Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-11-22

|
Elaw of q country claiming high position among en-
| lightened and christian nations.
| The fifth section of this proposed article has
the same import and is intended 10 t Gon ee az
| each one of the four preceding sectlons 1hf
original Constitution in closing the catalogue o.
the powers OF Congress, glvesl the autnorIy u
per for carrying into execution the foregoing pow
| ers and all other powers vested by this Constltu
| ton in the Government OF the United states OF
any department officer thereof" This author
| ity has always been understood to apply to power
| conferred on the Government of the United States
| by amendments subsequently made, landihas re
peatedly received the consideration OF the judi
ciary If the design of this fifth section is simply
to reaffirm the long established principle of power
necessaril lily implied under the provision just re-
| cit ed it is needless surplusage 2but it. its
special insertion indicates it is intended to ampfy
| the various powers which would be reasonably I'M
| piled from the sections which precede 1t, and to
| give to Congress a peculiar authority over the
subjects embraced in the proposed fourteenth al
| ticle, it is miscellaneous and dangerous
| If there be any feature in the American system
of freedom which gives to it practical value, 1t IL
| the fact that municipal code Is provided under
the jurisdiction of leach State, by which ali contro-
versies to life liberty property, except IN the
now limited field of Federal jurisdiction, are de-
termined by a jury of the county or nelShbor-
hood where the parties reside and the contest arr
ses; but if Congress is hereafter to become the
protector of life liberty and property in the States,
and the guarantor of equal protection OF the laws
and by appropriate legislation to declare system
of rights and remedies, which can be administer
ed only in the Federal Courts, then the most COM
mon and familiar officers ofJustlce must be trans
ferred to the few in the State where these Courts
are held and to Judges and other officers deriving
and holding their commissions, not from the au-
thority and people of the State as heretofore but
from the President and Senate of the United
States. The States, as by SO much, are to cease
to be self-gOverning communities as heretofore,
and trespasses against the person, assaults and
batteries, false imprisonments and the like, where
only our own citizens are parties must be regula-
ted by the Congress of the nation and adjudged
only in its Courts. [ cannot believe that the de-
Iberate Judgment of the people of any State or
any section will approve such an innovation, for
although its annoyances may be ours to-day, they
must expect them to be theirs tomorrow. The
people Of this State, with singular approach to
unanimity, are sincerely DESTROYS of a restoration
of their constitutional relations with the American
Union. In the face Of circumstances, rendering it
nearly impossible, they have paid its Government
the taxes OF former years, laid when another de
f0CtO Government, whose powers they could not
have resisted if they would, was making levies in
money and kind almost greater than they could
bear; they acQuiesced in the extinction of slavery
which annihilatod more than half their wealth ;;
they have borne with patience the exclusion of
their Senators and Representatives from the halls
of Congress, where they have had no one to con-
tradict or explain the most exaggerated misrep-
reservations, or even to make known their griev
ances.
How long this unnatural condition of our rela-
tons is to continue it seems, shall be allowed
to have no share in determining. No time has
may be terminated. In the meantime, l trust, we
shall meet events they arise with a reasOable
and manly fortitude, ready at all times to fulfill
our duties as patriotic citizens, but under no cir
cumstances willing to sacrifice the honor and
rights of the State, member of the UniOn,-
not in the of the advocates of secession. but
as taught by Iredell and Marshall, and Story and
Rent and Webster,- and in which moderate men
everywhere, North and South, before the war,
were supposed to concur. Anxious as was to
avert the late war and have at all times been to
trOuhloS on he ba ais Of he as
our fathers framed it, l can perceive in this pro-
posed amendment nothing calculated to perpetu-
ate the Union; but its tendency seems to me bet
ter suited to perpetuate sectional alienation and
enlargement, and have, therefore, no hesitation
III recommending that it be not RATED
AFRICAN RACE.
Most of the African race among us were lately
slaves their masters cared for their subsistence.
Their habits lily fit them to provide for their in
dispersal BILE daily wants. Nothing can be more
absurd than the suppositon that the great body
Of them can now participate in governmental affairs
with any discretion. very few of them are dis
Greet and virtuous, and have considerable inteli-
gence and when the State shall be left free to
manage her internal affairs, without extraneous
Interference, do not doubt that the question
to what share ought to be granted them, in the
elective franchise will be candidly considered To
grant universal suffrage to them now is manifest
ly absurd.
What ought to be done in reference to this race,
if its consideration could be approached apart
from passion and party politics, would embarrass
the Wlsest statesman and philanthrOpiSt. Unhap-
PLY, our present condition does not allow such
calm consideration At present it blends itself
with our national affairs. From the earliest period
of our history under the National Union, it has
been the cause, or the pretext, for sectional
strife Disunonists, North and South, have
constantly used it to ALLEVIATE one section of
our country from the other When these strifcs
at last eliminated in war, and slavery was sud
denly abolished, and the South thereby grievous-
impoverished and constrained to accommodate it
self to a violent change, more suddenly introduced
than the teachings of experience would seem to
warrant all patriotic men looked for national re-
pose Il set-off. The one great theory of our
Government, which was supposed to be settled,
was that each State should manage its own inter-
nal affairs but so far from the abolition of slave
ry having composed sectional differences it
has only intensified tnem1the negro being still
mainly required its interpositiOn to protect the
recently emancipated slaves from aggression on
the part of the white people Of the South, and
and strange tribunals were instituted among us
to manage this race, claiming and exercising, long
after hostties had ceased, exclusive jurisdiction,
civil and criminal, over whites and blacks, to
all matters to which a freedman was party, and
resting their decisions and modes of proceeding
OH no known rules. 1t behooves every patriotic
mind to solve the problem, what is bcstto be done
to avoid this sectional strife in relation to the
gro? Is it possible, in entire consistency with the
Welbclng of the African race, to avoid this eLdu.
ring source of animosity between the sections
1t seems to me that the course to be pursued is
obvious II the parties to the controversy sincerely
desire reconciliation The cause of the trouble is
the unequal distribution of the race between the
sections The plain and practical remedy is their
more equal diffusion. Existing circumstances in
vite such diffusion The people OF the South
(whethcr from prejudice not is immaterial to
the lew take) do not regard the negro as their
equal He is not allowed the right of Suffrage
The North insists that this prejudice of the South
does cruel wrong to the African. Among us they
are very poor, and few of them have acquired local
attachments by ownership of land. The results
of emancipation and have made the whites
poor Also and the uncertain condition of our Fed
eral relations prevents the influx of capital or pop
ulation. Enterprise is paralyzed Few are able
to employ lgbOrers and pay them literally. On
the other hand the dominant States are rich
In all of them the wages of labor is much
greater than we can pay. In many of
them are public lands of great fertility
which the laws give to the actual settler
at nominal price. In one of these States por-
ton of The people has given a substantial earnest
OF the principles they profess by elecsing two
Africans as members Of their State Legislative
Everything seems to invite their emigration to
the dominant States; but most Of them are too
poor to pay the expenses of moving. This diff
cultysm be overcome by divcrting the apDro-
priatlon made to sustain the Freedmans Bureau,
to detraylnS the travelling expenses Of those who
may choose to move, allowing each one to choose
the State or Territory to which he would GO
When thus left free and aided to go where they
may think their condition will be bettered, no