The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-12-20
REORGANIZATION.

No bill has been introduced into Congress
since the suppression OF the rebellion, which
has excited as much attention as that of Mr.
Stevens to establish a loyal State govern
ment for North Carolina. We may go fur
ther and say, that no bill, not reported by a
committee, has had more friends than this
had at the time of its introduction, among
the leading public men and presses of the
North. 1t is pronounced by many compe-
tent to judge, a solution of the vexed ques-
ton of restoration. This bill has gone to a
highly intelligent and patriotic committee of
the House, and a report is looked for at an
early day.
This bill sets out with a clear and hstori-
cal statement of the origin and nature of the
rebellion-its suppression-the steps taken
by the President, as commander-in- chief, to
preserve peace and order in the subdued dis
trict of country and it is then declared to be
the duty of Congress, as the civil and law
making power of the nation, to enable the
loyal people of said district to establish
government of their own, republican in FORM
us an indispensable step to the restoration of
the State to its former relations to the gov
ernment. 1t is then provided that loyal
Convention of the people of the State shall
be assembled in the City of Raleigh, on the
2)th of May, 1867, to frame Constitution :;
which Constitution shall be submitted to
Congress for approval, modification, or re-
lection. If the Congress shall find and de-
clare the Constitution to be republican in
form, the State will at once be admitted to
| all, al ~.
but if it should not SO find and declare, the
Constitution will be returned for further &C
ton by the Convention.
The qualifications for delegates to the Con-
vention must be such as are required under
| the old Constitution for members of the
House of Commons; and in choosing dele
gates, what is called impartial suffrage is
adopted. This is the very rule of suffrage
laid down by President johnson, in his let
ter to Gov. Sharkey, in 1865. 1t is, in sub
stance, that every white man and every ne
gro who can read and write, and who owns
real estate of the value of one hundred dol
lars, will be allowed to vote.
! 1t is utterly idle tor any citizen of the in
s Urgent States to expect or hope that these
| States will ever be restored to their former
places in the Union until they shall have
provided in their fundamental law for abso
l lte equality between the two races as to po-
litical and civil rights. The bill introduced
| by Mr. Stevens emhodies the principle of ne
gro suffrage. 1t is merely question of pol
| icy to whether some or all shall vote at
once. The action of Congress on this sub
ject as to the District of Columbia furnishes a
decided indication of the purpose fthat body
| We think it more than probable that what
| is called manhood or general suffrage will be
adopted. Every man, without regard to race
or color. will be invested with the ballot
| And many rebels who have been partloned
| by the President (for he pardoned all, with
certain exceptions, in his amnesty proclama-
ton of May 20, 1869 are behaving so bad
ly, that Unionists in all portions of the coun-
try are seriously inclining to the determine
ton not only to exclude them from office but
from the ballot-box, until they sincerely re-
pent of their treason, and manifest a proper
spirit of submission to the national authori-
ty. 1t would be easy to cut such persons off
from the ballot-box, by extending the test
oath in the act to voters as well as office
holders.
The oath in this bill is, we think, the best
yet devised for the insurgent States 1t does
not go back beyond the 4th of March, 1864,
but it provides for establishing a sound
status of loyalty from that period. No I'M
repentant secessionist and latter-day war
man can take it without committing perjury
No such persons will take it. If they should, |
they will he scorned and avoided by all de |
cent persons. If they should take it falsely
they will be prosecuted for perjury in the
Federal Court and the jurors who may try |
them will do under the oath 1t is also |
made the duty of the District Judge who |
administers the oath to institute rigid scru-
tiny into the antecedents of the person offer
ing to take the oath, and after full hearing |
he may refuse to administer the oath to such |
person. We do not see how the oath could |
be improved, or that its administration could |
be better guarded.
The machinery of the bill is excellent. 1t |
is every way appropriate that the law officers |
of the United States should be directed to
conduct the necessary operations to re-estab-
lish the law in the insurgent States.
1t also provided that the present organiza-
ton, set up under martial law, is to be con-
tinued until the new order of things shall be
established. This is necessary to prevent
anarchy and to preserve peace and ORDER
The present organization will thus glide out
of existence without any shock to society, to
be succeeded by a permanent civil govern
ment based on loyalty and justice.
The writer of this is ready to assume all the
responsibility that may attach to him as one
of the originators of this bill. Indeed he has
cause to be proud Of his connection with it,
as it promises to be the foundation of perma-
nent loyal civil government, without which |