The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1866-07-25
The phiIadelphia Convention.


in the so-called Southern States are taking
such an active part in appointing delegates
to the Philadelphia Convention. In all inc
States south of this, the leading movers IN
this business, which is designed to AID IN
restoring the Union, are such as nave not
vet acquired the confidence OF either tine
President or any considerable portion OF the
Northern people. In this State, while we
see now and then the name of an acceptable
person in the proceedings of the public
meetings, yet the great body of the actors
are of different stamp. The Union is not
likely to be restored by those public men in
this region who were most conspicuous in
efforts to destroy it. Unpardoned rebels
will mar every thing they touch in connec-
ton with the proposed Convention. Gentle
men who left the national Congress to en-
gage in the rebellion, and who pressed war
and devastation to the last moment, against
the earnest circumstances of peace men and
Union men, will find no favor even with the
President in their efforts to forward and
promote the Philadelphia Convention.
Some of the resolutions that we see In the
public prints, adopted at meetings recently
held, appear to be appropriate and to have
been prudently drawn; but denunciations
of "our oppressors," and illusions to the
exploded theory of States rights, are calcu-
lated to do more harm than good. Our peo-
pie should be careful not to fall into the
same channel which led to the late rebellion.
In 1860, the staple talk was that the govern
ment must be broken up, so as to be recon-
structed on better basis; that the black
Republicans" were the enemies of the gov
eminent, and ought to be put down; and
that the sovereign panaeea for all our ills,
and the only way to save the government,
was through State rights and State action.
Well, that was tried, and the result is before
the world. The same spirit which was
evinced then is cropping out now against
I" the radicals" The radicals, we are told,
are tour oppressors ARE the enemies of
the government, and we must save the gov
eminent by putting them down. FIVE could
not save the government when we were q
part of it, by putting down the "black Re
publicans,n how are We to save it now, when
we are not a part of it, by putting down
the radicals ;" Events have shown that
we were not the best friends of the govern
ment in 1861, and it is not probable that we
shall be regarded by the great body of the
American people as its best friends now.
As specimen of the temper with which
Georgia is preparing to take part in the
Philadelphia Convention, we copy the fol-
lowing, italics, small capitals, and capitals,
as it appears in that paper, from the Atlanta
Hatelligencer:
"Time is short, and action should be
prompt on the part of all who would sustain
PRESIDENT JOHNSON in the war waged
against him by the Radical party of the North
and West. We kaoU the purposes of that
party, and we kn0U to what WOE it would
doom our people. Negro equality, socially
politically disfranchisement, conySscation,
DEGRADATION, BLOOD; have been their
avowed purposes. God save the South from
such rule"
This is the same old cry of 1860. No good
can come fit. Those who utter this cry are
not friends to the President. He is no friend
to them. They are mistaken in their man.
The Richmond Enquirer, more sagacious
than the bulk of the secession press of Vir-
ginia, sees cat in the meal tub. 1t fears the
proposed Convention will be too loyal body
to subserve its purposes. That paper says:
"We have no need to go further than Mr.
Stewards letter of the 18th instant, which we
publish to-day. He says that the admission
of loyal men" as the representatives ofthe
loyal people" of the South, will be the COM
pletion of the restoration of the Union. We
are not left to conjecture as to what is meant
by "loyal" representatives. Mr.. Seward
himself explained it only few days before.
In his Tammany letter, he said : e l desire
that the two houses of Congress will apply
the Constitutional test, aoiM all the impr0ce-
ments efIegislation upon it, and thus admit
those States and representatives who are
loyal, and reject only those against whom the
crime of disloyalty shall be established. y
This means that Mr.. Seward sustains and
approves the Tsst-oath, and considersi it as
drawing the line between the "loyal"-who
can take it,-and the " disloyar'-who can
not.
In short there is no prominent actor in the
Philadelphia movement, Of any party, who
has admitted it as a purpose to give the South
any thing better than Z 4 o5t. GGutn Representa-
tion. Not one ! What said eren Mr.. Hend-
ricks, the Democratic Senator from Indiana,
in debate on Friday last In answer to MI.
Trumbull he SAID
1t may suit the Senator's purpose on the
hastings, but it will hardly suit his purpose
here to say that /, or any who are with me
in opinion, are now advocating the admis-
sion to seats in this body or the House of
Representatives of persons directly connected
with the Rebellion. The Senate knows very
well that there now stands upon the statute
book of the United States, and upon the
rules of the Senate, a provision requiring ev-
takeG most solemn oath.
Mr.. TRUMBULL-Is the Senator from Indi-
ana in favor of that law and that rule
Mr.. HENDRICKS said his votes would best
express his views on that question. He had
not asked to repeal the laac. Does the Senator
from Illinois consent to its repeal
Dir. TRUMBULL-Certainly not. Will the
Senator from Indiana help me to keep it in
foree2
Mr.. HENDRICKS replied that while the law
remained, although he might have doubts as
to its eonstitutionality. he soould not cote for
the admission OF any man uh0 could not take
tile prescribed oath. If he (Hendricks) knew
q man to be unable to take that oath. he