Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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A Qunndarr. Tho "fix" in which the radicals find themselves is tersely stated by thc Washington correspondent of the Chicago Times. Nothing is moro un? pleasant than to stand between two sharp horus of a dilemma, one of ?which you must take, and either of which pierces to the quick. And that is the position of our amiable friends, the Puritan radicals : The Republican politicians who have congregated here aro in an awkward dilemma. In six weeks from now they have got to choose between two alternatives, equally un? palatable. They have got to either endorse the reconstruction policy of President Johnson, ?md admit the members of Congress from the South? ern States to their seats; or else they have got to oppose the admission of those members, and declare opon war agaiust the President, and array them? selves in open opposition to him and to his policy. They are fully aware of the conse? quences of either step. They know that if they choose the latter alterna? tive, they Irivo President Johnson into the arms ot the Democratic party, to whom he must and will look for support; and they know further, that the President, thus deserted by them, will withdraw the executive patronage from them, and bestow every office in bis gift and every position within the sphere of his influence, upon those who will have rallied to his support. To see a Southern man in the Cabinet as Secretary of War, and a Northern Democrat holding another seat in that body aa Attorney-General ; and to see Democrats everywhere ap? pointed collectors of taxes, custom h*use officers and postmasters-these will be bitter pills for the "loyal" to .swallow. But what is the other alter? native ? If they choke down their -chagrin and yield their support to the President's policy of restoration, Con? gress will be organized with a full delegation of Senators and Represen? tatives from every Southern State. Instead of having complete control of the legislation of Congress, here is the way the matter will soon stand. In the Senate-from the ten States, nineteen conservative members and one radical; from the five border States, six conservative and Demo? cratic Senators and five radicals; and from twenty-one Northern States, nine Democratic Senators and thirty three radicals; total, thirty-seven con? servative and Democratic Senators, and thirty-eight radicals. Butin this enumeration of radicals are included at least three Senators who may, and probably will, on many occasions, vote in support of the Democrats. In the House-from the ten Southern States, fifty-five conservative mem? bers; from the five border States, nineteen conservative and Demo? cratic members and fifteen radicals; and from twenty-one Northern States, forty-seven Democratic members and one hundred and twelve radicals; total, one hundred and twenty-seven radicals and one hundred and twenty one conservatives and Democrats. And among the radicals there are four from the border States and four from the Northern States, (and one of these from New England !) who, it is feared, will vote with the President's policy. Snell is the dilemma in which the Republican party linds itself. Squirm as tliey may, they cannot dodge the issue. They have either got to admit the Southern members, and taus give up the power in Congress, or else, bj opposing the President, become them? selves the "traitors" that they have called everybody, for four years past, who has opposed thu President's policy. Tliey will be "loyal" no longer; for loyalty consisted only in a blind adherence to the President's policy. For some weeks past they Lave been at their wit's end which horn of the dilemma to choose. -. Colonel J. li. Wood, proprietor of tin* Chicago Museum, in announcing the suspension of the free list, makes the following remarks : "Deadheads" are those who obtain something for nothing. Hence, an editor or re? porter who visits the Museum, and gives bis readers a description of what lie sees and hears there (thus rendering a t/uirfpro quo for his ticket) is as far as possible from being a 'dead head.' In fact, I always con? sider 'printer's ink' as more valuable than money, and am, therefore, ever anxious to establish a mutind and equitable exchange of courtesies with those who write fort?n; public press." There is an old lady living in Bos? ton over seventy years of age, who can repeat all the Psalms of David and Solomon's Proverbs by heart. No matter at what verse you begin, she will take up thc cue and pr^.-eed to the end of the chapter. tendency of civilization is to enlarge Governments, and not to disintegrate j them. All causes of discontent or dissatisfaction between the North and the South, have been removed by the abolition of slavery. The different sections of this great Republic are mutually dependent on each other, and the one cannot live well without the others. The Southern States plant cotton, and the Northern States manufacture it. The great West I grows grain, and raises live stock for the supply of both sections. We all speak the same language, and have the same common origin. Our opinions and feelings in regard to the republican principles of government are identical There is, too, a similarity in our pursuits and habits, man? ners, customs, and religion and education. History teaches us that the present asperity of feeling, which may exist in the breasts of many, in consequence of the wrongs and injuries of tho war, will soon wear out. Brave and honorable men are always ready