The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-09-14
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1eMPaESOi SIu9 E3OutnS - uRgeSt6df by
some political tad dresses lately put forth
by S0ttharn conservative State commit
tees, tue New SYorkE Wofll;7 somewhat
hyperclit .as tit seems to us, finds
fault with the exclusion from those sd-
drea9ss of all reference to general or
federal politics. $50 exclusive an, atten-
ton to State affairs" says our contempo-
rary, $50 utter'a lack OF interest in gene
raj politics, is sadly suggestive. It
seems to say that the South is go horri-
bly, misgoyefned that it has no thoughts
fromihone; thnt;it patriotism, like Ohm
Randolph's, does not extend beyond the
State" !" Without combating or denying
the Inference which the World seeks to
draw as to the sort Of governme which
reconstruction has imposed upon the
South. we ore not sure that this separa-
ton OF local from general politics is to
be considered wholly. if at all, in the
light OF an evil. Under our political
system, the State and Federal Govern
ments have their separate and distinct
powers, duties and spheres of action.
Whether we adhere to the doctrine of
Jefferson, Madison and the founders of
the first Republican party, rs we'll as of
the republic itself, who regarded the
Federal Constitution as in the nature of
q compact between sovereign States and
the Government, which it created, as
one of delegated and limited powers, or
adopt the tenet of the modern repuDli-
can ,or radical school, which refers all
our systems OF government, State and
Federal, to common origin, and treats
them simply as agents in different
spheres OF O common sovereign, the
American people, one result is the same
that is, that their spheres are different.
Generally speaking, tho State govern
ments have nothing to do with those
matters which by the constitution are
remitted to the care Of the general
government, and the latter has, or ought
to have, nothing to do with affairs
which are exclusively of State and local
concern Upon the preservation of this
distinction depends, in our judgment,
the preservation of our republican insti,
tutions and liberties. The disregard or
obliteration of this distinction will ineyi-
tably lead, as it has lead, in every in
stance in which it has been departed
from, down the fatal path which ends in
Capitalization, consolidation, imperial
ism, despotism. According to the warn
ing admonitions of tho great statesmen
we have named, Jefferson and Madison,
the greatest danger of the republic lies
in this latter direction-in too great
tendency towards consolidation. How
far the experience of the present genera
tion has justified these fears of the
trainers of the constitution, it is unneces-
sary to say. One thing we may regard as
certain that a potent instrument in
working the changes we have witnessed,
and which have so far transformed the
character OF our Government, has been
the complete fusion of State and Federal
politics, by which parties formed origi-
nally with reference solely to national
issues have been enabled to govern and
control in matters of purely domestic
and local concern. Under a system of
political Organization which we cannot
help regarding as pernicious, municipal
and County elections are decided, and
men are chosen to be oity councilmen,
constables or oyerseers of the roads, not
with reference to their fitness or qualifi-
cations. bnt their party affiliations and
services. What possible connection can
there be between the duties of these
offices, and of others more important
which we might specify, and mans
opinions upon the subject of tariff, the
currency, or any question of general
poitics9 Yet party requires that the
small offices, as we'll as the great, that
city and County governments, as we'll as
the Federal Government, shall nil be
administered according to one general
plan, and with one general object, viz:
that Of consolidating and perpetuating
the power of party. Against this system
and its scandalous consequences and
abuses, we have uniformly y protested,
and we are not at all disposed, therefore,
to agree with our New York contcmpora-
ry in viewing as ''nnpatriotic" the efforts
of Southern conservatives to disentangle
the administration of their State and
local governments from the corruptipg
influences of national politics.
On the contrary, we find in the tone
and temper in this respect of the ad-
dresses which the World criticises, a
healthful indication of move in the
right direction. Let home affairs be nd.
ministered solely with reference to home
interests-let local governments busy
themselves only with matters of local
concern-let all officers, except such MS
are directly connected with the admins
tration of the general government, be
filled with men chosen rather on the
score of personal character and fitness
than with reference to their opinions and