The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1867-06-22
The President and Mr.. Seward.

A correspondent of the Charleston Mef
cury, in his account of the Presidents vlsl
to this State, says:
"Mr. johnson and Mr.. Seward, until they
experimental, were evidently not confident
with reference to the character OF their re
ception, or assured that they could with the
r. utmost safety travel among the repentant
rebels of the South. Their minds had been
clearly injected with the extravagant belief
which prevails at the North that pilgrims
from that enchanted region periodically nave
their windpipes severed in the most horr1d
manner, and are then suspended like so many
sepulchral sign-posts at the country cross
roads.
More than one person thought so at Ha-
leigh. when the President stepped forward
upon the balcony of the Marlborough Hotel
to address the assembled crowd, and sud-
denly retreating, gave place to colored
man, who was instructed to jump up and
down energetically and gymnastlcally, ana
otherwise employ his avoirdupols and I'M
peril his valuable existence, IN testing the
strength of the structure which was to sus-
tain the great head of the Republic.
Others thought likewise at Chapel Hill,
when the students gathered at the anslon
of Ex-Gov. Swain to welcome the distin-
| ~ sA'SAA
hearts-poor fellows, they had forgotten how
to cheer-gave the Presidential party the
same old-fashioned Confederate yell they
used to charge with. Perhaps MIR. Seward
imagined they were going to charge him
again; and although the vocal commotlon
was explained to him before he commenced
to speak, his unsubsided establishment was
plainly manifested.
The demoralizing suspicion which these
gentlemen brought with them from the
North was still further shown by the very
constant and tender solicitude with which
several detailed cavalrymen watched over the
party and followed them in their perambula-
tions. Indeed, it was this bodily possession
of the President and his Secretaries by the
military, this surrounding of rank, these too
abundant evidences of unwelcome power,
this close following upon his heels OF twenty
or thirty officers and soldiers in blazing uni
| forms, which, believe, deferred hundreds of
citizens, and especially ladies, from paying
their respects to Mr.. johnson and his staff.
1t is needless to dwell on the statement
| that all this precaution was unnecessary
There may have been Radicals educated
in the Holden, Brownlow or Kelley school
who would have gladly used the dagger of
the assassin; but in the hearts OF our own
people there beat but one sentiment-that OF
welcome, and of respect for the man who has
striven to be the great constitutional break
water to the angry tide that is now sweeping
over the South"
1t was most extraordinary that the Presi-
dent and Mr.. Seward considered themselves
in any personal danger while in North Car
DINA. No portion of our people, except
when under coercion by Mr.. Davis and Gov.
Vance, have ever been guilty of murder or
assassination. There were murders and as
sassinations under Confederate rule Citi-
zens of the United States were shot and
hanged, prisoners were starved to death, and
even women were roped and hanged until
the blood gushed from their mouths but
these horrible things have come to an end,
and there is no danger now, under Federal
rule, that murders and assassinations will be
renewed and repeated in this State. The
best joke of the season is that Mr.. johnson
and Mr. Seward imagined themselves so loyal
that they were in personal danger from the
rebels. Will these gentlemen never learn
that these rebel leaders regard them as their
last and only hope? Would they go about
to kill' their only hope9 What nonsense d!
1t seems to be generally understood, how
ever, that these dignitaries imagined them
selves in constant peril. Even the popping
of champagne bottle is said to have star
tied them. They were in no danger Those |
who had them in charge regarded them as
their last stake in the game which is being
played to divide the Republican party, and
thus destroy the country; while the Repub-
licans, though the victims of outrages of all
kinds in the past, are not disposed to retail
late. Least of all would they think for one
moment of offering even the slightest dis
respect to persons occupying such eminent
positions. The correspondent of the Mercury,
who charges the crime of assassination on
" Holden, Brownlow and Kelley" no doubt
himself, with thousands of others, rejoiced !
at the assassination of Mr.. Lincoln, as they
had previously starved Union prisoners, shot
conscripts, and tortured women and chill
dren. One of the best evidences of the
mercy and forbearance of the Republicans
is, that such creatures are not scourged out
of the country which they pollute and dis
grace by their presence. They can remain
here as long as they wish, but the Republi-
cans will see to it that assassins, murderers,
women-whippers, and torturers of Union
prisoners are not permitted again to bear
rule in these States.