The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-05-08
Tho Condition OF tho South as Viewed
by an EnRlishman.

AS during. .ouFFwar ior lfcee.iop it Was
particularly painful and .AiscouraWngto
know that the fs'oivlNed world Wis
against US" in ohr prSSslavety ideas, so
now it is. in 40 snail degree. comforting.
when we reflect upon our ruined and
we'll nigh hopeless condition, to feel that
the ''civilized world" appreciates our
situation, and attributes our misfortunes
to their rightful causes. .O.
It vis @ fact as true as it. is, surprising
that then condition /, of the South, the
wrongs that have been heaped upon her
since the war, and the causes that have
prevented her growth and prosperity,
are more clearly seen and truthfully and
Justly commented upon across the At
lantic, and especially by English writer's.
than by our neighbors and fellow-oiti-
zens OF the North-even among those
who are disposed to be friendly, and to
bring about genuine reconciliation be-
tween the sections.
: In Q late number Of, the London Satur-
day Reuie,0. we find an excellent article
upon the South; the present deplorable
state of affairs; the diabolical and de-
struotive policy Of hate evinoed by Ra-
dical reconstruction, go. Speaking of
the immense destruction OF private pro-
perty by the Federal soldiery during the
war, the writer says: g
'The Prussjane, in their last invasion
OF Frances were not considered to have
erred on the side of lenity, but, except
in the immediate neighborhood OF bat.
tle-heids, they do not seem to have been
guilty OF wanton hayoo. Private dwell.
ings may now and then have been plum
dered; acquisitions were levied; but no
Prossian general wilfully destroyed the
residence OF French marshal, as Gen.
Lees house was destroyed, burnt town
Columbia, or made bonfire of Libraries
and public reoords, as was regularly
done by the Federal troops. French
manufactures and agriculture suffered
for the time; but buildings and machine
ry were spared, and very few years will
replace the material losses Of the ocou-
pied provinces. In the South, the traces
OF the war are everywhere visible to this
day. Wherever the Federal troops came,
they destroyed all that they could not
remove; not only railways and stores,
but cotton factories, iron factories, plan
tation buildings, cotton gins and presses,
sugar boiler6 and refineries-in short,
the whole industrial apparatus OF the
staple productions Of the South. When
the war was over. it was impossible to
resume work until the entire fxed capi-
tai OF the country-the accumulated
wealth OF generations-had been re-
placed. Aud no facilities were given for
such replacement"
After showing how grossly the Radical
party has violated all the solemn and re.
peated declarations Of the United States
Congress and of President Lincoln
during the war, that all that was re-
CURED was submission to the law and
return to the Union, and that no attempt
should be made to deprive the Statee
their ancient liberties, the writA' .son
to say, that had Mr.. Lincol:. llyed, the
pledges might have been kept. The
military despotism through which recon
struction. so.called, was effected, is
vividly depicted, and its results upon the
State Governments at the South shown
with astonishing accuracy. He says:
I'm general, the only available candi-
dates are 'scallawags' and carpet-b bag-
gers, renegade Confederates who have
made their peace with the conquerors,
or Northern adventurers who have come
South in order to pick up living as
Office e-holders, and who obtain their cleo
ton by fattering the ignorance and
vanity of the negroes. Under their rule,
the country cannot but suffer. The me-
groes pay no taxes, for the poll-tax is the
only State tax not levied on property;
and this is not collected. There is,
therefore, no motive to restrain the ex-
travaganoe OF the official adventurers;
the tax.paying whites are powerless; the
untaxed negroes are hattered or bribed
into acquiescenoe; and while the strug-
Cling people, still desperately striving to
repair the havoc of the war. are op-
pressed by an intolerable load of taxes,
their rulefs often enrich themselves by
pecnlations, not approaching those of
the Tammany clique in magnitude, but
not falling short of them in impudence,
and more serious IN proportion to the
resources of the viakfmiZad commnn;