and willing to become reconciled. History teaches us, too, that the ravages of war are much more easily repaired than one is apt to suppose. An indus? trious and enterprising people will soon restore a country desolated by war. Such a people may soon convert a wilderness into productive and highly improved farms. No one need despair of tho State. In a few years, with peace and industry, everything will change and wear a pros? perous and happy aspect. You have, gentlemen, in your legislative capacity arduousand responsible duties to perform, requiring great prudence and forethought. Your finances and banking system, now prostrate, have to bc restored ; your laws have to be amended to suit the changed condition of the State ; your militia system, now more important than ever, requires your earliest con? sideration ; your judiciary must be restored, and in some respects it would be proper to make improvements in the system. But I am trespassing on the prerogatives of the Constitutional Governor. Henceforth, all of my communications, as the representative of the Federal Government, must be made through him. ami to him I Lope rn.r>Qt devoutly that I may have none to make, except one, which authorizes mc to say that the President of the United States recognizes South Carolina, once more, as a member of the Federal Union, fully restored to all of her Constitutional rights. In conclusion, gentlemen, let mc return you my most grateful thanks for the very flattering manner in which you have conferred on me the high and distinguished trust of representing the State of South Carolina in the Senate of the United States. Ind let me assure you that all my energies and humble talents will be devoted to the pomotion of the best interests of the State, her welfare and honor. I bid you an affectionate adieu. The Governor elect then addressed the members of the General Assembly as follows : Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives : 1 The Constitution of South Carolina requires that the oath of office of the Governor shall be taken in your presence ; and immemorial usage requires him to make, on such an occasion, a brief exposition of the prin? ciples which will control his administration. The high honor conferred on mo by a majority of my fellow-citizens, in choosing me their first Governor under the new Constitution, and the eventful period in the State's history when the selection is made, fills me with a sense of the profoundest gratitude. I approach its grave duties and responsibilities with the deepest humility, and with a sincere distrust of my capacity to discharge them in such manner as to satisfy tho reason? able expectation of the State. Under these circumstances, I can venture with safety to make at least one pledge to the people of this ancient Commonwealth : that all the zeal and energy of my nature, during my official term, shall bo earnestly and constantly devoted to their service. With the uniform practice of that partiality which caused them to elevate me to this great office, I trust they will exercise a generous confidence in all the acts of my administration, always giving me full credit for just and patriotic motives. The State is -now just eiit?n>0 ..t-? <?mi uubi'ieu cuiuor, where there is much to hope for -ind not a little to fear. All of our old land? marks in politics have be^ii swept off by thc fires of war. Oui social and industrial systems have perished from thc same unrelenting and unpitying cause. Some of our most distinguished citizens, and many of our most promising young men, have fallen martyrs to the ancient principles of Smith Carolina. Grief over the biers of the loved ones has lilied every household, and the tears of the widow and the orphan have bedewed every hearthstone. And yet, amid this general wreck in all the relations of life, it would be unmanly to despond. Tho highest courage and the sternest fortitude is demanded wherever the heaviest calamities overtake and threaten to cngulph us. The people of South Carolina seceded from the Federal Inion under an earnest and honest conviction that they had the Constitutional right so to do ; and they were equally earnest and honest in the conviction that their interest and the security of a very large property in slaves required them to resort to this extreme measure. Other States united with her to set up a new Government. Tho Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial Departments of the United States Government all denied tho right which we had asserted, and war ensued. All parties knew that shivery waa the real foundation of the collision between the sections. The South engaged in it to preserve and perpetuate it ; the North to destroy it. Four years of bloody, desolating war was spent in settling the issue, which had been committed to the arbitrament of the sword, and that High Tribunal from which there is no earthly appeal, decided the cause against us. It was a final, irreversible decree. We were exhausted, our annies surrendered, our last available recruit had been sent to the front, and our resources were all consumed. We succumbed to the power of the United States, and under the wise and magnanimous policy of President Johnson we will, I hope and believe, very soon be restored to all our personal and political rights in the Federal Union, on terms of perfect equality with all the States oi that powerful sisterhood. The war has decided, first : That one or more of the States of tht Federal Union have not tho right, at will, to secede therefrom. The doc? trine of secession, which was