Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-09-20

impartial rights to every human being with
in their limits Early in the session in
troduced bill to give them enabling acts
on the true principle of republican govern
ment. 1t met with but little countenance.
The republican mind had not examined,
and was not ready to accept SO radical a
proposition. And so the session was spent
in inaction. You may find my proposition,
together with the reasons for it, in the last
number of the Globe wish it might be
copied into your excellent paper so that you
may judge of it. 1 trust you can inform us
of its propriety. IshdU reneo0 1T at the sert
session.
In my opinion, Congress was derelict in
another particular. I have always held that
while but few of the belligerents should
suffer the extreme penalty of the law, yet
that sufficient fund should be leUied Om of
qes Of tie acar. Congress in July, 1862, de-
clared all their property forfeited, and di-
rected the President to seize it for the
benefit of the United States more than
ten billions of property thus become vested
in the United States. Proceedings against
more than two billions of property, inclu-
ding the abandoned estates, had been insti-
tuted and were In progress. The President
has restored to the traitors nearly the whole
of it. Thus has he illegally given away
half enough to pay the national debt. He
has enriched traitors at the expense of loy-
al men. And yet Congress, bold as it was,
had not the courage to reverse these pro-
ceedings and compel the Executive to do
his duty. I trust that oar constituents aoiH
gire as more courage, so that at the meet ses-
SION zoe may compel Tie President to do his
duty and execute Tie taaCs. Those are omis-
sions which I frankly confess and sincerely
deplOre. But our growing sin was the ODiS-
sion to gire hOnaesteaCIs and the right Of SaI-
frGge IN the rebel States to the freedmen qCh0
hdd fought oar battles. We have left them
the victims of the rebels who every day
shoot them down in cold blood. At Mem
phls, forty eight were murdered under the
direction of the municipal authorities, and
not a man prosecuted. Behold the awful
slaughter of white men and black-of q
Convention of highly respectable men,
peaceably assembled in Convention at New
Orleans, which Gen. Sheridan pronounces
more horrible than the massacre of Fort
Pillow. Even the clergyman who opened
the proceedings with prayer was crLelly
murdered. All this was done under the
sanction of johnson and his office-h holders.
lt is the legitimate consequence Of his
"policy."
[ admit Congress became demigogical in
the last hot days, when all manhood was
melted out of everybody. They did some
things to seduce the Fenians into our ranks.
The measures were right and SO I voted
for them. will speak plainly on this sub
ject.
The most effective argument (if argument
it can be calleG) which will be issued by
our opponents is the effort made by the
Republicans to give equal rights to every
human being, even to the African. We
shall hear repeated, ten thousand times, the
cry, NEGRO Equality =" The Radicals
would thrust the negro into your parlors,
your bedrooms, and the bosoms of your
wives and daughters. They would even
make your reluctant daughters marry black
men. And then they will send up the
grand chorus from every foul throat,
" nigger, y " niger, " niger !" "Down
with the nlgger party, we are for the white
mans party" These unanswerable argu-
ments will ring in every low bar-room, and
be printed in every blackguard sheet
throughout land whose fundamental max
i'm is "AQ men are created equal" The |
chief promoters of this slang consist of two
or three different classes. The unprinci-
pied brawling demagogue, possessed of
some cunning but no conscience. Among
those who have an unequal mixture of
rogue and dupe, are the low, ignorant, IL
hterate natives as well as foreigners, who
dwell about the purlieus of our towns and
cities, and live 10y pilfering and &C odd Jobs y
The Protestant will listen to devout SER
mon from the text "Of one blood made he
all the nations of the earth" +" and go forth
to the next political meeting to shout
" down with the negro - The Catholic
will listen annually to the reading from
the altar Of the Pope's Bull denouncing
Slavery, and go forth to support the Slave
~ Party, and shout "Down with the ne
gro"
What shame that the countrymen of the
Declaration of Independence; what shame |
that the countrymen of the immortal OCon-
nell should ever cast a vote on the side of |
human bondage!
The present crisis is exhibiting men in
America in an extraordinary light. In
other nations, when the King and the |
Court become debauched and corrupt, the !
mass Of the people become demoralized |
But the people of America, high and low,
from the centre to the circumference, re- |
main untouched, Notwithstanding the foul
and debauchery which disgrace
the centre. Notwithstanding all the blan-
dlshments of power and patronage not
the tender Of fat offices, not
a single genuine Republican has been Sc
iuced from his allegiance to principle.
Not one has consented to supersede one
honest office-holder, and renounce his own
faith as the price. I know there are few
soldiers of fortune who hung upon the skirts
Of the party who have consented to take
office under Cowan and company. But
hey were men who were never trusted by
The party, or who for years past have be-
come SO bankrupt in principles and fortune
rs to be ready to join any conspiracy that
furnished rations. They are the army of
Jataine.
Nor have the least fear that any re-
'pectable man will be found to take service
N their ranks. I do not here speak of
I see no reason to prevent
heir accepting Office without loss of honor
They would violate no principle They
would stab no friends. But warn you to
Keep an eye on any professed Republican
who consents to fill an enforced vacancy.
However he may have stood before, there
s villainy wrapt up in his composition
He is a model Leper ,ohOna you should moi touch.
He should be socially ostr0cised as unfit fo,.
1ecent society. Let him fit about in the
;wilight, and hide his averted countenance
rom the light of day.
The President and his squad lit does not