The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-12-01
The Amendment---Re-organization.

edge of Southern affairs exhibited by some
of the most enlightened of our Northern ex-
changes. We have been an attentive reader,
ever since the rebellion was suppressed, of
the Albany Ecening Journal, the New York
Tribune, the New York Times, the New York
Herald, the Washington Chronicle, the Wash
ington IntelLigencer, and many other North
ern journals; and while they are all able,
learned, and entertaining, none of them seem
to have comprehended the situation fully,
with the exception of the Chronicle and Her.
all. A late number of the Eoening Journal
says:
| but the Constitutional amendment is not
only just and magnanimous; it is also the
most feasible way to effect the very end of
impartial suffrage. 1t presents a constant in
ducement to the extension of suffrage itself,
| by those most Immediately interested.
We therefore protest against its abandon
ment, even for the sake ofimpartial suffrage
And we protest the more earnestly because
of the condition coupled with it. We are
not only required to yield the amendment
but to absolve all the leading Rebels from
their SINS and to admit them to an equal
participation in the Government. To this
we do not believe the loyal people will con-
sent. The people demand their political
punishment, at least, and they demand the
amendment, in all its integrity IT. in addi-
ton thereto, impartial suffrage Can be secur-
ad, so much the better.
But 1t is said the South will never consent
Possibly; but if she will not, it is simply be-
cause the spirit of rebellion has never been
/ subdued, and if that be so. then certainly she
| is not entitled to he restored to the position
of equality with her loyal sisters. If she will
not consent to the ultimatum of the North
then let her stay out. If she likes it. we need
not complain. But she must bear in mind
| that while she stays out. she cannot shrk
| her responsibilities. She must he governed
| Ii she Is obstinate, then her existing illegal
governments must he set aside, and she must
| be governed by loyal administrations This
the nation has the right to demand, but will
waive 1t if the Congressional plan of recon-
struction is adopted. Thus the amendment
itself is in the nature of compromise. Let
us not frltter 1t away for an abstraction"
The Journal has been " swinging round"
| by degrees for several months past, and it
would now he entirely right, if it would dis
miss from its mind all idea that the govern
ing class in the Southern States will accept
any plan, whether rendered by the President
or Congress No plan has been or will be
rendered that will not exclude leading
|
eminent" The leading rebels" as they
are called, will accept no plan that excludes
them; and therefore, all hope that existing
Southern organizations will concur in meas
ures necessary to restore the Southern States
to the Union, is at an end. There is nothing
| left, according to this view, which is the
true one, but to re-organiZe the Southern
States. We tell the Journal that /" the spirit
of the rebellion has never been subdued y
1t was thought, in 1865, that it had been,
but the President was deceived, and his Pro-
visional Governors were deceived. The
| South is still not only obstinate" but her
leaders are determined never to return to the
Union unless they can do SO on their own
terms. We hear the same tones from these
leaders we heard during the rebellion. They
declare that the object of the Republican
party is to degrade and ruin them, and that,
if they must go down under the iron heel of
Radical power, they will do so like men, with
hands graspng the Constitution as it is,
and the Union as it was" and that if they
are to be dishonored and degraded, the Rad
icals must not expect them to take any part
in fixing dishonor and degradation upon
themselves. They stigmatize as submission
lists and "mean whites" all Southern men
who are suspected even of sympathizing with
the Republicans or Radicals; and an uncon-
ditional Unionist they regard as one who has
lost all affection for the South, and who is
ready to join hands with her enemies in de-
grading and destroying her. They uttered
the same zones during the rebellion. They
declared that subjugation would be the most
horrible of all things. They urged the peo-
pie to fight to prevent "negro equality" as
they urged them to secede to prevent it and
the great bugbear now is, negro equality"
1t is the tombstone of every public measure
Meanwhile the Unionists of the South are
tied hand and foot. The State governments
with all the corporations. are against them.
When they urge the Importance of accepting
| the proposed amendment, and thus restoring
the Union they are met with the cry of g ne
gro equality" When they inculcate spirit
of nationality they are denounced as Radi-
Gals, which is considered all appellation
quite as offensive as abolitionist or black re-
publican used to be. When they urge a
proper spirit of submission to an offended
yet indulgent government, they are held up
as submissionists and unworthy sons of the
South.
We observe that Chief Justice Chase for
whose opinions we have much respect, has
recently declared that the proposed consti-
tutional amendment is one of the most gen.
erous and magnanimous propositions ever
submitted to people who have been in re-
bellion. We concur with the Chief Justice
in this But the Presidents plan was even
more generous and magnanimous than the
proposed amendment, and the people of the
South, under the influence of their leaders,
have refused to accept that. But the Chief
Justice says if these leaders have any plan OF