The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1871-10-27
The, ,PREsmENT.AsD. HIS PRoonAa1A71oa

Proclamation q few days since, prelimi-
nary to declaration OF martial law over
large portion of South Carolina. The
President, then, with all the Cabinet
officers except Secretaries Fish and De-
lano, left the seat of Government, on q
pleasure excursion to. the Northern
boundaries OF New England, The Pre-
Of seeing stone laid in the wall of the
new post office building He attended
dinners and suppers, and drank choice
wines. He rode ont on Sunday after
noon to the splendid residence Of Alvin
Adams; Esq, on Chestnut Hill, and at q
late hour on Sunday he dined with his
Honor Samuel Hooper. Dined and
feted by his Boston, friends, post Office
and revenue officials, on Sunday and
Monday, he left on Tuesday for Bangor.
in Maine, where there is a. fair and horse
races.
President Grant has neglected his
duties at the seat of Government all
summer. No other President of the
United States ever abandoned the place
OF his official duties as President Grant
mas done. Living in luxurious ease at
Long Branch all summer, he has spent
the! fall months, so far, in attending
horse fairs from Pennsylvania to Kansas,
and has himself put three tast colts into
the trotting ring. He is still going,
flushed with excitement. dining and
drinking week days and on the Sabbath; !;
and one would imagine that he has not
been, and is not in ct condition, to dis.
charge the grave duties of the Executive
Department Of the Government with
cool head, or with GOODNESS and delibera-
tion. ti,a q
Was his proclamation in relation to
South Carolina necessary? If it was,
then an alarming state of things exists
there, which peremptively demands the
presence Of the President at the seat of
Government. But the President himself
looked upon the South Carolina troubles
as OF small account, when he abandoned
his post Of duty within few, hours of
the time of issuing his proclamation, and
started on q pleasure journey to Bangor.
Maine. Or, if he did consider the stu
alton In South, Carolina such as to de-
mand the proclamation, then he very de-
ADerately abandoned his pest in an hour
OF danger, simply to CRAFTY his taste for
travelling, and wine dinners.
South Carolina has been under the
control OF reoonstruotion Acts and Radi-
cal rule Tor Six years, Has it come to
this strange pass that the authorities of
the State are unable to manage it's local
affairs, to punish burglaries and assaults :?
II 30. it Is quite time that the President
should withdraw his proolamations and
bis military rule there, and permit the
people OF South Carolina to elect Go
vernon, Legislature and municipal
officers, who will protect persons and
property as we'll as they are protected in
any other State. l.',tt III i.5A .,,,.r..{
The Baltimore Gazette thus speaks of
the proolamation:G {, 4, rli.sl..a
President Grants proclamation of
martial law in South Carolina, purport-
ing to have been signed at Washington
yesterday-he being at that time in
Maine, nearly q thousand miles from the
Federal capital lis proof positive that
the whole matter had been pre-arranged.
The earlier proclamation calling upon
the alleged Ku Klux to give np their
arms and disguises within five days. was
simply a. idisgraceful device to justify the
proclamation of martial law. If there
were Ku Klux in the Counties named,
they would simply have been fools to
come forward and avow themselves as
anol, and 30 10y themselves open, by
their own confession, to the tender mer-
cies of the United States Marshal and
his deputies. If, on the other hand,
there were, no Ku Klux, there would be,
"a SouhoOs III du1 ul6Rul6C6 TO Tx
up. The earlier proclamation was,
therefore. simply q trap. set by President
Grant and his advisers, with perfect
knowledge that no response would or
could be made to it, and that a colorado
pretext would thus be furnished for the
declaration of martial law which followed
even before the five days grace had &C.
tually expired. But the President re-
peats his assertion that s'unlawful com
binations and conspiraoies, organized
and armed. and 80 numerous md power
1nl as to be able to overthrow or set at
defiance the authority of the United
States, do continue to exist in the nine
Counties he has put under bayonet rule.
70 this assertion the most reputable
journals in South Carolina give fiat
denial. To serve his own selfish ends,
President Grant seeks to impress the
Northern people with the belief that
South Carolina is in o condition Of an
arohy: The Radicals of that State, find.
ing that the power they have held 80
long, and used 30 merciIessly. is slipping
away from them have filed the Calm