The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1871-11-09
COLUMBIA,sS s. @.
Thursday Morning. November a.ils7l.

OAo 4AA-A11xANEtos We
Thursday Morning. November a.,ls7l.
TEE REIGN OF TERROR IN sourH OARo.
LINA.-A Few years ago it would have
been believed impossible that suoh scenes
as are now. occurring in South Oar6lina
could happen, in this age of the world,
in any country inhabited by the AfiRlo-
Saxon race, and, least Of all, ia, q land
which claims 20 DO the iand OF :tih,s Tree
and the model republic of modern time.
A reign Of terror in those Counties of
the State where habeds corpus HAS been
suspended; people actually flying from
their homes to the mountains; nearly
every prominent man, the telegraph
states. in the alleged insurrectionafy dis
tricts arrested by the military and, am
prlsono0; cavalry making oraids land
sei2ing captives as in q timc, df war.
Why is this? On the 18th of October
the President issued his, proclamation
suspending the privilege of the writ Of
III s;eds corpus in divers Counties OF South
CSrolina. He Issued that proclamation
under law which. gives him power, to
suspend the privilege of the writ in any
State where. lin his opinion, the public
safety shall require it, and in his procln!
nation he assumes that the Counties
named in his proclamation are in state
of rebellion. This assumption is, no
doubt, made to bring the suspension of
ticle OF the Constitution, which declares
that ''the privilege OF the writ of habeus
corpus shall not be suspended unless
when in cases 3f rebellion orSinvasion
the public safety may demand it," The
Constitution thus clearly specifies what
are the cases In which che "public safe
ty" justi6es b suspension, OF, the writ,
and to those cases it is striotly confined.
Rebellion or invasion are facta which do
not depend upon "the opinion'n of iahy
one, but are matters Of absolute know-
ledge, and certainty as open. armed arm Sasist-,
ance to the Government or invasion must
necessarily be. The state Of things in
April, 1861, when. Abraham IdHcnln
called for rs, 600 men, could. scarcely
lave beepia matter Of ''opinion." Out
side Of the proclamation Of Gen. Grant,
who ever dreamed that there was a s'te-
bellion" ia, South Carolina? Who be-
lieves it now?l Rebellion, as We lhave
heretofore shown, is opeE s1eAistakEe to,
the Government and tsssisfSt- =, Up j. ii arIns
against it. Even on the ,,Snppbsltibn
that secret. organiEati ionsi exist which
have punished.smend by. whipping or
death. is, that "tebellionq's:t No one can
pretend it'll addition TO- this there is
no evidence OF any more assaults upbp,
individuals by local bands in tScnsh: :ne4i
rolipa than in North Carolina, and III theI
Federal Judge and the District Attorney
in that State could inaugurate a reign of
terror without the : aid OF the military,
why suspend the writ of habeds corpus in
South Oarolina?E The results Of. this
needless enforcement vi an unconstitu-
tional law are; witnessed in the heart
rending afiiotiops and distress of a'suf-
fering people, who. claim to have been
living in peaceful submission to tho laws.
and giving no pretext for bringing into
requisition the stringent appliances of
despotism. Correspondence writing
from different neighborhoods in South
Carolina state that the white male poru-
lation, remembering that in the ;ca!c;e!
proceedings in North Carolina aocusa-
tion was equivalent to conviction, and
that if the policy of packing jnries suo-
ceeds in South Carolina as in North Ca
rolina, the same results,may be expected
there. are leaving. excepting few old
and infirm men, or others whose families
are in such condition that they cannot
be abandoned. It is said that even men
fifty and sixty years of age-some of
them grand?fathers-left on horse back
with such. baggage only as they could
carry in pair of saddlebags. The
jails are said to be already filled to over
flowing with miserable men arrested un-
der the arbitrary provisions of the Ku
Kiux law. The most petty cases of as
sault have been msgnifed into organized
combinations to overthrow the Govern
ment Of the United States. Equally
frivolous arrests have been made in all
directions. rs .oslsi,tp ....s:r .iaul
At this rate South Carolina will be.
come denuded of its decent white popu-
lation. Ali OF Its people who can get
away will seek refuge for life and liberty
in exile. IfIany other section, desired
ito destroy the value Of Southern pro! /!
perty, keep down the price Of Southern
lands, and prevent Immigration, no bet
teridevice could be found. @ The horrors
of sueh conditions. are almost incredi-
BILE. There isi. no such absolute and
cruel despotism now,in operation on the
face Of the earth sia being Witnessed
at this hour in South Carolina in the
enforcement, of the, Ku Klux Act. The