The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1874-07-17
COLUMBIA, s. G.
Friday Morning, July II, 1874.
The EVIL OF Keeping UP q Standing
Army IN South CorolIna.

The EVIL OF Keeping UP q Standing g
Army IN South CorolIna.
We have taken occasion, more than
once, to say that no dissatisfaction is
felt at the presence Of the United
States troops in Columbia upon any
personal grounds. They conduct
themselves' officers and men. with pro.
spriety, and by their discretion. temper
the unpleasantness OF the sort of duty
upon which they are kept. The popu.
lar and accepted view of their business
here has been that. ia addition to Civ
ing assistance. when necessary, in the
0ollection of the internal revenue, they
dolstered the State Government. For
.shis Stat" Government, having grown
TO be 9 tyranny and an outrage, and as
Mr. Pike, q Republican writer, says,
''a hugo system OF brigandage," does
not rest upon any moral basis ut oil.
ii cannot stand alone. In the absence
OF the consent and approval of tho
Intelligent citizens, who recognize
-moral obligation. in the utter bauish-
r:ment from its administration OF affairs
OF the higher intellect and the higher
moral sentiments Of the people, it has
g esek its security il brute force.
Senator Robertson was undoubtedly
-:zRht in saying to the President, that
. the mass OF the people. black and
: white, believed that the forces are kept
:: here for-the purpose OF sustaining the
: State Government Tha. opinion is
perfectly natural and just. for they
have accomplished exactly that por-
pose. Few as they we're. they symbo-
Ized the power and willingness of the
General Government to repress every
fsmpuise OF contempt, every movement
s'~of indignation. which the people
= 1oieht feel or make against their op-
\, pressors. They have accordingly been
held down under their dirty heels,
\ until the world has found it out, and
,>no8sRe hear everewhere, over all this
broad country, the cry OF "Shame!
shamel''
We are gratifed, we are more than
thankful, to learn from the President
that. in keeping the troops here, it is
mot meant that they sustain the State
Government. This shows that he
feels and shrinks from the opprobrium
OF bolstering suoh foul concern. II
he. however. will take the trouble to
aeok little further into our affairs, he
will fnd that whatever purpose he
may keep the troops here for, the mass
OF the people. as represented by Sena-
tor Robertson, are correct in attribut-
ing to them the effect OF upholding the
State Government. He can read the
admission OF this substantially almost
any morning in tho journals of the
party. 1t leans npon this foreign
force. It looks anxiously every day TO
Washington. It breads the hour when
An order shall be issued which shall
remove from its bringing gaze the stars
and stripes. emblem of liberty every
where else, but here the symbol which
protects a despicable tyranny. Every
where else it waves in pride and honor;
here its folds dip into the cess. pool Of
corruption, and flap approvingly over
infamy and shame. The President
has become aensible OF this corruption
and tyranny. but whatever suggestions
he may make for their extirpation,
however excellent and effeotusl they
might be il adopted under other cir
cnmstances, they can have but little
influence. 30 long as the national flag
10 used to cover and protect wrongs
they are aimed at. If the President
vonld inaugurate genuine reform, if
he wonld do measure OF Justice to-
wards those who have long felt the
evils OF it's absence, if he would lift
Sonth Carolina from her PROSTATE
condition, and make her once more q
SsNte-a Republican State. in fact as
we'll as in name-let him not longer
use the powers of the Governme ent.