held to be orthodox in the State Rights school of politics, is now exploded for any practical purpose. The theory of absolute sovereignty of a State of the Federal Union (from whence was derived the right to secede) which was believed almost universally to ho. a sound constitutional construction, must also be materially modified tc conform to this imposing decision. in all the powers granted in the Con? stitution to the Federal Government, it is supreme and sovereign, and must be obeyed and respected accordingly. Where tho rights of a State arc; disregarded, or unconstitutional acts done by any department of tht Federal Government, redress can no longer be sought hy interposing the sovereignty of the Slate, either for nullification or secession ; bul the remedy is by petition or remonstrance; by reason, which sooner 01 later will overtake' justice ; by an appeal to the supreme judicial power oi the Union ; or by revolution, which, if unsuccessful, is treason. The decision was far more imposing and obligatory than if it had beer pronounced by the Supreme Court of the United States. Had it beer tried there, an effort to reverse it might have been made, because its members and opinions often change. But the God of Battles has pro nounced an irreversible judgment, after a long, desperate and sanguinary struggle, and it would be neither politic or patriotic ever again to invoke a new trial of the fearful issue. The clemency which President Johnson has so generously extended tt many of our citizens, in granting full and free pardon for participation in the late revolution, does honor to his statesmanship and to his sense ol justice. He is the ruling power of a great and triumphant Government and by his policy, will attach by cords stronger than "triple steel" tin citizens of one entire section o? the Union to that Government wnich hi has so long and so ably supported and maintained. He was well acquaintec with the South-with lier politics and politicians, and knew howeve erroneous in his judgment may have been their political principles, tba they honestly entertained the sentiments which they professed, and fo which they periled their all ; and after failing in their end, when they proposed to retara to their loyalty, that humanity and policy dictated that they should not be hunted down for ignominious punishment. I shall give his policy of reconstruction an earnest and zealous support The war decided, second : That slavery should be totally and absolutely exterminated in all the States of the Union. The Convention of thia State, with singular unanimity and promptness, accepted the result of the 1 issue made, and declared in the fundamental law "that slaves having been emancipated by the action of the United States authorities, slavery should never be re-established in this State." The Legislature has followed up the action of the Convention, by mas? ing the Constitutional amendment proposed by the Federal Congress pro? hibiting slavery everywhere in the United States, and conferring on Con? gress power to carry the same into effect. Slavery in America is, there I fore, forever extinct. The people of South Carolina have acquiesced in i this sequence of the war with remarkable cheerfulness, especially when it i is noted that her people have been the staunchest defenders of the insti I tution, on principle of policy, for more than a century-that her interest j in the institution was greater, relatively, than any of her sisters, its cash value at the beginning of tho war being more than two hundred millions of dollars-and that, from a settled conviction, her two great staples of cottou and rice could only be successfully cultivated by compulsory labor. The Convention and the Legislature, both recently elected by the peo? ple, have no doubt faithfully represented the sentiment of their constitu? ents on this subject, and it cannot be doubted that, since thc slave is emancipated, it is the fixed purpose of the people to secure to him his rights of person and property as a freedman-that a just remuneration I shall be paid him for his labor, and that he shall be protected against the j fraud and violence of the artful and the lawless. The importance of your j legislation, regulating the relative rights and duties of the whites and tho * j freedmen, ?t you* present session, cannot be over-estimated. Thc vital i interests of the State, in my judgment, are dependent solely upon the laws I you may pass with reference to this population. They must be restrained i from theft, idleness, vagrancy and crime, und taught the absolute neces ! sity of strictly complying with their contracts for labor. They must bo protected in their person und property ; and, for a few years at least, some : supervisory power should be established to ratify their contracts for labor, until their experience and increasing knowlege may teach them to guard against the craft of the unscrupulous. To insure his protection of person and property, and to guard society against tumultuous disturbances of tho peace-against trespasses, retaliations and ossasinationa-it will be indis? pensably necessary to modify the rules of evidence so as to permit the negro to testify in all cases where his rights of person and property are , involved. The labor of every negro in the State is needed, if not to till the soil, ? in some other useful employment-for the culture of cotton and rice ; ; and, in all menial occupations, it is very doubtful whether any laborers in j this country or in Europe can supply his place. His long and thorough ! training in these