Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1866-09-27

A Voice from North Carolina.
The following remarkable ARTICLE
from the Raleigh North Carolina)
Standard, edited by the Presidents
Provisional Governor of that State, w.
w. Holden, shows that the Union par
ty has efficient and unexpected friends
and co-workers in the Southern part of
the country. The moderation and
decision of its tone are equally signifi-
cant, and there can be no question that
it expresses the profound conviction Of
the most intelligent and faithful Union
men of the South. "The appeal now,"
says the Standard, 'is to the people of
the United States who suppressed the
rebellion. tits for then, to say on what
terms the Government shall be restor
ed" We commend the article to the
careful consideration of our readers
1--WE stated in our last that the issue had
at length been fairly and finally Joined be-
tween the President and Congress. The
President stands upon and urges his policy,
that the States are entitled to representa-
ton without further amendments to the
Constitution; while the Congressional par
ty, comprising the great mass OF the Repub'
licans, hold that further amendments tcthe
Constitution are indispensable in order to
place the recently insurgent States on
loyal basis, and to insure quiet in the Union
by excluding leading participants in the re-
belion from holding office.
Both sides seem to hold that the present
Congressional test oath should be maintain.
ed. The Philadelphia Convention, whose
proceedings the President has warmly in.
dorsed, demands that "toydtrepresentatives'
be admtted and the President has repeat.
edly declared that the States will be entitled
to representation when they shall send
members who can comply with any existing
Constitutional or legal test"
This, then, being the case, what remains
but for those members elect who can not
take this oath to resign, and let their places
be flled by those whe can comply" with
the ''legal testW This would seem to be
the obviously proper course, especially after
the call, by the Philadelphia Convention,
for the admission of "loyalrepresentatives."
For our part, cur principles are not to be
changed or affected by the action OF Con-
ventions, or by any cause that will not con-
vince us that those principles are erroneous.
We feel sure that we have undergone no
change since May, 1865. We thought then,
and we think now, that the Union should
be restored only on an ''unmistakably' loyal
basis; that the President is merely CO.
worker with the Congress in effecting this
result; and that, when the President had
finished his work, as he declares he has, it
was for the Congress to investigate it, to
not as that body might choose. We have
never understood that the action Of the
President in this respect concluded the Con-
gress, or that that body was bound to ac-
cept Internationally the work of restoration
as accomplished and presented to them by
him.
We feel sure that the President and the
Congress are both actuated by patriotic mo-
tives. We regret the breach between them.
This breach is most probably ineurable.-
The appeal now is to the people ofsthe
United States who suppressed the rebellion.
1t is for then, to say on what terms the Gov
ernment shall be restored. We expect to
be content with those terms. Our people
will be anxious and interested spectators OF
the struggle now geing on in the North ern
and Western States, but they are aot in q
| condition to take much part in this struggle.
They can only look on and hope that the
result may be best fer the whole country. -
Our sympathies are with those who are
most devoted to the Union, and who are
determined to restore it on loyal basis,
without the dictation Of Northern Copper.
heads or Southern traitors.