The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-06-30

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! without ilnpnting gross dishonesty of pur-
nose and gross dereIictiona duty to those
who may entertain it. Nor do we deem 1T
necessaY VITO refer particularly TO the evidence
4 taken BY the committee to show that there
is nothing in the present condition OF the
people of the Southern States that warrants
on that ground Q denial of appropriation to
/ them. We content ourselves with saying
that, in our opinion, the evidence most to be
relied upon, whether regarding the character
of the witnesses of their means of informa-
ton, shows that Representatives from the,
Southern States would prove perfectly loyal.
I We specially refer for this only to the testi-
mony of Lieutenant General Grant. His
loyalty and his intelligence no one can
ttloubt. In his letter to the President of the
| 18th of December 1865 after he had recent
| ly visited South Carolina, North Carolina
and Georgia, he says =" Both in travelling
and while stopping saw much and convers-
ed freely with the citizens of those States, as
we'll as with officers of the army who have
been among them The following are the
conclusions come to by me Il am satisfied
that the mass os thinking men of the South
accept the present situation of affairs in
good faith. The questions which have hith-
erto divided the sentiments of the people of
the two sections slavery and State rights,
or the right of State to secede from the
| Union-they regard as having been settled
forever by the highest tribunal rms-that
man can resort to-. was pleased to learn
from the leading men whom met that they
not only accepted the decision arrived at as
final, but that now the smoke of battle has
clearedaway and time has been given for re-
Election, that this decision has been a fortu-
nate one for the country, they receiving the
like benefits from it with those who opposed
them in the field and in the cause. My OBJ
servations led me to the conclusion that the
citizens of the Southern States are anxious
to return to selfgovernment in the Union as
soon as possible; that while demonstrating
they want and require protection from the
government; that they are in earnest in
wishing to do what they think is required
by the government-noth umiliating to them
as citizens-and that if such course was
pointed out they would pursue it in good
faith. 1t is to be regretted that there can
not be a greater commingling at this time
| between the citizens of the two sections, and
particularly of those entrusted with the law
making power" Secession, as a practical
doctrine ever TO be resorted to, is almost
utterly abandoned. 1t was submitted to
and failed before the ordeal of battle. Nor
can the undersigned imagine why, if its re-
viVal is anticipated as possible, the commit
| tee have not recommended an amendment to
the constitution guarding against it in terms
Such an amendment, it cannot be doubted,
the Southern as we'll Northern States
would cheerfully adopt The omission of
such recommendation is pregnant evidence
| that secession, as a constitutional right. is
thought by the majority of the committee
to be practically mere thing of the past, as
all the proof taken by them shows it to be in
the opinion of all the leading Southern men
who hitherto entertained it. The desoation
around them; the hecatombs of their own
slain; the stern patriotism of the men of the
other States, exhibited by unlimited expen-
diture and of blood, and their love of the
Union SO sincere and deepseated that it is
seen they will hazard all to maintain it, have
convinced the South that as practical doc
trine secession is eXtinguished forever
State secession, then, abandoned, and slave
ry abolished by the Southern States them
selves, or with their consent, upon what
statesmanlike ground can such States be de-
MED all the rights which the constitution
secures to States of the Union2 All admit
that to do so at the earliest period is deman-
ded by every consideration of duty and pol
icy, and none deny that the actual interest
of the country is to a great extent involved
in such admission. The staple productions
of the Southern States are as important to
the other States as to themselves Those
| staples largely enter into the wants of all
alike, and they are also most important to
the financial credit of the government These
staples will never be produced as in the It
until real peace, resting as it can alone LIST
on the equal and uniform operation of the
constitution and laws on all is attained To
suppose that brave and sensitive people
will give an undivided attention to the in
crease of mere material wealth while retain
ed in a state of practical inferiority and
degradation is mere folly. They desire to
be again in the Union, to enjoy the benefits
of the constitution, and they invoke you to
receive them. They have adopted constitu-
tons free from any intrinsic objection, and
have agreed to every stipulation thought by
the President to be necessary for the protec-
ton and benefit of all; and in the opinion
of the undersigned, they are amply sufficient.
Why exact, as q preliminary condition to
representation, more9 What more is sup
posed advisable? First, the Republication of
the rebel debt; second, the denial of all OBJ
legations to pay for manumitted slaves;
third, the inviolability of our own debt. If
these provisions are deemed necessary they
cannot be defeated, if the South were dis
posed to defeat them, by the admission into
Congress of their representatives. Nothing
is more probable, in the opinion of the I'M
dersi gned, than that the South would adopt
| them; but those measures the Committee
connect with other conditions which we
think the people of the Sorth will never
adopt. They are asked to disfranchise
numerous class of their citizens, and also tn
agree to diminish their representation in
Congress- and, of course, in the electoral col
lege, or to admit to the right of suffrage
their colored males of twenty-one years of
age and upwards, class now in a condition,
of almost utter ignorance, thus placing them
ON the same political footing with white cit
liens of that age. For reasons so obvious
that the dullest may discover them the right
is not directly asserted of granting suffrage
to the negro. That would be obnoxious to
most of the orr ginal States so much so that
their consent was not to be anticipated
But the plan proposed, because of the limi-
ted number Of negroes in such States, will
have no effect on their representation and
it is thought may therefore be adopted,
while in the Southern States it will materi-
ally lessen their number. That such States
will assent to the measure can hardly be ex-
pected. The effect, then, if not the purpose
- of the measure is forever to deny representa-
tives to such States, or, if they consent to
d the condition, to weaken their representa-
tive power and thus probably secure a con-
tinuanee of such party in power now
| trolls no LOFT IF la