The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1866-06-20

leIestS, ny cOnnecLlnS Win Canals ner great
wheat growing region of the West with her
navigable rivers Of the East. Her railroads
are almost illiniitable; by her wise 1egisla-
ton they have found their way to almost
every village within her borders She re-
quires no property qualification her citizens
have no barrier thrown around them which
makes an odious distinction amongst them
no exclusiyeness in her fundamental law no
idle declaration that the peopleare thesou
OF all political power contained in one sec
ton of her Constitution, and in another a,
principle announced which indicates dis
trust Of the capacity of the people for self
government; no limitation and restriction
upon her people in selecting officers, as is
the case with US, to one-fourth or fifth of her
entire white male adult population. 4.
But the cry is, property is the great ele-
ment of conservatism" When did it become
so? What State government has proven the
truth OF this assertions Having shown that
thirty-one States of the Union require no
property qualification, and that no evil has
followed from their action, let US look at the
property qualification required by two of the
five States which, like our own State, hold
to the idea that property is the test for quail
lfication for office. Take South Carolina
She required that every member of her Leg
lsature should own five hundred acres of
land, and what she regarded as of more con-
sequence, ten live negroes These constitut-
ed the incumbent statesman. With her
all other considerations yielded to the pos
session of broad fields and grinning negroes.
l need not remind delegates that for thirty
five years her legislation was mainly directed
tpu Of 70
ment. An aristocracy built upon land and
negroes controlled her destinies The peo-
pie had no political rights. The masses
were not only denied seats in her legislative
halls, but not permitted to vote for their
own Governor, or electors for President
Here, then, we find property qualification for
office deeply engrafted in her organic law,
and what was the consequence An aris-
tocracy ruled with an iron rod, the people
were made subservient to the will and capri
ces of this "element of conservatism" as
property is sometimes called; and have
right to infer from her political course that
if her people, the true and legitimate source
of all power, had been able to have shaken
off the manacles with which they were bound
hand and foot, a great and terrible evil might
possibly have been averted.
But why refer to the property qualification
for office of South Carolina? Go North and
select the only New England State which
retains property qualification for Office
Take Massachusetts, Her name is associat-
ed with South Carolina as having some pro-
clivity for radicalism. She, too, believes in
property qualification for Office Intending
to do her full justice have only to refer
delegates to the legislation of this State for
I: the past fifty years, and they will find she
eminently deserves the title of being called
the mother of many of the social and politi-
; cal evils which have afflicted society and the
country at large for many years past.
The delegate from Harnett fears the adop-
! ton of the amendment will open our Guber-
Material chair and legislative halls to all the
worthless vagabonds which aff1ict every
State. He surely has not kept up with pass
ing events. Other States where property
qualification is not required have not been
afflicted with the evils which haunt my
friends imagination. He surely must be
distrustful of the people, if he supposes the
adoption of the proposed amendment will be
attended with such evils. He asks us why
was not this matter agitated in the Conven-
ton of 1885? The answer is a plain one
The Legislature which called that Conven-
ton into being, limited its powers to few
proposed amendments, and they therefore
had not the power to make such a change.
He also insists that the people have not been
consulted about the proposed change, and
that it is not our business to be changing the
organic law without their sanction. The
delegate has voted for several ordinances
here that have proposed radical changes
/ which are liable to the imputation he brings
against this proposed change besides, the
Constitution will doubtless be submitted to
the people for their approval or rejection.
The distinguished delegate from Wake
cautions us against putting our hands rude
ly on the work of our forefathers He tells
us that it was conceived by them in wisdom,
and that policy requires us to let their work,
monument of their wisdom, remain in
tact, but history and experience should teach
us that it is not always safe to adhere to the
works of our forefathers, especially if their
works prove stumbling block to political
justice 49,,
This is an age of progress and improve
ment; let US cling to the political principles
of our ancestors, if they be founded in wis
dom and suited to the times we live in. A
blind reverence for tracking and patterning
after our ancestors, will prevent progress and
check improvement.
The distinguished delegate from Wake,
pays high eulogy to the judiciary of Eng
land heartily join him in this respect, and
say with pride that since the revolution in
England in 1858, justice has been admins
tered in that country so as to more effectu-
ally preserve and protect persons and pro-
perty than can be found elsewhere but here
my admiration ceases. Her system of gov
eminent has always been to sustain landed
aristocracy and hereditary nobility. The
masses Of her people have been ground
down by taxation and oppression. In former
days, when the greatest Judge who ever pre-
sided in her Courts, one who built up and
incorporated into her common law, COM
mercial code " hich is the admiration of the
world-a man whose name will live as long
as the common law ITSELF mean Lord
Mansfeld-this same England was taxing
her colonies without representation. Her tyr
ranny towards her colonies gave birth to the
principles upon which this government was
founded. Her treatment of Ireland, as well
as her colonies, forbids me from bestowing
eulogiums upon her form Of government.
have before said, her political system is moi
founded on the grand idea upon which rests
our whole political fabric that all political
power is vested in and derived from the peo
ple only. Such doctrine could not exist
for one moment In England it would wrench
the crown from her queen Danish her hered
itary nobility from official position, and plac'
her landed aristocracy upon political equal
ity with the humblest of her now down
trodden subjects. Let her be no more quo
ted as model for us to initiate, whilst he
form of government DISTINGUISHES such
large proportion Of her people, and grind
into oppression her poorer subjects.
The delegate from Guilford, (Mr: Cald
welD in bis speech in opposition to the pro
nosed amendment. has unintentionally fuI
P.Is5 o,u;ro;no aroument in favor @