The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-09-22

| 49,
clispensable that the members elected to Con-
press should be persons of undoubted loyalty
The President and his Cabinet, and the great
body of the Northern people had taken 1t
| for granted that such persons would be cho-
sen. Every step that had been taken IN the
work of restoration was with reference TO
| representation in Congress. If the work
should fail at this point it would fail entire
ly. Congress had provided, in 1862, an oath
| to be taken by all its members. There were
worthy and respectable persons in every
Congressional District in the State who could
have taken this oath, and could have thus
| claimed their seats. This was well known.
| But, what was done? In the first dis
[ trict, person who could have taken the
| oath was defeated. In the second district,
a person who could have taken the oath
was defeated In the third district, per-
son who could have taken the oath was
| defeated. In the fourth district, person who
was only technically prevented from taking
| the oath, and who had already received an
important appointment at the hands of the
| President, was defeated, not by man equal
| ly loyal but by an unpardoned rebel"
| then, as now. In the fifth district, one of
| the oldest, ablest, and most consistent Union
lists of the State and particular friend OF
| the President was defeated by person who
| had just apostatized from Unionisln and
| allied himself with the secession party. In
the sixth district, a candidate who could have
| taken the oath was defeated, by a gentleman
who had made himself popular outside his
County only by the services he had perform
ed as an officer in the Confederate army
But one district, the seventh, elected rep
resentative who could take the oath, and he
has since been an object, on that account, OF
abuse and ridicule by the secession press.
1t is true, one of the Senators elected by the
Legislature is a loyal man, and is debarred
from subscribing the oath only by tectlnl-
cality; but it is well known that his election
was conceded by the majority simply as
matter of policy, and that his colleague, who
received nearly all the votes that were cast,
had been conspicuous advocate of the re-
bellion, and was then, as he is still, an " I'M
parcloned rebel" Thus was the most vital
requisite in the Presidents policy deliberate
ly disregarded. The President had said that
those only should be appointed or elected to
office who had never faltered in their allie
glance to the governments but the secession
leaders said nay,-we will elect whom we
please for are hold that fidelity to the Con-
federacy is the best evidence of sound Union
ism. The President had pointed to the test
oath, and had declared that members elected
to Congress should be persons who " could
comply with any existing constitutional or
legal test" But these leaders said not so
hold that this oath is unconstitutional
and tyrannical, and we will not degrade
ourselves by complying with it. The Presi-
dent had declared that treason must be rem
dered odious, and that loyalty to the Union
and love for the flag should be cherished and
honored; but these leaders replied that they
had not committed treason, and that supreme
loyalty and devotion to the Union con-
stituted claim either on their votes
or on their respect and confidence The
President was thus assaulted and wounded
in the house of his own protested friends.
Slavery had been formally abolished for the
leaders knew that they had themselves put
it to hazard when they involved the States
in rebellion, and that, the result of the
war; there was no hope for its perpetuation.
1t cost nothing, therefore, to proclaim great
fact which the whole world could see The
act of secession was declared null and void.
This was equally easy. They hesitated only
in relation to the rebel debt, but sharp re-
buke from the President caused them re-
luctantly to repudiate that. They did what
they were told to do on great questions of
pOlicy-they conformed, whether reluctantly
or cheerfully, to the wishes of the President
in relation to measures of the most vital i'm
portance, but when the offices were to be
tilled-when the State was to be clothed in
the wedding garment" to be presented at
Washington, they could no longer restrain
themselves. The old appetite for office,
which had led them to invo I've the country
in war, revived; the Presidents plan was
forgotten, except in so far they could en-
JOY offices and honors under it &; and for the
ignoble party triumphs of the hour they
thwarted that plan, and destroyed all hope
that the States could be restored to the
Union in accordance with its provisions.
These secession partizans are johnson men
only so long as they can enjoy power under his
plan of restoration. He may himself be as
loyal as he pleases, and may call them rebels
and traitors, as he does, and he may dencunce
secession crime, if he will only permit
them to hold the offices and to tyrannize
over Union men. 1t is not that they like
him, but they love power, and they hate the
radicals, socalled, whom he denounces.-
They will be very good johnson men as
long he pursues this course; but If he
should turn in this direction, and begin to
fight it out again on this line" he will find
so much to reprove and condemn-so many
wrongs to right, and so much treason to re-
Duke and suppress, that praises will be turn
ed into "curses not loud, but Deep" and it will
be at once proclaimed that President Johnson
has proved faithless to his pledges. tell
the President that his plan has been marred
and destroyed by malcontents and traitors
at this end of the line. 1 tell him that he
has confded where confidence is not deserv
ed; and that, by his clemency, spring
ing from good motives he has nourisned a
brood of vipers that will sting liberty, and
will sting him. if he should get in their way.
1 tell him that his line at this end is disor-
gained The +" captains of tifties and hun
dreds" whom he appointed, have been cash
tered and banished from service, and his en-
emies, and the enemies of loyal majorities in
the United States and of the Union, have
assumed and are now exercising supreme
control. Devotion to the Union is no Ion
ger the passport to office, even to the
respect of those who control our affairs. Re-
gard for the flag, unless it is displayed in
such places and in such way as to suit the
fastidious taste of traitors is no longer com
mended. Instead of a prompt and cheerful
submission to the results of the war and to
the legally expressed will of the majority,
we hear words of Defiance and hopes ex-
pressed that anarchy may intervene, the
result of some vaguely-looked for convul-
sion at Washington and in the North
ern States Seats are demanded in Congress
as a right, even for unpardoned rebels."-
Those who can take the test-oath, instead of
being honored for their loyalty, are ridiculed
and despised; and such of our people as are