The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-10-01

]. = Iu0 NSW IOt0 WOT1U, lQ commenting
iipon Senator Sum ers.sy recaaht raescaaaht apaeeob.
vsyu vs,sn,, .. iD,.ss ss,,s III
49, .,s ~ ,.'1es 'i'e issl p.ss ussacn =,
or thee RfGr3ssn d, the ,NpEth ought to
have tI,o,riul,A al. In 8 t;svl,ekl,er
tba nossar - co,tro, th;s sn,,;aoh @ = sha,1 =.
5ESnIe ID rf.S % S'' 4 ~
sesseo5 =. -SS'tygpgFesst Stgg I9S "oTso re-
marks;. ,acn"s,-r,3s 49,,
.rs4he Democratic party, ;as nh. Mldan,
has very Justly saia. newerhss been back.
ward id. 6assi diIE th4 FiShs of suffrage.
But it,hna5 6iHAats main tained, Just what
the founders 81 our Government main
tanned, ,thsts our sp6l lisieap system must
rest ferits eoraer-stone, on Vie princiE
plS Chat thS right OF voting is to beKept,
IN every State, iii the hands Of tbs State
itself; that as soon, as, this principle is
deparf6d fnpn, i Just sa soon all power 10
maintain the, 81 States, as self,Rovernino
Communities 10 gone; and that thereafter
every State must Submit to be governed
by any class op descfi ptioh -of it's inhabi
tanta 10 wE9ms a feoffaptl majority OF its
nsmbafe Con gress nay choose 10
consign III . iiEyery man; of sense knows
perfectly well that, If Congress 10 to
make the laws Of stifffage, ID must either
make anifortnf flass, Or must! make laws
that win vary in different localities. Uni
form la16 ofNsafrage throughout the
States. wouIf be- d mischievous and i'm.
practicable sohanie; and as TO yesting in
Congress q power to make different laws
for different localities, the, people of this
countsS might as well hand over their
liberties at once TO the keeping of any
other irrespo ponsible body, for there could
be no. cllecks whatever ON the abuses
which Congress could make Of its power.
It is plain therefore, what the course OF
the Democracy, as national party, is to
be on this subject While we do not say
that q negro, simply because he ia a ne.
gro, shall not vote, we mean to insist
that the fundamental principle of the
American 4 Union shall be preserved,
namely: that every man who does
vote, shall hold the right to do SO of the
State in which he undertakes to vote.
and not Of Congress; and that no power
or authority whatever, external to a
State, shalt be able to dictate to the peo-
pie Of q State who shall or shall not ex-
ercise the right OF suffrage in that State.
If, by means OF the Reconstruction Acts
and what has been done under them, the
Southern States have been placed in such
a situation that Congress can,temporarily
CoutrCl 'IuoM Ou UuiS nabteE Oh 6uHxaRe,
it is perfectly plain that this situation
cannot continue, unless the whole coun-
try is to be reduced to Che same predica-
ment: The Republican party is now
!orceu Ineo pSn'@ pSonststo@ Wnsre II mas Itself
In great Nlem%a.< 70 must either give
over % snfrao IL .tbs SS9tse,.n ~
must acauife that ! controiin althe States ~
This fifteenth, amendment is'a struggle
to to get out OF q glafing Inconsistency.
neutrality-suspicious.; y nas a ayea snas IN
whicR nndertooll to sav 1that neoro' snt
frage ih tie States which did not rebel,
ought to be left as State question. But
the country cannot long remain divided
into sections governed by separate Con-
stitutions Of the United States, or bv
separate constitutions of the one Consti-
tuition. Something must be done to
bring about n uniform state of things;
hence, the fifteenth amendment, or what
MI? Simmer calls the sloao process. to be
followed, when that fails, by what he
D ia,