The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-10-04
sew. w. HoIden's Completely with

The last Sentinel makes an extract from
speech recently delivered at Lancaster, Pa.
by the Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, in which i
is stated that Gov. Holden, while in Wash
ington last summer, advised Mr.. Stevens tt
introduce bill to reorganize the Southern
States on the basis of white and negro suf
frage. Mr.. Stevens says:
Every loyal Southern man came to m,
and asked me to put it in the bill. Tier,
was not a loyal man, from Governor Hamil
ton to Governor Holden, Chief Justice Pow
ell and Governor Sherwood--there were
twenty of these men driven from their homes
who dare not 90 back for fear of being muir
dered. They came to help me to fabricatt
the bill 1t was not the rebels that did it
it of the loyal men that said give
US that bill; and the vote of the loyal white
men, added to that of the loyal black men
can carry every State but Virginia. was
in a caucus one night, when Governor Ham
ilton told us'' to give them that law, and al
though we are now in the minority, and
dare not go home, for should be murdered,
give us that bill, and we can carry Texas on
the side of the Union by twenty-five thou,
sand majority" Governor Holden told me
the same, and so did everybody except the
Virginians."
We were in Washington in June and July
last. We saw and conversed with the Pres
ident four times. We saw Messrs Seward,
Stanton, McCulloch, Welles, Speed, Randall,
and Harlan, of the Cabinet, each once. We
saw Mr.. Stevens twice, Mr.. Summer twice,
and Messrs. Clark, Doolittle, Kelly, Bout
well, Trunlbull, and others frequently, at the
Capitol and at the hotels. We conversed
with all these gentlemen freely on the state
of the country. We did not stop specially to
inquire whether they were Radicals or not, as
our object was to obtain information, and to
do what we could to restore North Carolina
to the Union. We did not see Gov. Hamit-
ton. We called at his boarding house, and
found him absent. We were not present at
any caucus or consultation of Republicans or
Radicals, nor were we invited to attend any
such caucus or consultation. We heard not
one word from Mr.. Summer, or Mr.. Stevens,
or Mr. Boutwell,, or Mr.. Kelly, or any one
else, about negro suffrage Mr. Sumner, for
instance, conversed for one hour on the state
of the country in general terms, speaking
kindly of the Southern people, and express
ing desire that the Union should be re-
stored but he made no ailusion to negro
suffrage. We saw Mr. Stevens in the room
of the Clerk of the House, III presence of Dr..
Powell, Dr. Sloan, Gen. Banks, and others.
The conversation was hurried, as the House
was in session, and Mr. Stevens was called
off once to vote. He said, among other
things that the whole work of reconstruc
ton under the President was a usurpation,
and null and void. OF course we could not
agree to that, as we had been an actor in
this work ourself He said he would see to
it that this work should not stand In this
it is we'll known he agrees with Judge Ruff
fin, of this State. He spoke of an enabling
act, but we did not see it. Negro suffrage
was not mentioned by any one during the
conversation. We have not, to this day.
seen Mr.. Stevens enabling act. 1t was in
troduced at the heel of the session, and we
looked for it in vain in the Washington pa
pers. Just as we were about to leave, Dr.
Powell handed Mr.. Stevens new test-oath,
to be adopted in the place of the present
test-oath. We do not remember the words
of this oath sufficiently we'll to repeat them,
but this oath had our approval, us milder
and better one than that which now exists.
Before we went to Washington, while we
were there, and since our return, negro suf-
frage has not been in all our thoughts as a
measure to be voluntarily adopted by our
people. We saw and heard enough, how
ever, to convince us that if the Howard
amendment should not be accepted by the
Southern States reorganization would fol-
low, with negro suffrage, confscation of
property, and many other evils. This is the
extent of our Aadicalism, and of our g COM
plicity" with Mr.. Stevens
We have no idea that Mr.. Stevens intend
ed to misstate our position. We do not be-
lieve him capable of falsehood or intentional
misrepresentation. 1t is natural that he
should include us with other Southern 10y
alists in his general statement as to what
they desired. Gov. Hamilton is known to
be in favor of negro suffrage. He attended
the Republican caucus. and spoke to that
effect We did not We told MIR. Stevens
and Others, Us zoe told the President, in sub
stance what we have said in our Address in
relation to the condition of things in this
State. We told them that loyalty in North
Carolina was at the bottom and disloyalty
on top; that our State government was in
the hands of the secessionists that supreme
devotion to the Union was neither a passport
to office nor badge of responsibility and
that the Unionists of the State were depress-
ed and disheartened, and the cause of resto-
ration INSTRUCTED by this condition of thin gs.
We said this then, we set it out in full in our
Address, and we stand to it now
We differ with Mr.. Stevens not only in re-
gard to negro suffrage, but as to the Howard
amendment We wish the South to take
that amendment to avoid further and greater
evils; Mr.. Stevens does not want the South
to take it, as her refusal to do so will give
him grounds to force upon US confiscation,
executions for treason, and negro suffrage
The Sentinel asks, did Mr.. Holden init
mate to Mr.. Stevens that he had been driven
from home, and was afraid to go back, for
fear of being murdered2" We did not. We
are not afraid to live in North Caroline