The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-10-25

We are glad TO know that at no precinct
in our glorious old North State was any vo-
j ter, by moral or physical influence, proven,
ted from giving full expression to his politi-
cal views Weldon State.
IL IF this be true, it shows the good effects
of the new order OF things 1t proves that
! the old flag protects all who rest beneath its
folds In 1864, in many localities, persons
who voted against Davis and Vance were
reviled, beaten, arrested, and sent to Sails
bury or Castle Thunder on suspicion" of
disloyalty; soldiers who voted for peace can
1 didates were bucked, suspended by their
thumbs, and sent to the front to be slain in
battle The names of those who voted
against Vance were marked on the backs of
their tickets, so that they might be spotted
to be put in the army, or be embarrassed or
ruined in their business by combinations
against Them The more readily to ascertain
who voted against him, Gov. Vance, in vio-
lation of the law caused his tickets to be
printed on colored paper. AT box in
Virginia, the votes cast by soldiers against
Vance were taken out and destroyed by the
inspectors at this place, persons visited the
Hospitals where the soldiers were voting,
took the anti-Vance tickets out of their
hands and destroyed them, while officers
stood over the ballot-boxes swearing that any
soldier, no matter how sick or infirm, who
voted against Vance should be at once sent
to the front; and at one place in Virginia,
sick soldier who had voted against Vance
was taken out of his bunk by some ruffians,
his head shaved and ridden on a rail- All
this was bad enough, but we tell the Presi-
dent and we tell the Congress that it is in
tolerable that the very men who thus tram
pied on and scourged the Unionists of this
State. should now control and lord it
over our people. If these leaders who are
lOrding it over us, were left to themselves,
and feared no consequences from their deeds,
no man would now be allowed to vote in
this State who could not swear or prove that
he was true Confederate and in full SYM
pathy with the rebellion.
1t is true no "phvsical influence" was
brought to bear upon the Unionists of the
State, for that would have been instantly re-
pressed by the national government; but
every moral influence" was resorted to, in
order to confuse, intimidate, and prevent
Union men from voting their honest senti-
ments. Unconditional Union men were ma
ligned, bemeaned, and reviled as 'mean
white menn-as Yankees, Radicals, and trait
ors to the South, and lying demagogues in
nearly every locality held up the Northern
people as q set of Vandals, intent on dishon-
oring the Confederate dead and degrading
and running those who survive. Is he true
fEo he I;a.yo off he
Congress as disuniOnists or enemies to the c0un-
tTy9 Such were the issues that shaped the
elections every where, and in no locality
more than that in which the State circulates.
The Congress of the United States, at its
late session, proposed by two-thirds vote
certain amendments to the Constitution
Any proposition emanating from the legisla-
tive department of the government is enti-
tied to respectful consideration. We may
object to it, and may be determined to re-
ect it; but can not, as loyal men, de-
nOunce it as an outrage in advance and re-
fuse to consider it. We can not as loyal
men disposed to keep our oaths, revile
traitors to the South, and threaten with po-
litical and social ostracism such of our citi-
zens as are disposed, under the circumstan-
ces, to accept these propositions as an alter
native against greater evils. The following
extract from communication in the State,
endorsed by that paper, will afford some
idea of the views and sentiments of its Edi-
tor Speaking of the proposed constitu-
tional amendment the correspondent says:
.God forbid that such stigma should
ever rest upon the bri ght escutcheon ofNorth-
Carolina In the war of the Revolution she
did her whole duty; in the recent unhappy
struggle she has done and suffered all that
the most exalted patriotism could de-
mand
Her noble sons are now sleeping upon every
battlefield from the extreme South to the
deadly heights of Gettysburg. The fond
mother has been denied the pleasure of wei
coming back to his home the gallant boy
who left her with bounding heart to serve
his country The widows and orphans are
now suffering all the privations of poverty,
robbed of those, Gathers and brothers) who
alone could support them, and depending
upon the cold charities of selfish world. l
ask you, sir the distinguished editor of 2
leading journal, and one who has felt the Bit
terness of war; to tell me, if it can be posi-
BILE. in such State with such people, that
so gross an outrage can be perpetrated2
Answer the question, as l know you will, and
relieve your State of such stigma"