The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1867-06-18
TWO YEARS AGO.
Extract from letter addressed By w. w.
HOLDEN toG Committee of citizens ct W.

|
Extract from zette. addressed By w. W
HOLDEN toG Committee of citizens Of wa
son County, dated May sd, 1865.
Gentlemen, we are once more Americans
all. We told the authors of the rebellion II
1860, that disunion would be civil war; muir
derarson, pillage, robbery and fire and blood
through long and cruel years. We told
them it would unsettle all business, diminish
the value of al! property, put the lives o.
both sexes and all ages in peril, and launch
the States on sea of scenes which no eye
had scanned, and no navigator sounded
We told them it would bring debt, and mis-
rule, and oppressive taxes, to be followed,
perhaps, by the military rule Of titled tyrants
We told them that instead OF preserving
State rights, it would destroy them; and
that slavery itself, the great object for which
disunion was urged, would perish IN the vor-
tex of revolution. We appealed to them In
the most earnest terms to submit to federal
authority, and to give to the administration
of Mr.. Lincoln fair trial We felt, as they
could have SEEM if their vision had not been
infected with the insanity of secession, that
even if Mr.. Lincoln was disposed, as he was
not, to assail our Constitutional rights, we
had the amplest guarantees of protection in
the Congress and the Supreme Court; and
that if our rights were denied us, as law
abiding citizens of the United States, our
best, and indeed our only hope to vindicate
and maintain them would be in the Union,
under the old flag.
But the instigators of the rebellion were
fatally bent on mischief and therefore heed
ed no warnings. They would have it so,
and behold the result They went to war
| fOr clo 49,. o,,6 hou q
lost it in the States. They attempted to dis
solve the Union to preserve State rights, and
the result was, long before the pillars of
their badly constructed edifce were shivered
and Frustrated, they had reduced the States
to the condition of petty provinces. Our
own noble old State especially, on account
of her Union sentiments and her fearless as
sertion at all times of the great principles of
civil liberty, became
can appanage to those
| Who did despise her."
They promised us liberty. but they gave us
CONSUMPTION laws, and tithipg laws, and i'm
pressment laws, until the spirit of our people
tainted under the infiction, and the man.
hood OF the country Was compelled to utter
| itself in whispers or be hurried to the
front" in ropes orhandcuffs. They promised
us freedom of speech and of the press, but
the haJeds co,pus by the strong hand of
power. And at last, after they had dragged
an unwilling people through seas of horror,
at the end of four years. and just as the old
flag of Washington was about to be unfurled
at Richmond and Raleigh, the guilty authors
| and abettors of all this crime fled with pre-
cipitation before the armies of the Union,
abandoned their capitals and those who had
confded in them, some of them clutching
and taking with them the treasures which,
by unjust laws and by speculation and pecu-
lation, they had wrung from the blood and
tears of our people.
But Babylon is fallen, is fallen" and
thank God for it. We are once more free.
The flag of the United States, which, previ
ously to the rebellion had never waved but
as a symbol of protection and security to us
all, is again unfurled in every State. We
shall again enjoy the protection of 4 strong
and just government. under the benign
influence of virtuous rulers and wise laws
Let us rejoice, gentlemen, that we behold
this day. Let US "rally to the flag" and
give cheerful and active support to those
in whose hands it has been placed. deplore
as you do, and as all good citizeus must, the
untimely death of Abraham Lincoln. 1 re-
member with pride and pleasure that 1 en-
dorsed his first Inaugural Speech in my
newspaper, and begged our people to sub
NIT to his authority and extend to him
generous confidence The people of the
South abhor the foul deed which bereft him
of life. With their Northern brethren they
mourn his fall, and, with them, they will
cherish the remembrance of his noble quail
ties. Washington, and Clay, and Jackson,
and Webster, and Douglas, and Everett,
o1r DIV cI- 1,.D y tla
lustre of their abode was heightened when
the star of the martyred Lincoln took its
place in the cluster. One and all, they lived,
and labored, and died in the cause of the
Union. Their bodies are buried in peace,
but their names liveth evermore." They are
safe from the accidents of time Our chill
dren, and our children's children, for a thou
sand generations, will learn and recount their
virtues and walk in the light of their exam
pie; and Liberty itself, when erecting its al
tars in other lands, will klndle its fires from
the great fountain of light which shines in
their actions and recorded words"
Extract from the Proclamation of Provisional
Governor W. W. HOLDEN, dated June 10,
1865.
"And now as Provisional Governor of the
State, invite the loyal people thereof to re-
sumo with cheerfulness, and with confidence
in the future, their accustomed pursuits
and invite those who have been driven from
the State by despotic power, to return as
surfing all loyal citizens of the State that
they will be protected in their persons and
property, and encouraged in their exertions
to improve their condition. I also exhort
them not to cease to take an interest in pub
lie affairs, but to unite with me in the pur-
pose to reconstruct the State Government
through the aid of loyal citizens; and to be
vigilant and active in discouraging disloyal
sentiments, and in ensuring the election of
known friends of the Federal Government
to every Office Your experience, fellow
citizens, during the rebellion, should attach
you by the strongest ties to the government
of the United States. You have just
been delivered by the armies of the Union
from one of the most corrupt and rigorous
despotisms that ever existed in the world.
Many of you have been forced, for opinions
sake, and because of your love for the flag
of your fathers, to fly from the land of your
birth or of your adoption and seek refuge
opono StranoerS to eScaDe the hand Of arhi-