Wilmington journal., 1866-08-09


The vacancy Of the throne precedent to their meet
ng ut any royal summons, not consequence They
did not assemble wltnoq, & t eros te m te
Kings abdicaon they assembled without writ as they
eir raeeti"g oo0h no. hare been regular but it was
Ereay empty such meeting became absolutely necessary
that the Convention really tho houses of psrlia-
ment notwithstanding the want of writs other defects
of form.
How was the late North Carelina Convention
called 3? By proclamation of Andrew Johnston
President OF the United States of America, dated
29th May 1863 ". W. Holden was appointed
Provisional Governor of the State, whose duty it
was declared to be
At earliest practicable period prescribe such rules
and regulation may be necessary and proper for con-
that portion Of the people Of said State ho loyal to the
Inlet >tates Gd0 others for the purpose of ater1t or
exercise within limits said State all the
sary and proper enable loyal people of the State o
relations the federal government and to present such
form of State as viii snte the
state to the guarantee OF the Cntoo States theretor
It is further directed,
That the military commander Of the department, and
all off ers and persons in the military and naval service
effect the pTOcdnnti0n and they enoined to ab-
stain ON, any way, hnder 6, impeding or dscoura-
gng the loyal Hoe from the organization Of STATE 9or
| Immediately therefore, Governor Holden issues
Proclamation
1t is also proper that tho purposes Of the Federal Gov
made that tie Eoy yal may receive assurances of
ection and Iont and he dlsoyaif any there
and that they W not be permitted with mpul y, to
Con entn people of North Carolina will be held
as rH period eric as praetjI;cabe. ,as,nautox os ~
person erW cote for members to comprise it, who shall
previously have taken and subscribed to the oath pre-
scribcd the presidents Proclamation of 18th Nay
fected to,oais the Fsds,cl Gcoe1one and not oya! there
tlon Measures will be perfected early practicable,
for administering h >bove oath such persons may
c,tes Of the evidence of their loyalty.
The election was held in pursuance to these orders
"A consistent termination of war which had been
prosecuted for the avowed purpose of imposing on
la people peculiar government-one too which the
people had opposed in until every house in
the land house of mourning, and until sheer
exhaustion compelled them to desit The loyal
element consisting of renegades and traitors, and
a few honest Union men, being entrusted with the
reconstruction of the State The delegates thus
selected met in Raleigh and constituted the Con-
vention. What analogy can be claimed between
Conventions constituted under such different cir
cumstances indeed how can there be q greater
contrast
"Dorr sprOceedings were, in our opinion revolu-
tionary. But, suppose. there had been no such
constituted authority in Rhode Isand-that from
any cause there had been no Governor, no Legisa-
ture. no Clerks Sheriffs, or other officers
the case here, and the Federal Government had
authorized Dorr as Provisional Governor, to call
such Convention would not the decision of the
Court have been otherwise Indeed we think it
exceedingly doubtful whether his authority, and
that of the people who acted at his call, would
ever have been questioned at all. How then can
there be any question about the powers Of this
Convention?' saya the Old North State.
The TetHi0 principu is here most palpable, for
our cotemporary has admitted there was " 8 State
with her Constitution aud laws III full force" but
which was not dLlO1cc! to exercise the functions
of government the President holding that all
the officers Of the State government had forfeited
their places by treason which latter opinion
simply the iDse dirn of the President, for there
was then as there IS now, not pretence that
single man had been c0Dpicted Of treason. There
were then III North Carolina Governor, Legisla-
ture Sheriffs, &c, hut who were not aIIolced to
exercise the functions of their offices by the very
power which proposed to supplant than. The
President had, and Dorr had not ans power TO
carry out his views
But what answer does our cotemporary give to
the supposed which he puts Any decision
Of the I. S. Conrts4R any other Court, Supreme
or Inferior Not at ell. He simply gives his own
individual private opinion, and not that pos
itively nneduivocaliy He only says, s'we think
it exceedingly doubtful whether his authority
would have ever been questioned at all. No7a
stat, because twas unquestioned that it valid.
And yet he asks with the triumph Of 'rrisist-
ihle Conclusion, " How then can there be any cues
ton about the powers of this Convention
| But he says, the late Convention did not de-
rive its powers in the slightest degree from the
military authorities st whose instance it was called
through the Provisional Governor" but F' wholly
from the people OF the State, and while denying
'' that the Convention was not the Convention of
the people, that the delegates not the choice
of the people," admits "there may be and there
doubtless is soIne force in this" though not
enough for any serious objection.
If the indisputable facts which we have present
ed in regard to the history of the call for the
Convention, and the qualifications required of
both the electors and members thereof, do not
convince every that it was the manifest and
avowed design til1t only what was called, in the
ooTance Of the day, the loyal element, should par
ticipate- in the reconstruction of the State;"
Rething thasswe can say, can have that effect It.
was openly avowed that II there were only five
thousand loyal men in State, that to them be-
longed the exclusive right Of reconstruction and
the country was subjected to such reign oA ter
ror that no man dare oppose the Federal Govern
ment critcise its officials without risk of arrest
it is question how far man may safely express
l.