The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-08-02
For the Standard
To the Hon. Thomas Rnfin. late the |

| DIR 81 nave READ, WIFI @itLldZCIilcAIbd 1iti
sorrow, your letter published insthe VIII
mington Journal, bearing date July I'd, in
which you maintain to the people OF the
State, whom you have so long and so hon
| orably served IN its judicial. departments,
that the Convention called in pursuance OF
| the directions of the President, is an illegal
and unconstitutional body that the Con-
stitution proposed is, the offspring of des-
potism and tyranny, and cannot, and ought
not, if adopted, to have any weight with the
people of the State; advising the people
that it is entitled to no consideration as a
law, and that they ought, by all peaceful
means, to resist it. ssg+lsss .a....... ......-
Now, Sir, there is no man to whose mere
legal opinions would sooner yield my own,
matured as they are by long life of study,
than to yours !; but allow me to say, that the
doctrines inculcated in your letter are so
radical, and so subyersive of our present
status, that, if true, we are, politically and
civilly, just where we were on the 18th day
of April, 1865-under military law in every
respect, and for all purposes, in every part
OF the State, conquered by the might of q
superior power, claiming to be the rightful,
as it certainly has been the successful con-
queror of the Confederacy. Although am
satisfied that your argument is predicated on
erroneous assumptions shall not, at present,
(but in vindication of the Convention, what
Constitution, shall at future day. combat
your premises. Having ever been forward
to throw the veil of oblivion over the I'M
fortunate past, and to pave the way for re-
union, I have been, and am now, prepared to
overlook the errors in the policy Gf errors
there beg of President who has been ever
anxious to restore the State to the Union,
and has been ever ready to hear the applica-
tions for pardon of the distinguished old
men of the State, however deeply engaged
they may have been in the late armed resis-
lance against the national authority.
Now, Sir, if the Convention called by his
proclamation has been mere usurpation,
then all things done under it are void. 1t
was maintained by many that all civil law of
the State had been nullified by the rebellion.
1 did not concur in that conclusion but in
order to avoid all argument upon that point,
the Convention, at its first session, under
took to validate all the laws then existing.
which were consistent with the Constitutions
of the State and United States. This orCli-
nance relieved both our own Courts, and
those of the United States of a question,
which, had it been decided adversely to the
existence of those laws, would have been
followed by awful consequences, indeed
l need not unfold them to your Imagination :;
but they woQlTSh have been, both in magni-
tude and nu1hher enough to fill the whole
land with sorrow and mourning. Sir, if your
opinion be true, that the Convention was an
unlawful, void assembly, and that all its acts
are void, then all that has been done under
its authority is void. The Judges who have
been appointed since it sat, are mere usurp-
erS of their seats-the Justices OF the Peace
are so too. The Governor is an usurper and
the Legislature also. All the acts done by
virtue of any authority of the Governor,
Legislature, Judiciary, Sheriff, revenue Off
E-f. 4 IL,
one of them is liable to suits for damages
done to individuals, and indictments for OPP
preston, outrage and murder, at the instance
of persons who shall have been imprisoned
or convicted and punished for crime under
authority deriving its powers directly or
secondarily through the Convention.
Now, Sir, allow me, in all candor, to ask
why 1t was, that, entertaining the opinions
expressed with such confidence in your let
ter, you did not denounce the Gull of this Con-
ventiOn, when first proposed by the Presi-
dent, or subsequently before the day of its
election, with the objections so recently given
to the public? And, If you were not then
prepared, for want of confidence in them.
why did you not advise the people, who had
heaped on you, for so long a time, the dis
honors so worthiy and for so long
Il time, worn by you, after it was called, of
its usurping and illegal nature! A great ex-
pense to the Impoverished State might have
been saved; its delusiye and illegal acts
might have been arrested: A new, and, in
your opinion perhaps a legitimate source of
might have been inaugurated, and
to day we might have been on the high road
towards reunion; at least as far as we now
are, without having the spectacle
Of long continued usurpation in all the de-
partments of State authority, and the cheer
less task of going over all that has been done
Again, Sir, there was a long pause of time
between the conclusion of the first, and the
of the second, session of the Con-
vention. / am not at liberty to conjecture,
that your views, as recently expressed, were
not matured until lately, if in fact they were
formed. Allow me to suggest that, as since
the adjournment of the Convention YOU have
deemed it becoming your position to warn
your fellow citizens, it will be the subject of
inquiry among them, why it
was not deemed more becoming that posi-
ton to have given them the warning long
before Had it appeared earlier it might
have been considered, debated and even well
ded to; but as 1t appears on the eve of the
election, it may serve to raise doubts which
the reflections of camer times might have
Sir, considering that nearly twelve months
have elapsed since the call Of the Convention
was announced; that ten months have pas
Seu siuCe IL peSau us ~oIh GuaC seven
months interviewed between its sessions and
that you waited till so short a time before the
new Constitution was to be put before the
people on Its ratification or rejection, it will
ever be unfortunate for the reputation of
your letter, that it came too late to do any
good, and just in time to do much mischief
If, by its counsels, anarchy again shall prevail
in our midst, 1 hope that you may be as able
to check its, evils, as the untimely counscls
will have been prompt to give them birth.
A MEMBER OF THE CONVENTION.