The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1867-04-10


cious lives in vain, that the contest wac q h p.e
less, and that those who persisted in nrnps
cutting it further were murtlerers of tIs:
deluded and conscripted followers To, '; u
now be known that foiIed ambition. and d..
peration tremblingly defiant, are inyit;n"
common ruin, which by the completeness of
IFS desolation may serve to obliterate the m
membrance of baffied guilt Let all gooJ
m'n be exhorted to forget the past. and con con
form honestly to the requirements of tho
present and the future. 'e
1t is time for the people of North Carol;,,
to realize their true condition, to unite 10
removing every obstacle to tile return of tha.
peace and prosperity which they have lost INV
following evil counsels. We shall wait !.
vain for a confession Of error on the mart 90
those who brought upon US this ruin, Thsr
still thrust themselves between us and n Sot
Element of our troubles. They are endeayor;r,
to make past errors and crimes test of bono.
in the eyes of the Southern people-to 50 war;
the tone of political and social sentiment II
the South as to make that alone bonorahla
among us, which the rest of the civil;ynt
world unites in pronouncing infamous To
make treason honorable in so large a section
Of the country is to perpetuate it. By con.
tinuing to instill its poison into the minds
OF our young men, and connecting it with
their admiration for whatever is good and
noble, they would keep the nation ever in
jeopardy, and its safety continually threat.
ened by every unfortunate occasion ausn;.
cious to renewal of the rebellion. Tbev
profess to submit temporarily to what thew
cannot, at present, possibly resist and thew
call such submission loyalty But they boast
as point of honor, that they submit only
so far as compelled, and because compelled
This is their present test of a true South.
ern man" or seeessionist They denouncea
willing and cheerful cooperation with the IA.
tional government as disgraceful and de.
grading, and sheer at it as the test of a
Union traitor" This conduct but lily dis.
guises their longing for an opportunity to
resist the hated authority of the Union,
while 1T serves to keep up public senti-
ment favorable to such resistance, whenever
safe occasion may occur. They would
consent, from necessity, to return of the
State to the Union. provided such return
could be effected with themselves and their
treason honored the Union men degraded
and prescribed, and 10 safeguards required
to prevent their Selling upon the first suita-
bic occasion, which foreign war or some
domestic trouble may present. for another
effort to establish their confederacy. Indeed.
they demand return to the Union upon
such terms, as matter of right. They most
inconsistency affirm the correctness of the
first branch of the Presidents assumption,
that the State was never out of the Union and
heartily claim the benefit of it. But they
pass by the other branch of his assumption,
that the State governments were destroyed,
and denounce the Congress as usurpers and
traitors for proposing to proceed under it in
discharge Of the constitutional obligation to
the States which it imposes. If their long
cherished and blood stained theory of seces-
sion be true, then the first branch of the
Presidents assumption is false, for if the
i ordinance of secession was rightful, the States
were legally out of the Union, and must be
dealt with us conquered territories. They
can set up claim of rights as appertaining
to State continuously in the Union only by
admitting the ialsity of their secession teach
ings, and confessing that they deluded their
fellow citizens to ruin by most disastrous
| heresy, because traitors and rebels maligned
and prosecuted those who continued true to
| the lawful government of their country, and
| finally imbued their hands in the blood Of
| innocent patriots But they have the eff
frontery to couple this confession of guilt
with demand that it shall not only receive
no punishment, but that its unrepentant per-
| petrators shall be permanently invested with
power to make it test of merit and honor,
and to brand Unionism in the South, during
the rebellion, as perpetual shame and re-
proach. And because the allowance Of this
preposterous demand is delayed they have
the shameless autlacity to assail the Congress
| of the nation, and to arouse their adherents
to assume, as far as they dare, threatening
attitude towards the government. They
SANDER the honest, substantial citizens of
North Carolina by publicly declaring that
the great mass of the people partake Of their
sentiments and purposes; and by impresslnS
this upon the minds of Northern men, they
involve the whole State in the consequences
of their guilt and folly. They sneer at the
| $4,000 white Union voters OF the State, as
"mean whites" and misrepresent the thou
sands of Others, who but for deceptive teach
| ings and continued appeals to sectional pre-
| JUDGES and passions, woald also be true to
| the interests and peace Of their country. A
large majority of the people of North Caro-
lima regret the part they took in the rebellion,
and earnestly desire not only return to the
! Union, but that it may be perpetuated for all
time as the only hope of securing liberty and
peace to themselves and their prosterity-
/ But the conduct of the instigators and
leaders in the rebellion for the last eighteen
months, appearing to be approved by ma
jority of the people, has produced contrary
impression as to their sentiments and feelings,
and has kept the State in its present distress
ing and unfortunate relations to the general
government. While this continues to be al
lowed, what hope can any reasonable man
have of lettering our present condition II
must continue to grow worse until We be.
come involved in irretrievable and hopeless
ruin. Confiscation, executions for treason
suspension of the habeas corpus and bong
and rigid probation under military govern,
ment, may yet be our fate We owe all the
distressing calamities of the past to the In
stigators and leaders of the rebellion. To
them we owe our present troubles. The
darkness of the future is the continued work
of their hands. Ifthey had any magnanimity
or gratitude to those who have lost all IN
their service, they would no longer attempt
to mislead, nor stand longer in the way OF q
restoration ofthe rights and prosperity which
misguided people forfeited under thel'
selfish and mischievous counsels. The people
Of North Carolina should heed them NJ
longer. Let the guilty and conscious instl
gators and leaders of the rebellion be separat
ell from the honest and misguided masses
, the people, and rebuked by them, and ther
the State will be speedily restored to tn
rights and prosperity which it SO mucl
: needs.
9 It may be proper to direct attention NOR
!, ooroc;alIu tn some of the points upon whic