The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-09-09
The Feeilng an EdseHeid.
The EdgefeM ad1srtt2sT ssys:

IHe 1ugeuei@ Ad065stS5T Sfys'H n !
s'M4sr1AL LAw WHrlsh DEotAREp. +
HogeSjn his retsbnt spsech here, threat
ened. Ns fearfulIf witt martial llaN. He
lseprtsensed hi9self ss INDEPENDENTLY
ea, rapport with both Grant and Scott,
and hinted that martial law for Edge
field District had already been decided
upon. @-'S
There is no earthly use for martial law
in Edgefieh[ without il be to quiet the
guilty fears and assure the personal
safety OF The inceHdiaries w6o are laying
the train that eoRtrarNt to their roxpecta-
tions. has not yet exploded, but may
still do sos Wehope for the honor of such
OWL government as wo still possess
bah, that is nonsensel We mean to say
that We hope for the sake of such poor
odds and ends of peace, as we still enjoy,
that Governor Scott will not listen to
these suggestions. It is too late in the
progress of this revolution to repent the
ghastly experiments in Tennessee and
were not yet ourbSd. There Is, no surer
method of lighting mp a war Of races
here than to add to the ciy,! grievances
of the, people, all but intolerable as they
are, the presence and domination OF q
black militia. The negro guard around
our jail, and the arnmunition- within it,
are quite enough. For Gods sake, let
martial lay stop at this.
There is pet1.aad hldod in this matter
of martial law and negro militia, aud we
beg Governor Scott to consider we'll of
it. The whites wish and mean no harm
to the neGfoes---we say 1t emphatically-
but they certainly do mean to protect
themselves, their families and their pro-
perty, against the perIis of barbarian
mob, inffamGd 70 desperation by n.half
dozen alien and traitorous white men.
The presence OF militia will intensity this
purpose, for they will be regarded not as
protectors Of the peace of society, but as
shields ard guarantees of safety to the
devils who have done, and are still doing,
all the mischief. The people of Ldge-
field have been gratuitously and need
lessly insulted, degraded, trampled
upon, tyrannized over, as people never
were before-never! We will not and
cannot put up with a militia here after
the Brownlow or Clayton pattern. If tho
so-called civil administration, of which
Governor Scott is the chief, is powerless
to preserve order in RECONSTRUCTED
State of the Union," then let us be
turned over again to the protection of
the army of the United States. Any
thing is preferable to q militia rule.
swayed by such wretches as would sway
it here. The risk of life-death itself
is preferable to any such rule as this. 1t
is too late for repetition of Tennessee
and Arkansas history in this matter.
With respect to the meeting recently
held in Edgefeld, where 5000 persons
were said to be present, according to
radical account, the Edgefeld Adreriiser
says:
Now MS to the number of the au-
dience, there was not human being
oyer 1000, if SO many. And as to the
presence of "both races" the whites
were confined to some three or four citi-
zens of the town, who went out of mere
curiosity, and soon left in disgust; and
to Hoge, Jackson, Realf, Eichelber, and,
perhaps, half dozen of our resident
State Constables. Even the few pro-
fessed ,rhite Republicans (1ery few, thank
GodI who dwell in our midst, were not
present. These latter, as they always do
on such occasions, evinced no desire to
herd with the negroes and carpet-bag-
gers. The meeting was the least re-
spectacle one we have ever known to be
held in Edgefeld
Hoge's speech, as published in the
Republican, is bare skeleton of the
speech he actually made. The former as
compared to the latter is rs honey CON-
pared to vitriol. AS mischievous, as
venomous. as weak, as ridiculous, as it
appears in the Republican, it was ten
times moro so in the delivery We did
not hear it, but we have heard Of it
from certain colored people, radicals,
too, who are neither fools nor liars In
deed, we think Hoge rather disgusted
the more sensible portion of the blacks
Virtues REwARD.-An incident like
this comes to the reader like an oasis to
the traveller. It shows that, even in this
Ill e