The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-05-19
COLUMBIA, S. e.
Wednesday Morning, May 10, 1859.
Consolidation.

Consolidation.
Everything now tends in this direction.
The old balances Of power provided by the
founders of the republic are gone. Con.
gress is supreme-the Executive compare.
lively cypher-the Judiciary a shadow.
The Constitution has vanished into thin
air. 1t is fast becoming simply memory.
We have, for some time past, been furnish
ing only inglorious materials for the histo.
rian-the sum of which is, that we have a
great. country, mountains and rivers in
abundance, railroads increasing, negroes
and Indians at discount. bnt that republi-
can, institutions have proved q, failure, and
self;government myth. We have been
afflicted and overthrow by compromises,
and have no more remedies Of that nature
to propose. They were, at best, nothing
but temporary subterfuges, and should
never have been resorted to in Govern
n1ent whose powers were limited by the ex-
press terms of written Constitution: The
fundamental law should never have been
tampered a~isI, T Men do not reflect what q
vital injury they infict on the Government
and its stability by the surrender of any
essential right. Nothing can compensate
for the wrong done during the years of
vaunted compromise. The Union and the
Constitution never recovered from the
blows then inflicted, on their integrity by
those well meant but iniudicions measures.
When we mediate, harmony, we sometimes
rouse Conflicts, and relax the bonds. that
bind us' together. Shall we have new
bargain, or a new understanding of tile
old one? asks the New Orleans Times.
No words can make the latter palmer than
it is. Statesmen have always understood
it, but have been anxious to assert their
perspicacity, TO vindicate their independ-
ence, or promote party aims by quarreling
over its meaning. The Constitution always
hsa too anyiinterpreters all of the infalli-
BILE stamp, and the Supreme Court, the
most infallible of all, promised to be i'm
movable as the Andes But the most stable
things are uprooted, and nothing is perma-
nent but change. Having forgotten the
teachings of the fathers, we have now, to all
intents and purposes, consolidated Go
vernment. The supreme controlling power
in this country is Congress, which decides
everything according to the counsels of its
own will. This state of things has been
brought about by circumstances over which
the people have at present little or no
control. The people were once power in
the land. Under the present reqiaue they
have ceased to be so. They have no will of
their own, or they are so snubbed by their
sol disont representatives that they have
next to none The agent and principal have
changed places and relations with each
other. The agent now directs the principal
what to do, and the principal is bound to
submit, and go about his business without
murmuring. The head has now become the
tail, and the tail the head, of the body polite.
Are these things always to remain thus? If
they are, let MS call things by their right
names Congress is now, in effect, a con-
solldated government embracing all the
powers which were formerly distributed into
three departments. The people NAV. for a
while, sigh for their former privileges, but
as they cannot obtain them without revolu-
ton, they are forced to submit Possibly
the present Chief Magistrate, if he works as
boldly and skillfully as he did at the head
OF the Federal army, may get US out of our
present difficulties, and restore the former
order, but it is almost hoping against hope
to expect consummation so devoutly to be
wished.
PROPHECY AND FAcT.-Durino tho lot+or