The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-09-15
have tho substance7 The Immediate
result q this always Is, that the tyfant

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soon learns to hate the people, and
! tha ;sessseie; in return, learn t, ihate
1.-THE tyrant, Th;s ats ols5e brings up
the old story Of history, repeated
again and again in every country and
in every age And we are now hav-
| ing it re-enacted, in the nineteenth
century, upon American soil. The
party in power is seeking to retain
its influence and its authority by
subverting the Constitution and
driving the chariot. wheels Of the
conaueror over the necks of the peo-
pie. Let them succeed, and our free
institutions are forever gone. In
such contest, their candidate Gene
raj Grant) is as nothing-not SO
much as an atom. He may be never
SO good or never SO great, still he is q
mere creature-a creature of the very
circumstances that have already
driven us to the very brink of ruin.
The opposing party is seeking to
check this onward and downward
course, and to. save the country, by q
return to something like law, order
and constitutional authority. It is
trying to rest the Government once
more (where only it can rest) upon
the benign and cheerful consent of
the governed. Here, again, we may
add, that Mr.. Seymour, in this con-
test, is mere name, and nothing
more. His popularity and influence
are as absolutely nothing. This is
not contest between men, no mat
ter how great or good these men may
be. It is war of the elements-the
thunder-clash of conflicting opinions.
It is the great problem of self-govern-
ment; and the overshadowing ques-
tion is, shall these American States
be a republic, or shall they become o
despotism, or must they fall into
anarchy? When the party in power
conferred, by the sword, the suffrage
upon the ignorant negro. they virtu-
ally gave up the republic; and, to
avoid the evils of anarchy, they are
now prepared to fly into the arms of
military despotism. Hence, the can
didate of their choice was the general
of their armies. Hence, they vote
for General Grant. Hence. they talk
of peace which is the peace of
death. 'Let US have peace" says
the General. >"Yes," is their answer;
sthe empire is peace" Let as revo-
lutionize the Government; let as
lay in ruins the Constitution let as
violate the dearest rights of the citi-
zen; let as overturn society and set
at naught the most cherished guaran-
ties of liberty; let as use the barba-
rian to drive out the free man from
his birth-right; let as do all this, aye,
and much more than this, and then
lei US hare peacel Peace! Yes; the
peace Of despotism-the peace of the
grave. wherein shall then lie buried
the great work of our fathers and the
last hope of thirty millions of free
men! This is the peace that they
offer to the American people! To
assist this peace is treason! To over
turn this usurpation is revolution!
Whatl lift your hand against an
accomplished facU What! clank your
chains in the ears of your master!
What! raise your voice against C@-
sar, when Caesar is Rome-"when
Rome contains but one MANI Who
does this? OF with his head! Let
us have peace! All good men feel
that these great issues are in the
hands OF the Almighty; but He works
by wise instrumentalities, and, under
Him, with the lights before us, we
support that struggling party which
seems to be in favor of pausing for q
moment in mid-career, of consulting
the political chart and compass, OF
taking n new reckoning Of course