The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1866-10-03

". The National debt shall be in nowise |
repudiated nor invalidated /; and no debt in |
Cured in support of the Rebellion shall ever
be assumed or paid by any State nor shall
payment he made for the loss or emancipa-
patton of any slave.
". Congress shall have no power to en-
force these guarantees by appropriate legisla-
ton
Such, fellow Citizens, are the conditions of |
reconstruction proposed by Congress and al
ready accepted by the loyal Legislature Of
Tennessees Are they harsh or degrading |
Do you discern therein disposition to tram
pie on the prostrate, or push an advantage to
the uttermost Do they embody aught of
vengeance, or any con6scation but that of
slaverya We solicit your candid, impartial
judgement.
What is intended by the third section is
simply to give Loyalty fair start in the
reconstructed States. Under the johnson
policy, theFcbels monopolize pewera and place
even in communities where they are decided
ly outnumhered. Their Generals and Gov
ernors are members elect to, Congress; their
Colonels and Majors fill the Legislatures and
oficiate as Sheriffs Not only are the stead
lastly loyal prescribed, but even stay-a home
rebels have little chance in competition with
those who fought to subvert the Union
When this rebel monopoly of Office shall
have been broken up and loyalty to the
Union shall have become general and hearty,
Congress may remove the disability, and will
doubtless make haste to do so.
We do not perceive that the justice or fit
ness of the fourth section-prescribing that
the Union public debt shall be promptly met,
but that Of the rebel Confederacy never
is seriously contested.
There remains, then, but the second sec
ton, which prescribes in substance that po-
itical power in the Union shall henceforth
he based only on that portion of the people
of each State who are deemed by its Consti-
ton fit despositories of such power. In 9th
er words A State which chooses to hold
part of its population in ignorance and yassa-
lage-powerless, uneducated, unenfranchised
shall not count that portion to balance the
educated, intelligent, enfranchised citizens of
other States
We do not propose to argue the justice of
this proposition. As well argue the shape OF
cube or the correctness of the multiplica-
ton table, He who does not feel that this
is simple and mildly just, would not be per-
suaded through one rose from the dead to
convince him. That there are those among
us who would not have it ratified, sadly de-
monstrates that the good work of emancipa-
ton is not yet complete.
But" say some, this section is designed
to coerce the South into according suffrage
to her blacks" Not so, we reply but only
to notify her ruling caste that we will no
longer bribe them to keep their blacks in
serfdom. An aristocracy rarely surrenders
its privileges, no matter how oppressive, from
abstract devotion to justice and right 1t
must have cogent, palpable reasons for SO do
ing We say, therefore, to South Carolina,
If you persitently restrict all power to your
300, 900 Whites, we must insist that these no
longer balance, in Congress and the choice
of President, 0,000 Northern White free
men, but only 100000. Ifyou keep your
Blacks evermore in serfdom, it must not be
because we tempted you so to do and reward
ed you for SO doing"
Fellow-citizens of every State, but espe-
cially of those soon to hold elections we en-
treat your earnest, constant heed to the grave
questions now at issue. If those who SO wan
tonly plunged the Union into civil war shall
be allowed by you to dictate the terms of
reconstruction, you will have heedleesly sown
the bitter seeds of future rebellions and
bloody strife. Already, you are threatened
with recognition by the President ofa
sham Congress made up of the factions
which recently coalesced at Philadelphia on
platform of Johnsonism-a Congress con-
stituted by nullifying and overriding plain
law of the land-a Congress wholly inspired
from the White House, and appealing to the
sword alone for support. So glaring an at
tempt at usurpation would be even more
criminal than absurd. Happily, the people,
by electing an overwhelming majority of
thoroughly loyal representatives, are render
ing its Initiation impossible.
We cannot close without a most deserved
tribute to the general fidelity wherewith, in
view of the Presidents detection, the great
body of the people, and even of the Federal
office-holders, stand fast by their convictions
and their principles The boundless patron
age of the Executive, though most unscrup-
ulously welded against those to whose votes
he owes it, has corrupted very few, either of
those who shared or of those who would have
gladly shared in its enjoyment. Not one of
the twenty-five States which voted to
elect Abraham Lincoln has given in its adhe-
sion to the Presidents policy while New
Jersey-the only free State that voted against
him-has added herself to their number.
Our great war has taught US impressively
the peril of injustice and the lesson has
sunk deep into millions Of hearts, The
American people, chastened by suffering, are
wiser and nobler than they were, with
quicker and more open ear for every gener-
ous suggestion. The fearful lessons of Mem
phis and New Orleans have not been lost on
them, as is proved by the recent elections in
Vermont andMaine. Wecherish.,no shadow of
doubt that Pa. %. Ind. and Ia. first, then
N. Y. NJ Ill. Mich. Wis. KS, and MINES
ota will do likewise, and that true restora-
ton, genuine, abiding Peace, will thus be
secured to our country-a Peace that will
endure because based on the everlasting
foundation of Humanity, Justice and Free
| dom.
Marcus L. Ward, N. j., Chairman; John
D. Defrees, Indiana. Secretary.
Horace Greeley, New York.
s. A. Purviance, Pennsylvania.
William Clafin, Massachusetts,.
N B. Smithers, Delaware.
H. w. Hoffman, Maryland.
II. H. Starkweather, Connecticut.
| R. B. Cowen, Ohio.
John B. Clarke, New Hampshire.
Samuel F. Hussey, Maine,
Abraham B. Gardner, Vermont.
]. s. Fowler, Tennessee.
| Burton C. Cook, Illinois.
Marsh Giddings, Michigan.
D. P. Stubbs, Iowa.
A. W. Campbell, West Virginia.
S. Judd, Wisconsin.
| D. R. Goodloe, North Carolina.
S.. H. Boyd, Missouri.
w. J. Corning, Virginia.
Thonoc Sirpcon M1nnea0ta