The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1867-03-02
Tri- at)eeklg Standard.
SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 1867.
RALEIGH. N. e.

q convention to reconstruct the State under
the bill now in the hands of the President.
Gov. Pierpoint, it seems, made a speech to
G. portion of the members of the Legislature
in which he urged that body to act SO as
that Virginia might be heard and felt, and
so that the unconditional Unionists OF the
two races might not have it in their power
to go forward and make Constitution that
would be oppressive to the great body ofthe
people This speech of Gov. Pierpoint was
no doubt-and, as We conceive very proper
ly-the reason WIZ the Senate of the United
Statesa day or two since passed resolution,
in which the House has doubtless concurred,
that the States shall not proceed to act I'M
der the law until expressly authorized by
Congress. We copy the following on the
subject from the last Richmond Dispatch:
| g The veto message of the President was looked
for yesterday but it was not sent in. We sup
pose it will be sent in to-day. When that is DONE
and the Sherman bill is passed, the question of
the policy of this State will be brought fully in
front of us. There will be no disposition to re-
treat from it or evade it. 1t will require more
time to act upon it than is left to the Legis-
lature, whose session expires on Saturday; but
there will be an extra session, to take the subject
| into consideration
The Senate has already had it under consulta-
ton in secret session The occasion for the hold
ing OF this secret deliberation was the receipt of
several telegraph messages from members of
| Congress in reply to one sent to them by GOV.
| Plerpoint propoundng the question, whether if
| Virginia adopted the constitutional amend
ment she would be relieved OF the Sherman bill.
| They were Mcssrs. Rcverdy johnson, and Fes-
sender of the Senate, and Mcssrs. Spaulding and
Bingham of the House. All Mr. Bingham
replied by telegraph, and he wrote a letter All
! save Mr.. johnson responded in the negative
Mr.. Spaulding said it was % too late" Mr. John
son was i'll doubt, but thought the adoption Of the
| amendment would do n great deal of good. ~
Mr.. Bingham wrote very earnest letter, urging
| the earliest action upon the Sherman bill, the
adoption ofall the constitutional amendments
required by it, and giving the most earnest aSsu-
RANGES that when that was done, Virginia would
| be welcomed back to the Union by the Congress
and the northern people, who were anxious to
| see her restored 10 her place among the States.
The Senate did not go into secret session for
| the purpose of Immediate action, but merely to
Interchange views i'll reference TO the general wei
fare in the event OF certain contingencies. Their
deliberations were therefore merely OF the nature
of consultation, action being deferred until the
proper time for it.
The Governor is understood to have sent the
message at the request of prominent gentlemen;
but the Legislature not party to the CORES
pOndcnce in any sense. Indeed, few members
knew anything of it. The Governor was acting
he hal perfect right to do, and in a spirit of
accommodation, as desire to do all he could to
save Virginia from trouble but it is proper
that the Legislature should not now be under
stood as having made this inquiry, simply be-
cause they did not Had Governor Pierpoint,
however, gotten a different answer and one that
was cOncurred in by the Radical party we need
not say that the Legislature would have prompt
ly adopted the amendment.
Yet the answers were not surprising. Had they
been in the affirmative instead of the negative,
we might well have been surprised. &C Too latc''
was indeed what every practical and rejecting
gentlemen might have anticipated. The South,
which n tni ,I,rl,, IN,
the conservatism of the Government in its exec
utiTe and judicial departments, has the safe
guards on which she relied broken down, and the
entire power OF the Government absorbed by the
legislative department. That department pro-
posed the constitutional amendment which we
rejected. 1t has now proposed another plan of
reconstruction, bristling in every line with viola
tons OF the Constitution. We Trusted to the
Constitution and the expoundcrs and defenders
OF that instrument for protection, not only for
ourselves, but for liberty and security to persons
and the rights of the States but " C have found
that entirely hopeless dependence and we may
all begin to inquire in the language of yester-
days Wig, whether the southern states are call
ed upon longer to champion a lost cause which it.
it is as much the duty Of others (the North as
theirs to defend. They have sacrificed" saws
the Wig, their all in support of self govern
now, seeing empire in the near future, to adopt
such measures as will render its advent as little
injurious to them as possible''
1t appears from the above that Virginia
is ready, at last, to take the Howard amend
ment; that leading members of Congress
were Intercepted on the subject and that
the answer came back, " Too Later Yes,
it IS '' too late" The country sees now who
is to blame for harsh measures. If the ad-
vice of the unconditional Union men had
been taken, the Southern States would have
been at this time in the Union, and we
should have escaped the operation OF meas
ures which our opponents regard as SO harsh
and unjust. The question now presents it.
self, VII the Southern people longer tollooo
these "blind leaders of the Wind?" We tell
them if they do, they will again and again
ask for quarters they will again look re-
gretfully to the past, and endeavor to escape
the stern realities of the present, but the an
swer will be, as it is now, " Too Late :"
We do not perceive with what propriety
or right the Legislature of Virginia or of
any other Southern State can call a Conven-
ton to take action under this bill. We do
not deem it necessary to go into an explana-
ton or analysis of the bill until it becomes
and we knoV it to be the view of leading
members of Congress who conceived, per-
fected and passed the measure, that the pres
ent rebel organizations have no authority to
take action under it. This action must be
g,tor, and by the people, outside and ire
spective of these organizations. We state
the fact that leading and highly influential
members of Congress have been consulted
on the subject, and they all concur that if
the bill should become a law, the proper
course will be for the loyal people to act,
outside the existing rebel organizations
and they also declare that Congress will
not only regard any action by the existing
organizations as illegal and nugatory, but
they will see to it that the loyal people of the
two races shall be protected in what they
may do by the whole military power of the
government, if necessary. This settles the
matter. If the bill should become a law it