The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-03-27

| inc to be Senators have not been refer
red to this committee, and there is no
probability that they will be.
Yours, very respectfully,
w. P. FESSENDEN.
Hon. w. A. GRAHAM.
H1LLsBoRo', N. c., Jan'y 20, 1866.
DEAR SIR Il am much obliged by
yours of the oath inst. Ihad supposed
the province of your committee to en-
brace that of Committee of Elections
and privileges, before which l take the
rule to be without exception that per-
sons claiming to be members are per-
mitted to hear what may be adduced
against their claims, and to bring for
ward countervailing evidence. If this
supposition be not correct, by reason OF
the fact stated by you, that the creden-
tials of gentlemen claiming to be Sena-
tors have not been referred, the ques-
tion will recur, whether the right of
State to representation is not entitled
to an equal privilege of defence by those
whom she has chosen for THAI office.
l know not what, if anything, may
be alleged against the right in question
on the part of the State of North-Car
olina I am satisfied that nothing can
be alleged that ought to prevail but
until the objections and proofs are
known, it is not possible to canvass
them, or to offer contradictory evidence.
| My sole purpose is to aid the commit
| tee, so far as this State is concerned, in
the ascertainment of truth, and to guard
against e:t pn,te testimony from unknown
or irresponsible sources. If, therefore,
the committee will at any time furnish
notice of the points on which evidence
is desired, or of prejudical testimony
which it is necessary to meet, my col
leagues and myself will gladly avail
ourselves of its permission to offer such
relevant proof as may be in our power.
l am, very respectfully, yours,
w. a. GRAHAM
Hon. WIN. P FEssENDEN, Senate United
States.
To prevent misconception, esteem
it proper to remark that in giving these
letters to the public, no reflection is in
tended on the motives of the committee,
much less on those of its honorable
chairman in the Senate, a gentleman
with whom through personal acquain-
tance of many years, have ever main
tanned the kindest and most respectful
personal relations. But it is obvious
that, from inadvertance, or a different
view of the subject on the part of the
committee, or from misapprehension on
my part, have been disappointed in the
expectation of being allowed to hear
what was imputed to my State as de-
merit, and of counteracting it, ifI could
"a mistake from which some injustice
has resulted. My inference, from the
i,1 hot Il
committee, when they should reach the
notify us of the points on which evi-
dence was desired, and would afford an
opportunity to apply to adverse testi-
mony the ordinary tests of truth, as
well as of batting it, if in our .judg-
ment proper to be done, by witnesses
called by ourselves.
[ was, therefore, surprised, few days
since, to learn that the committee had
made report Of the evidence taken by
them, and obtained an order for its pub
lication-a proceeding which, in a leg
islative body, as in a court of chancery,
[ presume, implies that all the evidence
has been taken that it is designed to re-
ceive. This inference is confirmed by
the application for and adoption Of the
additional order to print 10000 extra
copies. 1t imports that the case, as to
the facts, is fully made up, and that
upon these it is to be submitted to the
judgment of the two Houses of Con-
gress, and the still higher arbitramcnt
of public opinion. Now, 1 most re-
spectfully protest, that if, upon anything
contained in all this evidence, the peo-
pie of the State Of North-Carolina shall
be condemned, or kept in state of con-
demnation, it will be a condemnation
without hearing, when she was enti-
tied to be heard.
Of all the testimony received by the
committee, there is not single atfida-
Wit having any specific reference to her;
and there is room for hope that, from
the absence Of other evidence, she was
not considered involved in any great
degree Of demerit or criminality, and it
was not deemed necessary to prosecute
the investigation any further on that
account. But it cannot escape observa-
tion, that in State of million of in
habitants, the only witness called to
speak of her condition, the sentiments
and ruling motives of her people, should
be Lieut.. Col. Dexter H. Clapp, from
one of the Eastern States, an officer of
the treedmen's Bureau at Raleigh, who
states that he is conversant with the
people in some twenty counties out Of
eighty-seven-a sojourner filling an of
flee for which there will be no necessity
in a short time to come, unless upon the
theory that the government of the State
will not do justice to its negro popula-
tion in their condition of freedom. |
do not design to impeach the integrity
of this gentleman. He is spoken of in
terms of high respect by persons of our
common acquaintance. 1t has so hap
pened that l have not met him.
But surely his opinions, loosely ex-
pressed, as they are in his affidavit,
(and nothing more fully illustrates the
of cross-examination than
the want of precision in the language
Of his statement, formed by intercourse,
as he admits, among less than one
fourth of the neon1a of the State his |