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

The proposition submitted by Senator
Stewart for un1ersal suffrage and universal
amnesty, does not seem to meet the approval
of the Southern press. The organs of the
unsubdued, rebelious leaders do not regard
the offer of amnesty as in any sense COM
pensation for the humiliation of negro suf-
frage We could have told the Senator this
before he offered the proposition. These
| leaders consider themselves entitled to am
nesty. No obligation is conferred on them
when they are pardoned, and consequently the
clemency of the government excites no graf
itude. This, with some honorable exceptions,
is their view of amnesty. They are simply
overpowered, and do not even admit they
were mistaken in their efforts to destroy the
government. They do not regard secession
as crime. They are in sense penitent
for their attempt to secede, or for the innu-
merable calamities which have resulted from
their conduct. They remind us of the indi-
vidual who thought he was dying, and sent
for neighbor with whom he was at variance,
for the purpose of confessing his fault, SO
that he might depart in peace with all men,
The neighbor came, their differences were
talked over, the dying man asked his pardon
and was freely forgiven. But as the neigh
Dor was about to leave the room, he said to
him, 'Now remember, if 1 die this is all
right; but ifI get WELL we shall be just as
we were"
''When the devil was sick the devil monk would
be;
When the devil was well the devil monk was
he.'
When the earthquake tramp of Grant and
Shermans armies was still sounding in
their ears and as long as they feared con-
fiscation and punishment, they were as quiet
and submissive as lambs; but now, when
they feel that the danger has passed, they not
only claim their pardons right, but they
insist on the absolute control of affairs in all
these States. They denounce the L Mon men
here as " towards" and traitors to the Con-
federacy, because they wanted peace during
the rebellion; they refuse to walk under the
flag; and they are prescribing Union men
from office as fast they can, and filling the
offices with men of their own stripe.
The President was right, so far as the cot
ton States were concerned, when he said the
colored people would vote With the seces-
sionists. They would be obliged to do it,
because the secessionists own nearly all the
lands in those States If the Confederate and
State governments found means at every cleo
ton, to coerce veteran white soldiers to vote
for and against certain candidates, the seces-
sionists of the cotton States would encounter
but little difficulty in compelling the poor
unlettered, unsophisticated blacks to do the
W. f1,a
opinion that it would be different in the Dor
der States The colored people would be
freezer here than in the cotton States, and
would therefore, in all probability, vote with
the Union men.
After all, it seems to us. the only just safe,
and practicable plan is that of the President.
Let the States continue to exist as States;
let it be left to them to regulate suffrage,
basing it, according to Mr. Doolittle's prop
osition, not on the whole population, but on
the voters; and then let the Presidents plan
be carried out by some provision which will
place the insurgent States, from constables
up to Governors, permanently in the hands
of @ Enthusiastically loyal men. This is the
only plan which promises justice all round,
and which will secure repose and prosperity
to the country. We beg members of Con-
gress to ponder these things. If we simply
patch up the Union on an insul ,stantial basis,
it will be in danger of future commissions.
Place all poooer IN these States IN the hands Of
the truest Union men that cc,aa be found, and
not only aoiU the rights and interests Of the
freedmen be fully protected, but the Union it
self aoil be safe against any combination that
may be formed Of Southern secessionists and
Northern copperheazs. These lines are traced
by an unconditional Union man, who has
suffered for his opposition to the Davis des-
potism, and whose most cherished wish is
to see the Union re-established on the ever
lasting basis of loyalty, justice. and truth.
The Sentinel admits that it's junior Editor
justified the contemptuous manner in which
the flag was treated by certain persons in