The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-10-03

ANoi AOiio"So W US
and to you more and more bloodshed
and misery, and desolation and ruin,
By and by, the more thoughtful of
our people saw that we were arriving
precisely at that state of things, to
resist and ward off which we took up
arms, and that the experience of Eu-
rope and of tina Old World VAS to be
learned by US. A comparatively few
men ut Richmond ruled the entire
South. We battled for all idea against
despotism, and battling on in fan
cied security, we awoke one morning
and found that we had the most ter
rible despotism in the world our
selves. From that moment, while
Lee was still commanding armies Of
tener victorious than defeated, the
Confederacy was beaten.
It was much the same with us as it
was with you in Washington-power
had become centralized and the reins
were held by one or two men. When
we on our side saw this, our people
lost heart; we asked "what are we
fighting for" aud we gave up the
contest. There was no arrangement,
no understanding; the sword was
laid down by sort of tacit consent
that we had departed from our first
ideas of the war. We had abandoned
the course we had mapped out, and
there was no return to it.
Mr.. Stephens said nothing moro
on this subject. It was hardly my
province to urge against his theories
in the action. or the speeches of some
of his followers and associates to
seek for arguments to be used against
him.
In reply to remark of mine rela-
tive to the Ku Klux organization in
the South, he said:
"Well, if there are any armed
secret societies in the Southern
States, I am not aware of their exist
ence, personally. If there is in this
world anything do date and abhor,
it is secret political bodies. do not
think there are any in Georgia In
fact, I do not know anything about
them at oil, except from what L see
in the public prints. You know my
record against the Know Nothing
party. I have not changed in any
respect since then, so far rs such peo-
pie are concerned. I nm under the
impression that it is all pure imagina-
ton, except probably in portions Of
Tennessee. 1t may be that excitable
young men in different sections of
the country formed themselves into
oath-bound clubs, in the hope that
they would become component parts
of this Ku klux Klan, which was said
to have existed somewhere. An effort
was made in the Ashburn trial to
prove some such fact, but in my OPT
nion it utterly failed. In my own
State every man does just as he
pleases, says what he thinks, and no
one interferes with him. 1 look on
ell these stories as manufactured
purely for political purposes.
Mr.. Stephens appeared very anx-
ious indeed to. throw discredit on the
tales Of outrages and riot coming up
to US almost daily from the South,
and sought to impress on me the ut
ter falsity of them.
1 questioned him somewhat on the
Sulphur Springs mission and Gen.
Rosecrans' proceedings there. He
had the utmost confidence, he said,
in Rosecrans, and believed him to be
actuated by very pure and patriotic
motives. He agreed with Rosecrans
fully in the professed objects of his
mission, and thought that the men
who signed that celebrated manifesto
We're sincere in their professions.
L had intended to ask Mr.. Stephens
some questions on other points; but
several friends called on him, and I
was obliged to leave.
make no comments on his state
ments and opinions, but leave you to
infer his sentimentsSon the situation,
generally, from his own words, which
L have retained as far as possible.
Washington Cor. Raleigh Standard.