The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-07-28

IL ~
To the enduring honor of the
Southern States, they rejected the
amendment. They were poor, blead-
ing, desolated, rayaged States, but
amid the ruins of their homes and
their hopes, the people of the South
preserved the whiteness of their
souls, and almost unanimously voted
to reject this ungenerous proposition
from an ungenerous party. They
wanted peace, but not such peace as
dishonor could purchase.
But this was only the first step in
radical reconstruction. The radical
party proceeded to commit next.what
may be called the great political
crime of the century--a crime that
has no parallel in history, ancient or
modern, sacred orprofane. Aud this
was the deliberate subordination of
the wealth, the intelligence and the
integrity of the South to the rule of
ignorance and depravity-the placing
of the political power of the South
In the hands of aliens, renegades and
half-civilized negroes-the slaves of
yesterday; the freedmen of to-day.
In other countries, and in other
times, after war had spent its fury
upon desolated land, it has been
permitted to the inhabitants to call
together the wisest, the best and the
purest of their number, to rear
again the fabric of government.
But this poor privilege has been de-
MED to the people of the South.
Not enough our broken hopes aud
ruined fortunes, not enough our lost
cause, not enough the pride and the
flower of the South fallen upon the
field of battle, but we, members of
the proud Caucasian family, upon
whose brow God himself has written
the signs and the symbols of empire,
we are placed under the rule of an
inferior race, and members of this
race, together with renegades and
trading politicians, are authorized
to frame organic laws for,the white
people Of this Southern section of
the Union. And not only this, but
under the same authority these same
parties, with the aid of the bayonet,
are carrying out the details of legis-
lation, and preparing non-tax-payers
and non-property-h holders themselves
to impose upon their betters the
heavy burdens of taxation. This is
the result of radical reconstruction.
This is the great wrong for which we
arraign the radical party, and to
which we will never quietly submit.
This is the issue which we meet un-
der the folds of the Democratic ban
ner and under the fair auspices of
Heaven.
Nor, fellow-citizens, do we meet it
alone. In consummating their great
wrong against us and ours, the radi-
cal party have violated the Constitu-
ton, usurped executive and judicial
powers and menaced the liberties of
the North rs well as the South.
Hence, the Democratic party OF the
Union has organized to overthrow
that party and to save the country.
That party, fellow citizens lately
met in Convention, in New York, and
that Convention became the earnest
OF united country. Every State
and every Territory in this broad
land were represented in the Demo
cratic Convention by their truest and
ablest men, and the utmost harmony
| i'"A ASt 10 hCllUclutlOuS. ftltCF IL
separation of eight years the North
and the South, for the first time met,
and, discarding the animosities of
the past, resolved to unite against a
common political enemy and together
to work for the welfare of common
country and restored Union.
Fellow-c citizens, that Convention
has given us the principles and the
men we wanted. The Democratic
party has taken high ground in our
behalf. 1t becomes US to engage
earnestly and thoroughly IN the can
vass before us, to seize with our
strong hands the standard of the De-
mocracy, and to make an earnest,
united, protracted effort to plant it
upon the heights of success.
The triumph lof the Democracy
will bring us peace and will prepare
the way for our prosperity. BIT lei
us conduct Tie canuaSs diScreeNy and
temperately. Let no 5ayonet flash or
srord gleam ensa'aate from ON. ranks.
We hope to accomplish our ends by
peaceful instrumentalities. Already
at the North our opponents seek to
prejudice our cause by calling the
Democratic platform q "rebel" plat
| fern and thu DemOcrotic nomiueee