employments give him a certain skill and aptitude which I a stranger can only obtain by experience. It is, therefore, of tho first im? portance, that such a policy should be adopted as will enable thc farmers and planters to employ the negro, and that he should remain cheerful and contented. But there is another consideration prompting us to legislate humanely and justly for the negro. He has been born and reared among us, and while he has, unfortunately, qualities that stamp his inferiority to the white man, he possesses others that invite our respect. As a class, during the war, their loyalty to their owners and to society was worthy of the highest commendation. In no single instance, even where the slave population preponderated over the whites as an hundred to one, was there an outbreak or insurrection. "With a full knowledge on their part of the nature of the contest, and the deep personal interest they had in ita issue, is it not wonderful that they quietly pursued their labor, and mainly produced the supplies that fed our armies ? If there be reason to complain that the negro has been emancipated in fln????^? tUo right and interese o? tue owner, such complaint cannot be lodged against him ; whatever of ill feeling exists in the minds of former owners for the present state of affairs, it is uot just that it should be visited on him. Interest and humanity require us to treat him kindly, and to elevate him, morally and intellectually; it will make him a better laborer, neighbor and man. Suddenly relieved from the restraints of the servile condition in which he was born and reared, his ignorance can excite no surprise ; nor eau wo hope that he will eschew vice and crime. If he is to live in our midst, none are so deeply interested in enlightening and elevating him as our? selves. The Constitution of the United States recognized property in slaves, and an appropriation was made by Congress to indemnify slave owners, in tho District of Columbia, when slavery was abolished there in 1861. I therefore cherish the hope that Congress will, as soon as the public debt is provided for, make some just and equitable arrangement, to make the citizens of the South some compensation for the slaves manumitted by the United States authorities. The pursuits of South Carolina have not heretofore been sufficiently diversified. Agriculture was the great business of the State. The me? chanic, the manufacturer, and the artisan have not been encouraged to migrate hither, and the native population have not embarked in these employments. The result haa been that most of the proceeds of the two great staple erops-cotton and rice-have been expended without tho limits of the State, in purchasing such necessary articles as should have been fabricated or manufactured within our borders. Every facility and encouragement should be given by thc State govern? ment and by the people, to immigrants from the North and from Europe, so that this great deficiency in skilled labor may, at an early day, be supplied. Under our former system of labor, immigration was discoun? tenanced from au apprehension that the immigrants, when they located in tho country, would prove hostile and dangerous to the institution of slavery from want of knowledge and sympathy in it. The great chango in the condition of the negroes has removed this objection, and the material prosperity of the Slate imperatively demands a great increase of agricultural and skilled mechanical labor. The present ia a most auspicious time for embarking in manufacturing pursuits. Th?; high tariff which is likely to be continued for many years without material reduction, promises such protection to this interest ?A will enable every branch of manufactures to be developed. The extensivo water-power in tho central, Northern and Westen; portions of the State the salubriousness of the climate-the equable temperature-the facilities for transportation over the railroads penetrating every section of the State, invite capitalists, at home and abroad, to invest their money in these enter? prises promising such handsome remunerating rewards. Companies are already being organized to negotiate the selling and purchasing of lands and manufacturing sites, and wherever a citizen owns a water-power and is unable to improve it with his own means, let him invite his neighbors to form a company; and if that fails, invite strangers; and if that fails, let him sell to those who will improve and develop it. Bv well directed enterprise and energy every water-power in the State, in a'few brief years, will be decorated with a manufactory or a machino shop. The accumulation of capital and the great influx of population it will bring will stimulate industry. The farmer having a home market can diversify his labor and make it more profitable. Activity will be imparted to commercial pursuits. Manufactures will flourish and yield large profits to their owners, fostered and protected as they will be for many years by high protective tariffs. A harmonious combination of agriculture, com? merce and manufactures- and all of them are inviting in this State-will bring us wealth and prosperity. We can then build up school houses and churches and colleges, and make new Carolina not unworthy of the fame and renown of old Carolina. Our first great want is enterprise and industry-if we will them we com? mand them. Our next great want is skilled labor-this must come from the Ne. th and from Europe ; it will not como if we do not invite it and extend the hand of friendship to the immigrant. If he is looked upon