The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-03-22
Jrl- STANDARD.
RALEIGH, n. g.
THURSDAY, MARCH %, 1866.
Injustice to Southern Unionists
Harper's Weekly Of the Gath March, in a
article on Constitutional amendments, says

| Harpcr's Weekly OF the gath March, in an
article on Constitutional amendments, says
1.-The constitutional amendment appOrtionmg
reprcs cntation to population and excluding from
the basis those to whom the franchise is denied
! has been defeated in the Senate. There were OBJ
iectOns to the proposition which we stated at the
time; but we should, under all the circumstances,
have regretted its defeat serious blow to the
| prospects of speedy organization if were not
| very sure that the amendment was to obviate Il
difficulty i'll the situation which is sure to be rem
| cdicd. The emancipation amendment, upon the
| assumption of four million freedmen and Il basis
| of Il hundred thousand persons for Il representa-
tiv :, adds sixteen members to the representation
of the late slave States. Yet the population
which increased the representation, and which
upon this basis would give forty members, is
excluded from the polls, and is, moreover, the
only thoroughly loyal class in the States con-
This is an absurlity which must be adjusted;
and the Committees amendment has failed
Senator Doolittc has introduced Il substitute, as
follows:
After the census to be taken in the year 1870
and each succeeding census representatives shall
/ be appOrtiOncd among the several States which
liIIy be included within this Union according
/ the number i'll each State of male electors over
twcnty-onc years of age, qualified by the laws
thereof to choose members of the most numerous
branch of its Legislatures; and direct taxes shall
he apportiOncd among tlie several States accord
ing to the Vulu of the real and personal taxable
property situated in each State, not belonging to
lie State or the United States"
This is Virtually the amendment which the
President has always favored, and which lie sug-
.rc>tcl in the conversation with senator DIXON
IL spirit is the same rs that OF The defeated promo
>itiOn 1t aims to enlarge the suffrage, and il
offers >tron.: inluccment for it, enlargement
Ii appeals to the love OF political power, and
poets to effect that acknowledgements of the color
ed population which is The key of t;c situation.
Senator Wilson, whose political sagacity and
fidelity to freedom are prorcri'iat, is If opinion
that the rejected amendment would have pro-
duccd equal suffrage i'll the late slave States with
i'll five years. Doubtless he and al his friends
are Senator Fcsscndcn said, i'll favor of abolish
| n nj tp m RlItt hey
are very sure that the result cam be better accom-
p!iShed indirectly and by degrees. The feeling
of the Senate is shown by the fate of Senator
Hendcrson,s proposed amendment, which for
babe any State to discriminate against amy person
on account of color or race. y radical Senate
gave ten yeas Tor the proposition and thirty
nays. Senators Yates, sumner and Clark made
the same ,tinrt with still worse result. The
Senate has plainly pronounced for leaving the
regulation of the suffrage to the Staes.'
There are several points in the above that
might be noticed, but we have made this ex-
tract with the view of protesting, as we do
in the most earnest terms, against the state
ment of Harper that the freedmen are .. tile
only ttOroughly loytl class" in the insurgent
States. This is an unfounded unjust illibe-
raj, mischievous statement It not only ig-
norcs hundreds Of thousands of white Union
lists in the South, but it puts the freedmen
"i'o|C lHciil LII lcSptSt " any, anu WOllU
leave the impression that the only solid hope
OF the restoration of the States on safe ba-
sis is to be found in negro suffrage If this
be true then the white Union men here, not
being " thoroughly loyal might as well
cease totakc an interest in public affairs
But it is not true. 1t is libel upon the
Union men of the South. We declare that
i,,IN q
insurgent States are entitled to more sympa-
thy and consideration than Northern Union
men, for the reason that the former had more
to endure on account Of their principles than
the latter. There are at least twenty-five
thousand Unfonists in North Carolina who
are as true as the same number of Unionists
in New York or Massa chusetts
The Unionists of the South have had a
double portion of suffering to endure For
long years they were prosecuted and dis
tressed by the so-callcd Confederate govern
ment and the State governments they were
plundered and robbedb by Confederate troops,
and then /" bummered" by federal troops; hun
dreds of them were shot and hanged because |
they would not fight in the insurgcnt armies
Gncy were nuntCQ ike W1lO beasts amOnO |
the caves and mountains; they were de
as traitors to their native soil. and |
prescribed socially as well. as in politics and !
business and they were taught to believe |
that if the Confederacy succeeded they would |
be driven out to find home among their |
friends, the Yankees" while their names
would be handed down to posterity with in
fanny. But they believed, and they had a
right to believe, that the rule of their enemies
would cease with the rebellion, and that the
great body Of the Northern people would do
justice to their integrity and their motives as
Union men. What has been the result
They look around at home and find nearly
all the offices occupied by men who were
their enemies and oppressors during the re-
bellion, and who have been chosen to those
offices on their merits as ''good Confeder-
ates." They find that the original secession
lists, the immediate authors of all our woes
have allied themselves with renegade Union
men, and that this combination is surely and
rapidly obtaining supreme control in society