The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1867-01-01
Correspondence of the Philadelphia Press.]
Letter FromS Occasional.

Correspondence OF the fhliaoeiphi@ ieee'
! Letter 'FRONT.' Occasional
WAsH1NGToN. d c., Dec. 10, 1866.
Among the distinguished visitors in Wash.
inoton are Chief Justice Rufin and Cover
nor Worth. of North Carolina. Their avowed
object in coming here is the defeat OF the
! movement of Ex-Governor Holden, Senator
Pool and Others, of the same State, already
referred to in this correspondence. Worth
| and company insist that the passage OF
| Holden's bill would produce anarchy III
North Carolina" AS if their own rebellion
had not completely anticipated this happy
| condition of affairs The complacency of
| these Southern politicians is more than re-
! frshino They have no more idea that their
participation in the rebellion deprived them
of any .srights" than they would have had
if the whole affair had been prolonged pic
mic or parade. In fact, they believe that 1t
has rather secured them higher niche in the
temple of fame, and, if anything, has JUST
fed them in aspiring to greater powers than
thew exercised in the Augustan days OF all
Governing slavery. The sacrifice OF three
hundred thousand Union lives, and the eX-
penditure of nearly four thousand millions OF
Union dollars to defeat their attempts to
overthrow the Republic, they contemplate
rather as trophies of the bravery with which
they tried to maintain the lost cause than
as proofs of the blacklist crime IN human an
inals. Governor Worth is the same worthy
who a few weeks ago, in formal message
to the Legislature of North Carolina, advised
Congress to pass law providing Tor the
emigration of the blacks Oft that State into the
North and the West; and Chief Justice Ruff
fin is the same who last fall pronounced an
opinion of which the following is an extract.
He refers to the convention called under An
drou Tohnson'S first DrOcIa,natiOn
81 consider that this is no constitution, be-
cause YOUR convention was not legitimate
convention, and had no power to make a
constitution for us, OF to alter that which we
have; and that it cannot be made constitu-
ton, even by popular sanction. If these
positions be correct, 1t ought to be rejected
BIZ the people as the easiest, simplest, and
most efficient method of setting the points
at rest, and avoiding many perplexing and
dangerous questions before the Judiciary. l
object to the organization of your convention
because it was called without the consent of
the people of North Carolina by the Pres
ident of the United States, Or under his or
ders-an act of clear and despotic usurpation
which could not give the body any author
ity to bind the State or its inhabitants. If
it be said the President or his satrap-his
Governor of a province did not call or
rather constitute the convention, but the del
egates were elected by the people, and there
by the body was duly constituted, 1 deny it
directly and positively. Mr.. johnson requir-
ed a convention to perform certain specific
acts to annul the ordinance of secession,
and tender return to the Union, or claim
its continued existence under the Constitu-
tuition of the United States to emancipate
slaves and ordain that slavery shall never
hereafter exist in this State, and to repudi-
~, Ss4o+o A y
the two first promptly and in satisfactory
terms and the third at the last moment, I'M
der subsection and in conformity to orders,
after having ouce refused to adopt the meas
ure. All was DONE Isay, that was required, |
and Mr.. johnson proclaimed that he had |
got all he wanted; that we we've back as |
State and might choose our representatives |
in Congress in conformity to our rights as a |
State, and to our law regulating elections. |
Was there any thing more for that conven-
ton to do ? Were they chosen for any other
purpose even by those who were allowed to
vote for members? How dare they, then. go
on to frame constitution, a law for all time,
which is to be binding on those who elected
them for other ends, and also on that large
portion Of the patriots and heroes-"unpar-
doned rebels" were not allowed to vote
at all? The pretension is without parallel
VI pISCe(lGuI uuGlt TIC E)IeSCuG Term OF GaQl-
cal assumption of power in dominant mill
tary or numerical majority, without respect
for rights or the Constitution. AS far as
they safely can, and whenever they can, the
people ought to resist that pretension. This
they can peacefully do, when called on and
allowed to vote and I trust they will do so
On this occasion without com,uotion, in sup
port of the great principle of human liberty
that people have the right to make their
OWN constitution, and not he made subject
to one imposed on them by force or fraud
by an extraneous power, or by a fraction of
their fellow-citizens." t
In this opinion it will be seen Ruffin claims
not only that the State of North Carolina = !,
md the rebellious people who live in it lost
lone of their rights by the rebellion, but, I'm
Ter the Federal Constitution, which they vi !
plated and repudiated, may again assert and +
privileges. Chief Justice Ruffin is here, |
therefore, acting part wholly consistent I
With these doctrines. He and his associates 7
nave denounced and, so far as they could, t
nave defeated the new amendment of the =
rational Constitution, with its generous for
siveness of their treason, and its Just, vet '
guarantees against future repudi- 7
ltion and rebellion; and now they insist that
he whole loyal element of the State, both =
White and black, shall be RENTED to the
ender control of the rebel majority. +
This atrocious demand shows what thew S
meant by the declaration, that they had an 1
lulled the ordinance of secession and repu- r
lated the State war debt in convention +
called" says Ruffin, without the consent
If the people of North Carolina, by the Pres a
cent of the United States, under an act of e
lear and despotic usurpation" 1t did not 1
leed this confession to prove at once the !.
of these pledges, and their de-
ermination ultimately to resume their for n
cited power IN the State itself The ques- V
ion is simple one. Will Congress recos- p
lize Ruffin and Worth, and the army of reb- :.
ell sympathizers at their backs, as the power
If the State of North Carolina, or Holden u
md Pool, and Taylor and Goodloe, followed I
IS they are by the loyal population, white .
md black
1 wonder what sort of reception two
UGH plenipotentiaries from the vanquished t.
North would have received at the hands of s
congress composed of men like Jefferson Da- 8
rs, John Slidell, and James NJ. Mason. if !.
hese latter, instead of losing, had been the
Winners in the recent conflict? Probably t.
thief Justice Ruffin and Governor Worth v
an answer the question better than your q
eaders. OCCASIONAL
IMPORTANT ARREsTs.-Mr...M Lindsay. s
ormerly member of the North Carolina
legislature, and Mr.. Joseph Baxter, both of b