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

I, and with republican form OF government
| administered BY agents ofthe popular cholce,
! is thing of such delicate texture, and the
destruction of it would be followed By such
unspeakable calamity that every true patriot
must desire to avoid whatever might.expose
! it to the slightest danger
i The great interests Of the country require
| Immediate relief from these enactments.-
business in the South is paralyzeds by
sense of general insecurity, by the terror OF
confiscation, and the dread Of negro supreme
CIV. The Southern trade, from which the
North would have derived SO great profit
under a government of law, still languishes,
! and can never be revived until it ceases to
he fettered by the arbitrary power which
makes all its operations unsafe. That rich
country-the richest in natural resources the
world ever saws worse than lost tilt be
not soon placed under the protection OF
free Constitution. Instead of being, as 1t
ought to be, source of wealth and power,
If will become an intOlerable burden upon
the rest of the nation.
Another reason for retracing our steps
will doubtless be seen by Congress IN the
late manifestations of public opinion upon
| this subject We live in country where
, the popular will always enforees obedience
| to itself, sooner OF later 1t is vain to think
of opposing it with, anything short of legal
authority, backed BY overwhelming force. :
1 1t cannot have escaped your attention that
Y from the day on which Congress fairly and
formally presented the POSITIONS govern the
! Southern States by military force, with
view to the;ultimate establishment OF negro
supremacy, every expression of the general
sentiment has been more or less adverse to it.
The affections of this generation cannot be
detached from the institutions of their an
eestors. Their determination to preserve the
inheritance of free government in their own
hands, and transmit it undivided and unim-
paired to their own posterity, is too strong
to be successfully oppused. Every weaker
passion will disappear before that love OF
liberty andlaw for which the American peo-,
! pie are distinguished above all Others in the
world +
How far the duty of the President "to
preserve protect and defend the Constitu-5
ton" requires him to go in opposing an un-
constitutional act of Congress, is very Sc
rious and important question, on which 1
have deliherated much, and felt extremely
anxious to reach proper conclusion. Where
an, act has cbeen passed according to the
forms of the Constitution by the supreme
| legislative authority, and is regularly enroll
ed among the public statutes of the coun-l
try. Executive resistance to- it, especially in
times of high party excitement, would be
| likely to produce violent collision between
the respective adherents of the two branches
of the government. This would be simply
a civil war; and civil war must be resorted
to only as the last remedy for the worst of
evils. Whatever might tend to provoke it
should most carefully beayoided \ faithful
and conscientious Magistrate will concede
very much to honest error aistf something
even to perverse malice, before he will en-
danger the public peace; aud he will not
adopt forcible measures, or such as might
lead to force, as long as those which are
peaceable remain open to him or to his con-
stituents 1t is true that cases may occur
in which the Executive would he compelled
to stand on its rights, and maintain them,
regardless of all consequences. If Congress
should passan act which is not enly in pal
pable conflict with the Constitution, but will
certainly, il carried out. produce Immediate
and irreparable injury to the organic struc-
ture of the government, and there be neither
judicial remedy for the wrongs it inf1icts,
nor power in the people to protect them
selves without the official aid of their cleo
ted defender; if, for instance, the Legisla-
tive Department should pass an act even
through all the forms of Law to abolish
coordinate department of the government
in such case the President must take the
high responsibilities of his Office, and save
the life of the nation at all hazards. The
so-called reconstruction acts, though as
plainly unconstitutional as any that can be
imagined, were not believed to be within the
class last mentioned. The people were not
wholly disarmed of the power of self-de-
fence. In all the Northern States they still
held in their hands the sacred right of the
ballot, and it was safe to believe that in due
time they would come to the rescue of their
own institutions. 1t gives me pleasure to
add that the appeal to our common constit-
uents was not taken in vain, and that my
confidence in their wisdom and virtue seems
not to have been misplaced.
1t Is we'll and publicly known that enor-
nous frauds have been perpetrated on the
Treasury and that colossal fortunes have
been made at the public expense ~ This
species of corruption has increased, is in
creasing, and if not diminished will soon
bring us into total ruin and disgrace. The
interested in an honest administration. of the
finances, and neither class will long endure
the large-handed robberies of the recent
past. For this dlscreditable state of things
there are several causes. Some of the taxes
are so laid as to prevent an irresistible temp
tation to evade payment. The great sums
which officers may win by connivance at
fraud create a pressure which is more than ;
the virtue OF many can Withstand and
there can be no doubt that the open disre-i
gard of constitutional obligations avowed
by some of the highest and most influential
men in the country has greatly weakened
the moral sense of those who serve in subor-
climate places. The expenses of the United
States, including interest on the public debt.
are more than six times as much as they
were seven years ago. To collect disburse
this vast amount requires careful supervis-
ion, as well as systematic vigilance The
system, never perfected, was much disorgan-
lied by the "Tenure of Office Bill, (which
las almost destroyed official accountability.
The President may be thoroughly convinc-
ed that an officer is incapable, dishonest, or
unfaithful to the Constitution, but, under
the law which have named. the utmost he
can do is to complain to the Senate, and ask
the privilege of supplying his place with a
better man. If the Senate be regarded as
personally or politically hostile to the Pres
ident, it is natural, and not altogether I'M
reasonable, for the officer to expect that it
will take his part rs far as possible, restore
him to his place, and give him triumph
over his Executive superior. The officer has
other chances as impunity arising from ac
cidental defects of evidence, the mode OF in
restraining it, and the SECRECY of the hear