Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-04-17
From the National Intelligencer.
NORTH CAROLINA,


tuition formed in six of the Southern States
by the Conventions which were lately held
there These Conventions, it is we'll
known, did not reflect the sentiments of
the white population of these States, but
rested mainly upon the negro element, re-
iuforced, inspired, and controlled by as
base an element as ever walked the earth
the carpet-bag adventures who have gone
to the South to make profit by the ruin of
the people. Examine all these constitu-
tions and you find one keynote pervading
each one-negro equality, political and
social. This idea goes through them all.
We have seen how one State after another
at the North, even those most ultra Radi-
cal, Ohio, Kansas, and others, have re-
jected negro suffrage, and now, to crown
the list, we have Radical Michigan, which
usually gives that party fifteen to twenty
thousand majority, now refusing by large
majority the principle of negro suffrage
Such are the instincts of race in State
where the negroes over twenty-one years
number only some 1900 votes, as against
166, 900 whites. In Michigan the question
is hardly practical, save as the assertion of
principle which white men will not suffer
to be compromised. But there is no COM
munity in Michigan, not even the smallest
county, nor ward, nor village, where the
white population would not have the power
to protect themselves against Degro rule.
Contrast this with the condition of tho
Southern States, IN h7s Of which the me-
groes registered preponderate largely over
the registered whites and in others, though
In minority in the State, control large
sections, and number Of the most fertile
counties.
North Carolina is State of this last do.
scription. In the eastern counties, and
not few of the middle counties, the me-
groes are largely in the ascendant. Negro
local government and negro taxation in
these counties is inevitable. The question
comes home to these people in the most
practical and direct form, and can we won
der that they are excited at the prospect Of
a ruin that will be irretrievable, and u de-
gradation such as the white race has never
suffered in the history of mankind
This constitution Of North Carolina is to
be voted on upon tho 2lst of this month.
AS were marked before, the instrument does
not emanate from the white population of
North Carolina. 1t is the work Of negroes
and alien adventurers. and was expressly
designed to perpetuate their ascendancy.
Every negro, therefore, is allowed to vote.
Even crime is no disqualification. And
every negro voter is eligible to the jury
box. This doctrine of negro equality runs
through the constitution, and under it the
races are to be cOmmingled at the public
schools, at the State University, in church
es, public hotels and assemblages, and in
the militia. All this is matter of law and
obligation, according to the principles of
this constitution. Such are the abhorrent
features OF this government, which it iS
proposed to fasten or the whites of North
Carolina. Have We any right to expect
social order, peace, or submission to tho
OJlfl .tNv AZ y arTlV1, vrhn nnh do
gradation is inflicted upon the population?
If there was any doubt as to the intent
of this constitution, it is supplied 10y the
votes of the Convention which framed it.
We find that 1t WAS proposed that white
and black children should not go to the
same schools that they should not inter
marry ; that whites and blacks should not
muster in the same companies, and that
black officers should not command white
men that poor white children should not
be bound to negroes that marriages be-
tween whites and blacks should always re-
main void but all these propositions werc
rejected. The great am
bition of the negro is, to be on terms of
social equality with the white
race, and they insisted upon these condi-
tions.
This constitution we may hereafter cx-
anime more in detail. The above are its
more salient iniquities. Its aim is entire
equality for the negro, amalgamation, init
macy of the children, negro ofice-holders,
jurors, magistrates, sherifls, police, and tax
assessors. There is nothing that makes
life valuable that is not to be heldsubiect to
the degrading contact or oppression OF the
African race It is bold and daring con-
spiracy against the property, the intelli-
gence, and the manhood of this people,
As measure of maliRnity, these constitu-
tions, such as we have seen framed in Ar
kansas, Alabama, and North Carolina, sur
pass anything that could be expected from
fends
And yet we are told by the Radical pa
pers that there is discomfort, disloyalty"
in the South the whites are "rebellious,"
&c. They fret and are Testive at the pros
pect, nay, at the actual inhictiOn of this
ruin, shame, and unutterable humiliation
of negro equality and negro rule. Is it
strange-this spirit of resistance to negro
rule Is it not the instinct IF a0hite blood
stronger than all reconstruction laws
stronger than Republican platforms
stronger than the bayonets which arc used
to enforce this cruel wrong and bondage
1t is exactly the same spirit which made
the white race in New York defeat the Re
publican party by nearly fifty thousand
votes, because ii was rotten on the ques-
tion of negro suffrage which has uado
the Republican Leg Stature IN Penusy Iva
MIA refuse even to submit the matter to =
vote Of the people, and which bus found
voice and expression IL Kansas, in Ohio,
in Michigau-in every Northern State
where the people have been called upon to
endure this inf-my. Can we wonder that
the South, even in the presence OF bayon-
cts, resents to the last this scourge.
Let it be remembered that all through
that broad land there IS not man who
has thought or purpose Of disuuion,-
There is not one who docs not accept as
final and irrevocablc the Union of the
States 1t is against negro gOoernneent and
negro equality, and not against the Union
or the flag that they agitate, and, if you
please, conspire and resist. Well, against
this proposition human nature itself re-
! volts, and determination is your only rem
edy. The people of Alabama and the
South ask only the same institutions as
those which exist in Pennsy lvania, Ohio
and New York. Their offence hath that
extent--no more. There is not just or hu-
name man who will not pronounce that to
threaten them with the sword, because
| they refuse to obey negro dynasty, Is