The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-03-29
For the Standard.


called to an editorial in the Daily Sentinel,
of the 18th inst, in which, have been most
grossly misrepresented, and / ask a place in
your excellent paper for this communication.
1t is charged that have been aoriting let
tiers to the damage and inconUenience of my
District" + * :" 1t IS affirmed that this
sanae Mr. Jones has recently addressed letters to
the attorney Gene,0l Of the United States"
g representing that the mail contractors are too
disloyaJ to be trusteo-thot the acAole State IS
disloyaI, and that the best thing that can be
done is to break up the ci0I gooernnaent of the
State and Mr0ao as back under q Professional
Gooef71or-declGre cold the elections, and Of
c0,.1se the o0ths Of eoery man, and begin Gtiesh
to reconstruct the iState"
Every one of these charges are base falls
hoods, and the affirmant, who ever he may
be, land think l have very good idea of
the gentleman has willfully and knowingly
misrepresented me. 1 have never in all my
life written or addressed letter directly or
indirectly to the Attorney General of the
United States l have never written or ut
tered single sentence or sentiment in favor
of placing the State under a Provisional
Governor, or against the progress of civil
government in the State. All my acts, wri
tings, words, and deeds stamp with infamy
the base and false charge, that represented
the whole State as disloyal.
l addressed letter to the Postmaster Gen
elal, through another gentleman at Washing
ton city, which was carefully sealed and
stamped in the presence OF witnesses, and
was sent to Asheville to be mailed, but was
broken open without my consent or that of
the person to whom it was addressed. What
think you of such acts as this? l deem il
proper to state that the gentleman who ha
charge of the Post-office at Asheville, is not
by any means implicated in this letter-break-
ing 1t was heralded all over this section
of country that had written in this same
letter, to the authorities at Washington to
remove Governor Worth, and appoint Pro-
visional Governor-a thing that l had never
thought of-indeed | have never uttered a
word derogatory of Governor Worth in any
form, shape manner whatever.
I now appeal to the parties who are max
ing themselves so busy in regard to this vio
lated letter to produce the same with my
signature, and let it be published, verbatim,
so that the community may judge for them
selves whether I have been writing letters to
their damage or inconvenience or not. When
the real contents of this letter become known.
as it will be- I will submit to the Judgment
of the people.
Whilst in Washington city used my best
endeayors to get the test oath" so modified as
to admit the loyal people Of this State to the
revenue and post offices, and so as to become
mail contractors, &c. but my honest efforts
least expected it, am still in favor of mod
living the oath. There are thousands of men
in the State who have always been loyal, and
cannot take the oath from the fact that they
were compelled from circumstances to do acts
that bar them as it now stands, but am not
willing to do without mails simply because
we cannot get the 9 test oath " removed, es-
pccially when the regulations can be complied
with I am doing all that l can to promote
ti,n into of a
my ability, it is for the people of this District
to Judge. large majority of whom are loyal
and will Judge and act for themselves. No
portion, Of tie State is real}y more loynI than the
Nownta:n District" The people OF this
Mountain District proved the fact of their
loyalty by electing A. H. Jones to Congress,
who has been loyal all the time, before the
war, during the war, and since the war, and
will work for the best interests of the people
with the same devotion and tirnness that he
has shown for the interest and maintainance
of the Union. Talk about ability the peo-
pie of the Mountain District have not yet
forgotten that the leaders who brought them
to ruin claimed to be men of great ability,
and they will not forget soon, that common
sense, honesty of purpose, and fidelity to the
Union of their fathers is the best ability with
which their public servants can be supplied.
They don't want such violate the law
of the land by pilaging sealed letters. They
don't want such as copy them, knowing such
to be the fact They don't want such us will
the writers of such violated let
tc:s nor they will not have them.
We will close by admonishing all such
that they should remember that they are not
now living in the days of the so-called Con-
when such things could be done by
certain parties with impunity.
We believe that breaking sealed and
letter is Il pententiary crime in the
United States.
The public shall have more at the proper
time. ALEXANDER II. JONES.
March 23d, 1866.
The condition of tho secession leaders and
politicians of the South is pitable to behold.
The saddest feature of their condition is,
that they are self-condemned. They have
watered the country with its own best blood,
and that priceless blood rests heavily upon
their consciences. They have sapped the
vital resources of their country, and while
suffering the poverty wrought by their own
hands, they have skunk away into the priva-
cy Of their homes, ashamed and afraid to
encounter the inaudible but crushing re-
proaches of neighbors whom they have
ruined They are ineXtricably transtixed in
tits cXcrucating dilemma: Either the South
was overcome by physical superiority, or
else by the imbeciity and folly of its leaders.
-cprobation and undying untorgiveness Of
heir countrymem For, if the South was too
weak to maintain its own construction of the
the war for the establishment
IF theory was Il foolish and selfish scheme
If gambling, political adventures, ending
With the identical concession by which it
night have been avoided. And if the South
which was the fact-was overcome by the
ouerile and melancholy imbecility of its own
eaClers, then these miscreant leaders are re-
ponsible for the discontinue, and humilia-
ion, and losses, in life and property, suffered
~ people who might have achieved sue
cess but for them. The curse of the South
vas. that all craftsmanship and statesmen
we're banishcd from the direction of affairs
~ charlatan politicians From Davis, who
lad not sense enough to get out of the coun-
nv with a hundred thousand dollars of spe-
lie in hand and both friend and foe wishing
lin safely off, down to the humblest little
country quartermaster,. who was fool enough
o continue impressing" farmers mules
ritter Lees surrender, the whole Confederate