The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1866-07-31
RALEIGH. N. C., July l3, 1866

RALEIGH, N. C., July Is, 1866.
General Orders, No. 3.
:: His Excellency, the Governor of North Car
olina, having officially notified the Assistant
Commissioner that "there now exists, under The
laws of this State, no discrimination in the ad
ministraIon of justice to the prejudice of free
persons Of COLOR" all officers and agents of the
Bureau will hereafter refer all cases to which
Freedmen are parties, to the proper County or
State authorities, according to the nature Of the
case, with the single exception of claims for
wages due under contracts approved or witnessed.
by officers or agents of the Bureau, which, not
admitt-g of delay, will be adjudicated as here
tOfore.
In case of any failure, neglect or inability of
the civil authorities to arrest and bring to trial
persons who have been or may hereafter be
charged with the commission of crimes and Of
fences against officers, agents, citizens and in
habitauts of the United States, irrespective Of
color, officers 10 charge of Districts are hereby
directed to arrest aud dctain such persons 10
military corfnemeht until such time proper
judicial tribunal may be ready and willing to
try them.
By command B'vt. MAJ GEN. ROBINSON,
Official: Clinton A. Cilley, A. A. G.
1t is known that there persons in the
State, and out f it, who have sought to make
the impression that our judicial officers and
juries SO ininlical to persons Of color and
persons among who were soldiers in the
United States army during the late civil war,
who refused to serve in the Southern armies,
that such persons cannot expect justice 10 our
courts Citizens Of this State, who had served
in the army of the United States, have filed
petitions, addressed to the President of the
United States, charging that they were perse-
cuted by our courts, and praying for protection.
Upon a reference of the PETITIONS to ME, by the
President, have made such Investigations as
satisfied me, beyond doubt, that there was no
ground for the filing of such petitions And
ted, in detail, for examination, have in each
case drawn forth response of like satisfaction
from the national authorities.
InquisitioDs have been made, and er parte
statements taken from persons who claim to
have been aggreved by the action or non-action
of our courts and jures None of these, as yet,
so far as [ know, even if taken as true, prove
aayt hing to the prejudice of any judicial officer
of the State. The ability and purity and i'm
partiality with which justice has always been
administered in this State, even where a negro
appealed to our Courts to assert his freedom,
have never been questioned at home or abroad.
Our present judicial corps will not suffer by
comparison with their predecessors at auy period
Of our history, have referred to these things
only to justify me in asking at this time for
peculiar diligence and circumspection On the
part of all Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs aud
other judicial and executive officers, IN the dis
charge of their official duties. Ose of the un-
happy sequents of the late civil war is an in-
crease of particularly larceny and bar
glary, and the too frequent failure to apprehend
and punish the criminal Every good citizen
should CO cooperate with the officers of justice in
bringing every violator of the criminal law to
justice We can, in no other way, expect a re-
turn Of the quiet and security which distiu-
guished our State before the war
1t ought to be, and hope it is, the wish, not
only of the judiciary, but Of every intelligent
white man in the State, to protect the lately
emancipated negro in all the rights of person
aud of property, to which he is entitled under
the laws and thus induce him to confde in our
justice, and encourage him to be honest and in
duslrious and to acquire property and take care
of it, JONATHAN WORTH,
Governor of North Carolins.
NEGRO Observation-Disclosures with the |
of political equality 10 South Carolina,