The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1867-12-11
Concluded from. first paqe.l

scnee of liberty consists, and which a flee
government is always most careful to pro-
tect. 1t denies the hdbeas corpus and the
trial by jury. Personal freedom. property,
ind life, if assailed by the passion, prelu-
dice, or the rapacity, of the ruler, have no
security whatever 1t has the effect OF a
bill of attainder. or bill OF pains and penal
ties, not upon few individuals, but upon
whole Masses including the millions who
inhabit the subject States, and even their
unborn children. These wrongs being ex-
(pressly forbidden, cannot he constitutlonaily
inflicted upon any portion of our people, no
matter how they may have come within our
jurisdiction, and no matter whether they
live in States, Territories, or Districts.
have no desire tn save from the proper
and Just consequences of their great crime
those who engaged in rebellion against the
Government but as mode of punishment
the measures under consideration are the
most unreasonable that could be invented.
Many of those people are perfectly innocent !;
many kept their fidelity to the Union I'M
tainted to the last; many were incapable OF
any legal offence; a large proportion even
of the perso as able to bear arms were forced
into rebellion against their will; and of
those who are guilty with their own consent
the degrees of iguilt are as various as the
shades of their character and temper. But
these acts of Congress confound them all
together in one common doom. Indlscrlm-
mate vengeance upon all classes, sects, and
parties or upon whole communities. for Of
fences committed by portion of them
against the governments to which they owed
obedience. was common in the barbarous
aces of the world. But Christianity and
civilization have made such progress that
recourse to punishment so cruel and I'M
lust would meet with the condemnation OF
all unparalleled and right minded men. =
The punitive justice ofthis age, and especial
ly of this country, does no. consist IN strip
ping whole States of their liberties, and re-
ducing all their people, without distinction,
to the condition of slavery. 1t deals sepa-
rately with each individual, confines itself
to the forms of law, and vindicates its own
purity by an impartial examination of every
case before competent judicial tribunal
If this does not satisfy all our desires with
regard to Southern rebels, let us console
ourselves by rejecting that a free Constitu-
ton, triumphant in war and unbroken IN
peace, is worth far more to us and our chill
dren than the qualification Of any present
feeling. t 5s. a5
am aware it is assumed that this system
of government for the Southern States is
not to be perpetual. 1t is true this military
government is to be only provisional, hut it
is through this temporary evil that a great
evil is to be made perpetual Ii the guar
antees of the Constitution can be broken
Professionally to serve temporary purpose,
and in part only of the country, we can
destroy them everywhere and for all time
Arbitrary measures often change, but they
generally change for the worse 1t is the
curse of despotism that it has no hating
place. The intermitted exercise of its pow
er brings no sense of security to its subjects
for they can never kAow what more they
will be called to endure when Its red right
hand is armed to plague them again. Nor
is it possible to conjecture how or where
power, unrestrained by law, may seek its
next victims. The States that are still free
may be enslaved at any moment; for if the
Constitution does not protect all, it protects
none.
1t is manifestly and avowedly the object
of these laws to confer upon negroes the
privilege of voting, and to disfranchise such
number of white citizens as will give the
former clear majority at all elections in the
Southern States. This, to the minds of
some persons, is so important, that viola
ton OF the Constitution is justified as
means of bringing it about The morality
is always false which excuses wrong be-
cause it proposes to accomplish desirable
end. We are not permitted to do evil that
good may come But in this case the end
itself is evil, as well as the means The sub
jugation of the States to negro domination
would be worse than the military despotism
under which they are now suffering. 1t
was believed beforehand that the people
would endure any amount of military OPP
preston, for any length of time, rather than
degrade themselves by subsection to the ne
gro race. Therefore they have been left
without choice. Negro suffrage was es-
tablished by act OF Congress, and the mill
tary officers were commanded to superin-
tend the process Of clothing the negro race
with the political privileges torn from white
men.
The blacks in the South are entitled to be
well and humanely governed, and to have
the protection OF just laws for all their rights
OF person and property. If it were practical
BILE at this time to give them government
exclusively their own, under which they might
manage their own affairs in their own way
1T would become grave question whether
we ought to do so, or whether common hu-
manity would not require us to save them
from themselves. But, under the circum-
stances, this is only a speculative point. 1t
is not proposed merely that they shall gov
ern themselves, but that they shall rule the
white race, make and administer State laws,
elect Presidents and members of Congress,
and shape to greater or less extent the flu
ture destiny of the whole country. Would
such trust and power be safe in such
hands2
The peculiar qualities which should char
acterize any people who are fit to decide
upon the management of public affairs for
great State have seldom been combined. 1t
is the glory of white men to know that they
had these qualities in sufficient measure to
build upon this continent great political
fabric, and to preserve its stability for more
than ninety years, while in every other part
OF the world all similar experiments have
failed. But if anything can be proved by
known facts if all reasoning upon evidence
is not abandoned, it must be acknowledged
that IN tile progress Of nations negroes have
shown less capacity for government than any
other race OF people. No independent gov
eminent OF any form has ever been success
ful in their hands. On the contrary, where
ever they have been left to their own de.
vices, they have shown constant tendency
to relapse into barbarism. In the Southern
States, however, Congress has undertaken
to confer upon them the privilege of the
ballot. Just released from slavery it may
be doubted whether as class. they know
more than their ancestors how to organize
and regulate civil society. Indeed, it is adj
mitted that the hlacks of tl,o S,,,.L -. -.