The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1866-06-06

question OF MEMBERSHIP. ~ tAsse ecc1l
mony has been taken, Of what evidence
has been presented on the question to !
either branch of Congress, or what
Judgment will be given, is not known
to me; nor have / the right Of inlqu-
ring, for neither the right nor the duty
of deciding is devolved upon me. But
the course of the President in thus re-
ferring the question of its own members
to the Judgment Of each house OF Con-
oress receives and continues to receive
my cordial support.
Besides the steps taken by the Exec
utive to restore the constitutional rela-
lions of the States, his annual message
called the attention of Congress to the
necessity of insuring the security of the
freedmen: reminding Congress that
while he had no doubt that the general
government could extend the elective
franchise, cit is equally clear that good
faith require, the security OF the freed
men in their liberty and their property,
their right to labor, and their right to
claim the just return Of their labor"
and observing further that " the coun-
try is in need of labor and the freedmen
are in need of employment, culture, and
protection" In connection with this
subject the President further remarks:
"Slavery was essentially a monopoly
of labor, and as such, locked the States
where it prevailed against the incoming
of free industry. Where labor was the
property ofthe capitalist, the white man
was excluded from enjoyment, or he
had but the second hest chance of find
ing it, and the foreign emigrant turned
away from the region where his condi-
ton would be so precarious. With the
destruction of the monopoly, free labor
will hasten from all parts of the civil
zed world to assist in developing vari-
GUS and unreasonable resources which
have hitherto lain dormant. The eight
OF nine States nearest the Gulf of Mexi-
co have soil of exuberant fertility,
climate friendly to long life, and can
sustain adenser population than is found
as yet in any part Of our country. And
the future influx of population to them
will be mainly from the North, or from
the most cultivated nations in Europe"
These views of the President in rela-
ton to the freedmen received, and con-
tinue to receive, my hearty concurrence.
They have guided the action of the
War Department, and were substanti-
ally advocated in its annual report. In
what believed an honest desire to con-
form to them, a bill was passed by Con-
gress regulating the Freedmen's Blu
leau; but the provisions of the bill did
not meet the Presidents approval, be-
cause he believed the powers conferred
upon him and upon the agents to be
appointed by him to be unwise and I'M
constitutional. Concurring in the OBJ
ject of the bill, and regarding the pow
er as temporary, and safe in his hands,
l advised its approval. But having
been returned to Congress with the
Presidents objections, and having fail
ed the needful support, it is no longer
living measure, nor the subject of de-
bate or difference of opinion.
Another Congressional measure, call
ed the civil rights bill, has been the
the subject of conflict That bill, now
law, has for its object the security of
civil rights in the insurrectionary States.
1t was well observed by the President, in
his annual message, that peaceful emf
grasion to and from that portion ofthe
country the Southern &ates] as one Of
the best means that can be thought of
for the restoration of harmony" Its
possible interference with such emigra-
ton was one of the chief objections to
military rule and by some it is thought
that the influence of class legilation in
favor of the slaveholding monopoly
heretofore existing in the Southern
States would still be strongly exerted
to prevent peaceful emigration into
those States, and would exclude the la
boring population ofthe North from that
soil of exuberant fertility and friendly
climate, that productive region embrac-
ing the eight or nine States nearest the
Gulf of Mexico, and that hence civil
rights in those States should be vigil
antly detected by Federal laws and
Federal tribunals. Although the mea-
sures enacted by Congress for this pur-
pose failed to receive the Executive
sanction, yet having been adhered to
by two-thirds vote in each house, they
have now passed to the statue book
and ceased to be the subject of debate.
Another measure or series of meas
ures of prime Importance, now pending
before Congress, merits a brief remark,
| viz The Main of restoration or recOn-
struction, as it is sometimes called. To
the plan reported by the Joint Commit
tee have not been able to give my as
sent. It contemplates an amendment
to the Federal Constitution, the third
section of the proposed article being in
these terms
sSEc. 8. Until the fourth day of Ju-
ly, in the year one thousand eight ham
bred oaad seventy, all person who volun-
tarily adhered to the late insurrection,
giving it aid and comfort, shall be er-
clasded from the right to vote for repre-
sentatives in Congress, and for electors
for President and Vice President of the
United States" 1t is urged by the adj
vocates of this plan that this third sec
ton is the vital one, without which the
, others are of no value. Its exclusive &C
ton will no doubt commend it to the
feelings of many as wise and just
provision But / am unable so to re-
gard it, because for four years it binds
Congress to exclude from voting for
representatives for Presidential electors
ssall persons who voluntarily adhered