Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-04-26

Worth, who, up to the time the State ATTEMPTED
to sccede, had passed Thirty years in active oppo-
siIIon to secession ana in the Legislature of 1860
81, stood his ground against that doctrine, till
the Union phalanX was thinned to three after the
war was ended, and nothing was to be gained by
il, had been foolish enough to turn seccssionist
! The Governor, at the end of the war, in view OF
the trials grief, pryatiCn and despair throughout
his native South, and among all classes Of its cit
Zeus, determined, as ali good men should have
done, to forget what he conceived to be the
Of those who had not acted with him in opposing
secession and to do Whist lie could 10 better their
condition, as well as those Of his friends For
this his ieliOw-citiZens chose to elect him to the
position he now fills, and for this all shnuld
specJ and honor him.
Gov. WORTH spoke as follows
friends and fei0,r- Citizens Il very much fear
that [ shall address you to-day under two very
favorable circumstances. With this heavy wind
and feeble voice, know it will he very difficult
for mo to make myself heard by this immense
sembIy. l address myself to my coOred iiends,
especially, on this occasion, although there are
many white persons present, because it il at the
instance and by the request of the cOlored people
tE&t:l appear before you to-day / have hesrd
some complaints made that have not spoken to
you more frequently, but let me tel You that it
has been my unVarying custom through life to
keep my advice always until L was asked for IT,
and Oh no occasion to give 1t unless it ird& asked.
have, on all occasions, attended to every invita-
! ton which l have received, and don't see how
can be calico politician accused Of any in
terCsted motives III attending your meeting to-
! day. The request came rom yourselves alone,
and feel that AM only doing my duty III COM
ing forward to advise You al this important crisis.
! l do not appear here to-day, 20 stir up any bad
feeling or to build up any party. / have no
motives 10 accomplish, save that one great and
necessary one, TO bring about, far i'll me hes,
peace and harmony among the black and white
people OF this country, and to promote the COM
mon interest of our common country. What clse
could accomplish l can no longer be eligible
to office, after you have framed your cOnsti-
tuition, and consequently, II address you, must
do so through purely disintercsted motive,
through desire to see all classes OF our commu-
nifty united, peaceful and prosperous. " hen you
have framed that constitution, shall not be emit
tied TO i'll the Office Of constable much less that
Of Governor, and therefore have no personal OBJ
iect whatever Ill view and that when that law
comes into effect, let me tell you that VIII
more willingly yield to its conditions and pTOvis-
ions than [. l will not then be entitled to even
vote, and epeak honestly when say, that think
should have right to vote as well as those who
were my servants both before and during the war.
know you Will agree with me III this. would
he willing 20 put tho matter to yourselves, because
feel confident that you would, unhesitatingly,
consent that I should have vote, especially il
you Wcro familiar with my past history. have
never been politician in my life but alb Jut thirty
years ago had the honor OF being member OF
the General Assembly, and some very valuable
laws were passed at that session, and many Oh
them exist to the present time One Of those laws
was that it, WAS crime to learn black man to
eisher read or write. The great body OF the As
scmbly voted for that bill. | voted against it,
The records will show that l believe I think now,
as | thought then, that II was wrong to deprive
any person of the means which would enable him
to read the word of God, while many OF those who
abuse and Willy mellow, atsthat time thought diff
terently. In spite OF that law one Of my boys,
named Joe, u blacksmith, was taA ght o read ana
write with nay knowledge and consent How l
have always acted towards the cOloIcd people, il
Won want TO know, you are to find ont BY whaf
/ say here to-day? No. You will find yourselves
very often mistaken if you believe what you arc
told by. speech-makoIE. If Yen are sensible and
would act with prudence, you will not allow your
selves to be carried away by the fattery OF the
hour. When you inquire. INTO my past history,
YOU viii find that never hand-cutfed negroes and
sent them into the slave market as some of my
traducers have done. On the contrary, have
bought and sold negroes for the purpose OF bring
ing families together have still living with me
the first slave ever owned. His name is stephen.
If you want to know how have treated the col
ored gpeopIo ask him, and / suppose you will be
satisfied with what he tells you.
A voice" We ican't depend on what Stephen
says" Laughter.)
Governor Worth" Ii you can't, then ask some
body else. I depend on him, and believe he de-
ponds on me-
= voice That's so, l have talked with him
and he told me So
have trusted him with thousands of dollars, and
have always found him upright and honest in his
dealings.
would not have alluded to these matters to-
day, we're | not aware that imputations had been
| circulated around that was coming here for the
purpose Of intlaming your minds, aud accomplish
i
! long to no party now. There can be No party now
| in the South. Congress has passed law which
is be carried into effect at the point of the
bayOnet, and what need can there be for parties
under such circumstances? Whcthc approve
of that law not, must abide by it. Conse-
quentlv, the mere question OF party is little bet
ter than IL mOckery.
1t has been announced in the papers that | was
coming here to address you with a view to inflam-
ing your minds and provoking party feelings
amongst you. In no way have | attempted to do
so. happened, at the beginning Of the war, 20
be a member Of the General Assembly, and | OPP
posed that unhappy war to the bitter end | 'eb
at the time that it must unqucstiOnably result in
misery and suffering. Perhaps some OF you thinl,
lt was gotten up for the purpoee OF setting you
free. Those of you who can read know well that
the Congress of the United States declared they
had no such object in view. You are free now,
but neither party intended that you should be 80.
The two parties went to war, however, and the
consequence is that you are free. "a voice
Thank God) Iopposod the war. l was raised a
sort of Quaker, and we Quakers don't like fight
ing therefore, do not like war, nor do 1 wish
ever to see anything of the kind again. And now.
Notwithstanding that L opposed the war to tho
last extremity, l am accused of being secession.
iSt. OH what fool would be to become
now, when 1t Is not popular, when refused to do
so when 1T was l can assure You that by such
an accusation you pay me very poor compliment
indeed.
Governor Worth then produced the Standard,
and read from it the following extract in refer
ence TO his presence at the meeting
8 Governor Worth is to address the meeting
VIII he tell the colored people that III Of his
messages to the Legislature he proposed to dis
tribute" them like many cattle throughout the
country to drive them from the homes OF theII
fathers among strangers III the cold bleak regions
OF the North? VIII he tell the people that i'll the
same message ho pronounced the Congress OF the
United States al unconstitutional body mo
same Congress that passed the Sherman act and
gave to the colored man the right to vote. WlA
he do this -
Is there one amongst you who can say that
have attempted to adyise you in any way what
ever in relation to the forthcoming or any other
election? l haye never done SO, and any such
assertion must ultimately fall to the ground.
In reply to the above paragraph, Gov WORTH
produced the message i'll question, dated Novem-
Der the 18th, 1866, and read from it the passages
referred to by the Standard. They are as follows
The people of the South whether from pre-
judice or not is immaterial TO the view at stake!'
do not regard the negro their equal. He Is
not allowed the right OF suffrage. The North IN
sists that this prejudice of the South does cruel
wrong to the African Among ns they are very