the man off in a weeks time,
so should we, fellow citizens. make