The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1866-02-14
RALEIGH N G. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY L. 1866
.tea Day after day these gentlemen deso-

fate9 Day after day these gentlemen devo-
ted every leisure moment to signing petitions
for pardonsr--to procuring for applicants the
restoration of their forfeited rights and to
reconstructing the State So anxious was
the Governor ON this subject, that he made
one or more trips to Washington to urgethe
President to sign the applications for par
dons of Yirginians. How, has he been re-
warded We need not say that the General
Assembly have turned out his confidential
Secretary, his Treasurer, and his agent at the
penitentiary Not only that-they have dis
carded his railroad proxies, refused to adopt
every measure he has recommended, and
done all else in their power to bring odium
on his adnninistration-and this, too, whilst
many of the members hold their seats through
his 4 reconstruction recommendations.
1t is unpleasant for us to refer to these
things. We sincerely desire to see the past
buried, and its political follies and sorrows
forgotten. We feel that bright future
awaits Virginia, if her people viii accept
their situation gracefully, and apply them
selves to the present and the future; but
when parties undertake to anathematize the
Union men of Virginia, and to hold them up
to the scorn and 'derision of their neighbors
when they assert that they and their fol-
lowers are thoroughly loyal, and that origi-
nal Union men are traitors to their native
State, and are therefore unworthy ofposition
or confidence, it becomes our duty to show
up the practical workings of their miscalled
loyalty, and to endeavor to open the eyes of
the honest masses to the new troubles into
which their pretended friends and false adj
visers would drive them.
To us controversies are always unpleasant,
but particularly so now, because of the con-
dition Of the country. We would therefore
avoid them, as Improbable to the public, if
we could But if they are forced upon us,
we shall defend the right, and, in doing so,
may be compelled to use written testimony
that may not be pleasant to those for whom
We entertain no unkind feelings, personally"
Report on Banks and Banking.
We publish to-day the able and interesting
Report of the joint select committee on Banks
and Banking, submitted to the Legislature
few days since.
The revolted States staked every thing
upon the conflict of arms Discarding reason
and negotiation, they adopted the last resort,
that of revolution. They failed. Every thing
was then lost but the existence of the State
itself, with its name and its boundaries. This
existence was suspended until such time as
the rebellion should be suppressed, and the
functions of the State should be restored to
| activity by the word of the conqueror, that
is, of the commander-in-chief of the federal
armies Every citizen was in some sense a
rebel, and consequently, all property of what
soever kind was liable to confscation.
But the national government, after it had
suppressed the rebellion, was generous and
merciful The President, as he had right
to do, pardoned the great body of our peo-
pie in advance by general provision, and
Others who were excepted from this general
provision, he specially pardoned. All per-
sons, all property, and all corporations had
been more or less involved in acts of rebell-
ion. and were therefore, more orless tainted
with treason. They were saved from the
consequences of their conduct by the clem-
ency of the President.
These are. general propositions, which, it
seems to us no one will dispute.
We shall not attempt to show the results
that follow. That is for the Courts, or for
ADLER heads than ours. But unquestionabl y
the corporations which had taken part in the
rebellion aga inst the national authority, were
suspende d in their functions equally with the
State; and they were spoken into existence
only by the President, through his Provis-
ional Governor. They had been stricken, SO
to SPEAK. with the same deadly malady OF
treason and there was no cure for them either
from the State or in themselves. The order
for til cir reorganization, or the permission
giver to reorganize them, simply placed them
agar in the hands of the reviving State, with
their franchises and property. This was a
gift. and like the pardons, was purely of the
cler raency of the conqueror ssf ~
1.-the stipulations ofGenerals Sherman and
Jol .nston had been approved by the Prcsi-
de ut the result might have been different. =
Ir. that event the State would have contin.
U ID in full being, with the same government
it bad during the rebellion. The old flag il
place of the new one, and the old oath in
stead of the oath to the Confederacy would
have been the only difference. a4. q
We repeat, we shall not attempt to trace
tb.. rasr,lts tn he deduced from these GENERA
/ propositions, but the propositions, them
i selves, it seems to US, admit of no question
immigration. az
4 A Northern telegram says that despatches
to the State Department indicates that tht
immigration from Europe to the United
States will this year far exceed any previous
one. All the German ports, especially, arr
filling up with persons desirious of securing
a -tif 'sitt .s tt4'4 tlttf 3 ~ z