The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1867-02-20
The aveeklp STANDARD.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1885,
The Situations.
RALEIGH. n. &.

Ine SltuosiOus1
The House of Representatives passed last
week two very important bills for restoring
the Southern States to the Union. The first
virtually abolishes the existing pretended"
State governments of the ten insurgent States,
and places them under military rule; and
the second, applied only to the State OF
Louisiana, provides for recognizing that
State on the basis of the Congressional test
oath. The first measure is known as Mr.
Stevens military bill, and the second as Mr..
Elliott's bill, the provisions of which wepub-
lish to-day.
These bills were in the Senate on Satur-
day. That body was engaged in consider
ing them up to nine o'clock Saturday night,
when it seems committee of seven was ap
pointed to take the whole matter in hand
and report thereon to the Senate. The latest
news is that Mr.. Sherman, of Ohio, made
report with bill embodying the substance
of the bills above referred to, with the adj
dition of Mr.. Blaine's amendment, which We
publish elsewhere to-day and that this new
measure reported by Mr.. Sherman passed the
Senate on Sunday morning, by vote of 20
to 10. The substance of this new measure is
given as follows: -.-.....
In the preamble the military provisions
and districts are similar to those OF Stevens
bill, only the President instead of the General
appoints officers. Sentences of death require
the Presidents approval, and the habeas cor
pus is not suspended beyond, that all inter-
ference of the State authority with the mill
tary authority is nulified.
Section 9TH provides that when any rebel
State forms a Constitution in conformity with
the Constitution of the United States, framed
by Convention, the delegates to be elected
by male citizens twenty-one years of age,
without regard to race, color or previous con-
dition, resident in the State year, except
persons DISTINGUISHED by participation in re-
bellion, or felony.
When the Constitution provides that the
elective franchise may be enjoyed by all per-
sons qualified to vote for delegates, and the
Constitution is ratified by majority of the
electors who elected the delegates, is submit
ted to Congress and approved, and when the
said State Legislature elected under the said
Constitution adopts the Constitutional
amendment, and the said amendment be-
comes a part of the National Constitution,
the said State is declared entitled to repre-
sentation, and the Senators and Representa-
tives therefrom, shall he admitted on their
taking the oath prescribed by law.
We have heard the opinion expressed that
this provides for universal suffrage, and for
universal amnesty also, with the exception of
such as are excluded by the Howard amend
ment The information we have is not full
enough to justify an opinion, but it strikes
us that the expression, " except persons dis
franchised by participation in the rebellion, !"
is to be understood as applying the test to
voters in Mr.. Elliott's Louisiana bill This
test is the present Congressional test-oath,
under which about ten thousand whites and
forty to fifty thousand blacks in this State
would vote Notwithstanding the incorpor-
alton of the Blaine amendment in the new
measure, which provides for universal suf-
frage, we are confident this latter feature was
not allowed to take the place of the restrie-
ton on voters in the Elliott bill, but that the
incorporation of the Blaine amendment was
only to the extent of providing that when
the States should thus be recognized, and
should adopt the Howard amendment, they
should be restored to the Union. In other
words, we do not believe that the Senate has
adopted universal suffrage, or that, if it has,
the House will concur with the Senate in
such action. The main feature in Mr.. Ell
liott's bill is the provision in regard to suf-
frage. The statement is that Mr. ElIiott's
bill and Mr.. Stevens bill have been COM
bined. Mr.. Elliott's bill would cease to be
what it was in an essential particular, and
would not deserve to be called his bill, with
the feature in regard to suffrage stricken out.
We may be mistaken in this inference from
the news as we have it, but we do not think
we are. We may hear more before going to
press.