The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-12-30
rae Political Situation at the South
Analyscd---Our Duty and our Safety.

TAe Political Situation ot tho South
& Analysed--oar Duty and our Safety.
To our mind there are three classes of
political thought at the South-threo
different policies that address themselves
10 mems views and regulate their action.
Let us analyze the matter.
Looking to the reconstruction scheme
OF Congress, which, it seems, the conn
try at large has resolved to carry out,
however outrageous and however unwise
and however damaging, there is, first,
the radical policy. This policy accepts
the situation imposed upon the South
freely, gladly, and blindly. This policy
finds its supporters mainly among the
freedmengof the South, the political ad-
venturers that have come to the South,
and small portion of native Southern
ers, who, either through considerations of
property or power or Office, have thrown
their fortunes into what seems to them
is;the heavier balance. That this motley
set should accept the scheme of q parti-
san and revengeful Congress is very ma
tural. They accept the reconstruction
measures because these measures foster
their interests, feed them upon its for
hidden fruits, and give them scope for
the practice of all their arts. and MI their
schemes Of plunder and official emolu-
ments. This party, too, has been rein
forced by that class of little-souled and
chicken-hearted men who find it agreea-
BILE always to be on what seems the strong
side, and who are certainly not Of that
kind who would not ''hatter Neptune
for his trident, nor Jove for his power to
thunder" With regard, now, to this
policy, we need not say that we condemn
it, and condemn it utterly. We never
can-we never shall-accept the recon.
etruction programme. We have submit
ted to it. We do 80 because we cannot
help ourselves Deeming it unjust, lilo
gical, unreasonable, unwise, unphilo-
sophical, outrageous, and insulting to
the South. oil that we shall ever have to
do with the reconstruction scheme is to
make it as tolerable, as easy, and as de-
cent as possible. As for the freedmen who
embrace this policy, we excuse them, for
they know not what they do. AS to the
intelligent white men who have con-
nected themselves with the freedmen and
the Northern squatters, We condemn
their course, and we hold them to be in
effect recreant to their race, and to the
soil that gave them birth.
There is. next, another party ut the
South, composed of men of the highest
tone and the noblest instinct, who may
be called the Southern i,reconciktbles.
Utterly opposed to the rule of the
conqueror, utterly disgusted with the
changed condition of things. these men
are disposed to break their swords, and
to turn away from the political conflict
of the hour. Times change, but these
men decline to change with them. AL
though intelligent, these men are indis-
posed to learn anything. Although gene
rous and magnanimous, these men are
indisposed neither to forget nor forgive.
These men are high-minded, brave and
spirited, but they are not wise. Under
their auspices, the South would not and
could not prosper. We respect this
policy, but we do not approve it. 1t is
not mastery but fatal inactivity. It
will not answer; it must be discarded.
But there is another policy and another
psrty that exist in the South. 1t stands
opposed to radicalism and it's extrava-
gances on the one hand, and to the ire
conciliables and their inactivity on the
other hand. This policy condemns the
reconstruction system as wrong in spirit
and wrong in substance. This policy is
practical, sensible, and progressive. It
distinguishes between what is practical