The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1868-05-28


ton as the substitution of an entirely dlf
ferent system ofsociety, will be accompanied
by great connections; but the sooner ou
countrymen in the South understand thai
there must be peace and security the better
it will be for them and tor the country
There must be no riots no mobs no burning
of school-houses and churches, no assassina
tions, no Ku-klux Klans. A Union man In
Georgia or Mississippi, be he white or black,
must enjoy the same security OF person Of
property that is vouchsafed to any Rebel
who comes to live among US in the North.
A Northern merchant or traveller must he
able to pass through a Southern State with
the same degree OF safety with which a
Southern man may travel through Pennsyl-
vania or Ohio. The Union men of the South
| who risked their all by their devotion to the
old flag, and the negroes of the South who
rushed to our rescue, fought under our flag,
saved our prisoners from starvation, and la
bored, fed, and piloted our refugees with
self-sacriicing devotion which stands with
out a parallel in the history of mankind,
must not be coolly, cruelty, and heartlessly
abandonded to the hatred and vin'lictive-
ness of those who seek to re establish Slavery
in fact, after its abolition in name Hence,
while there are no local Governments in the
South, the former State Governments having
ceased to exist by their Rebellion against
the United States, it is the duty OF the Fed
eral Government to provide that security OF
person and property, without which Gov
eminent itself would be sham and mock
cry, a mere machinery of vexation and OPP
preston We protect onr citizens in foreign
lands; why not also protect them at home 2
The power of the Federal Government must
not be entrusted in the hands of those who
have brought all these troubles over the
country. 1t must not be entrusted to the
hands of those who would unbind anarchy
and remove the checks and restraints from
the Southern portions of out country, at a
time when they most need the protecting
care of the Federal Government. The pow
er of the nation must not be entrusted to
the Democratic party, which is and always
has been the party of law lessness, turbulence,
and violence. 1t must not be entrusted to
party which, having been the advocate and
defender of Slavery, is identified with all
its excuses. and by keeping alive the spirit
of rebellion and resurrection, shares with
Andrew johnson the blame and responsible
ity tor the present state of affairs in the
South. The sacred duty of protecting the
helpless and defenseless freedmen must not be
entrusted to the hands OF those who are
daily preaching hatred of race. and arousing
the mob by appeals to it's lowest preiudices
and fercest passions. In other words, the
wolf must not be made the custodian of the
lamb, nor must the fox be appointed pro-
tectOr of the hen-ro In the first place.
then, say to establish peace and security
in the South, it is necessary to keep the
power of the government out of the hands
of the Democratic party. In the second
place, it is necessary to promote the recon
Citation of hostile elements by removing, as
much as possible, the causes of complaint
ana irritation and to do this we must again
recur to first principles. To regenerate the
South. it is necessary to infuse into its adj
ministrations principle which heretofore
was unknown to its policy, mean the prin-
ciple of "equal justice to ALL" Southern
institutions were thoroughly aristocratic.
1t is necessary to base them on principles of
democracy-I mean democracy in its higher
and noblar sense, and not IN its present party
Specification. Let reconstruction. be based
on the fundamental lea of American Re-
publicanism, as announced in the Declara-
ton of Independence. 1 know there are
objections urged, grave objections, to adj
hitting certain class of citizens to partic-
ipation in the exercise of political rights.
1t is said that, as they have just emerged
from degrading and demoralizing state of
bondage, they are unfit to he judges ofwhat
is necessary or conducive to their own well
fare. But let me answer these and similar
objections in the language of Macaulay, who
expresses much better than could do the
weakness of the objections to this feature of
reconstruction. He says:
"There is only one cure for the evils
which newly acquired freedom produces,
and that cure is freedom. When n prisoner
first leaves his CELL he cannot bear the light
of day, he is unable to discriminate color or
recognize faces. But the remedy is, not to
remand him into his dungeon, but to accus-
tom him to the rays of the sun. The blaze
of truth and liberty may at first dazzle and
bewilder nations which have become half
blind in the house Ct bondage. But let
them gaze on, and they will soon be able to
bear it. = Many politicians of
our time are in the habit of laying it down
as self evident proposition that no people |
ought to be free till they are fit to use their
freedom The maxim is worthy of the fool
in the old story, who resolved not to go into
the water until he had learned to swim. |
If men are to wait for liberty till they be-
come wise and good in slavery, they may in
deed wait forever"
Hence, let the true democracy be the |
groundwork of reconstruction. Let there |
be no masters and no slaves, no privileged |
and no DISTINGUISHED classes, but put them |
all on the same, broad footing OF equality |
before the law Let all men have fair |
without the means of self-protection and of
indicating his own views, feelings or prin-
cipes. Let there be no rightless class, no
government without the consent of the gov
erned Let there be no odious or irritating
distinctions on the ground of color or opin
ion. The reconstruction laws of Congress
have partially fulfilled these requirements.
But to establish peace, security, and recon
Citation, all considerations of enlightened !
craftsmanship command US to 60 one step
further, and couple universal amnesty with
universal suffrage. We want the Southern
whites to accept the situation. But those
that are DISTINGUISHED never will. This is hu-
man nature, and is easy accounted for.
Hence, let them all vote, whites and blacks,
and become reconciled to each others po-
litical rights Let peace and security be re-
established, and the title of the Northern
capital and enterprise will flow into the
South Her agriculture will revive on new
basis; her commerce will spread and pros
per; new towns and villages will arise,
while the old ones take a new start of i'm
provement: and the ex Rebel, now impov-
erished and believing himself outraged, will
suddenly discover that all this change has
been for his benefit that he has profited by
the abolition of Slavery; that his property
has treoIe1 and ouadruDled in value that