davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-15

The Effects of Radical Reconstruction
Upon the Future Politics of the Country.
The House of Representatives passed on
Friday, under the whip and spur of THAD.
STEVENS, it's master and rider, the bill for
admitting Arkansas under its new negro
Constitution, and IS it will serve as
model for all others, it becomes matter of
interest to all.
The preamble and bill are as follows
Whereas, The people Of Arkansas, in pursuance
of the provisions of an act entitled :" An act for
the more effective government of the rebel States
passed March 2 1857 and the acts supplementary
thereto, have framed and adopted Constitution
of State government which Is republican in form.
and the Legislature of said State has duly ratified
the amendment 20 the Constitution of the United
States proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress-
and known article fourteen therefore,
Be 1t enacted and is hereby enacted, That the
State of Arkansas is entitled and admitted to rep
resentation in Congress of the States of the
Union upon the following fundamental condition :
That the Constitution of Arkansas shall not be so
amended or changed as to deprive any citizen or
class of citizens of the United States of the right
to vote who are entitled to vote by the COnstitu-
ton therein recognized, except as punishment
for such crimes as are now felonies at common
law, whereof he shall have been duly convicted
AS this tying up of the people of these
tended to perpetuate the ascendancy of the
Radical party, we publish the following
comments of the New York IForld as not
only embodying views we have already sub
mitted, but as containing the sentiments
of the Northern Democrats upon this sub
ject &:
"The Republicans seem to suppose that
when all the negro States are thus admitted,
the success of their reconstruction scheme
will have become "a fixed fact and that
the ascendancy of their party will be in
sured for many years. Their object is to
fortify themselves against the consequent
ces of revolution in the public sentiment
of the country. If Democratic President
and Democratic House of Representatives
should be chosen next fall, they fancy their
negro policy will nevertheless be safe
against subversion, by reason of their as
sured control of the Senate for the ensuing
four or six years. If the negro States should
all be admitted with their new Consti-
tutions, there will be an addition of twenty
Radical members to Senate in which the
party has already q majority of nearly four
to one. The Senate, at present, stands
forty-three Republicans to eleven Demo
Gratis. If the ten Africanized States are
admitted before this session closes, the
Senate will be composed of sixty-three Re-
publicans to eleven Democrats and the
great length of the Senatorial terms will
keep the Senate Republican until after the
Presidential election of 1872, even if all the
elections in every part of the country should
meanwhile be carried by the Democrats.
Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-15

The Republicans are therefore planning to
make the Senate the citadel of their strength.
By their certain control of one branch OF
Congress they expect to prevent the repea
of the partisan legislation of the last two
years, since no law can be repealed without
the concurrence of the Senate. They ac-
cordingly suppose that, in spite OF the mu
taticns of party politics, the Reconstruc
ton laws will stand, and, if Democratic
President is elected this year, the Tenure
Of Office act will be kept in force, and Gen.
Grant continue to supervise the military
orders of his Commanderln-Ch Chief.
"The bulwark which seems to its construc-
tors SO solid and impregnable, is really very
frail. True, the Reconstruction acts can
not be repealed without the concurrence
of the Senate, but unconstitutional laws
need no repeal. They are completely alb
ropated from the moment that the Supreme
Court adjudges them repugnant to the
Constitution. It is we'll known that the
Supreme Court regards the Reconstruction
acts AS unconstitutional, and would have
pronounced them so in the McArdle case,
if the decision had not been postponed un-
til the next term of the Court. If the Dem
ocrats elect the new President in Novem-
Der, the judges will have courage enough
to meet the question in December which
they lately eyaded by postponement. A
decision on The Reconstruction acts by the
Supreme Court will be even better than a
repeal of them by Congress. The immense
preponderance of the Republicans in the
Senate will go for nothing in support of
spurious laws which violate the Constitu-
ton. The same remark will apply to the
Tenure Of Office law and the law which
virtually divests the President OF the COM
mand Of the army. Both are certain to be
declared void as soon rs they can be
brought to the judicial notice of the SUI
fore acting under hallucination in sup
posing that they can prevent the re-
peal of their partizan laws by strengthen
ing their majority IN the Senate.
''The conditions imposed upon Arkans as
in the bill passed yesterday, that the ne
groes shall never be deprived of the suf-
frage, is perfectly nugatory. Not only are
the Reconstruction laws unconstitutional,
and certain to be judicially declared so, but
the condition here imposed is equally a
violation of the Constitution. The people
of Arkansas and the other States will SO
regard it,. and will refuse to be bound by
it. With a Democratic President and
House, how can the Republican Senate en-
force the condition ? If military coercion
were removed, the negro governments
would not stand month in any Of the
States. A Republican Senate cannot make
appropriations for maintaining armies to
support the new governments, nor has it
any authority to compel Democratic Presi-
dent to enforce laws which the Supreme
Court will have adjudged void for repug-
nance to the Constitution. We conclude,
therefore, that this desperate attempt to Sc
cure permanent ascendancy in the Sen
ate, will be of no ultimate advantage to the
Republican party"
Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-15

and hallowed recolections of the &c Lost
Cause" and shall for all time to come
honor the men who in the field and the
| forum directed our forts, and revere the
the memories of those who laid down their
lives for US, yet the Southern people are
true to their obligations to the General
Government and look to its wise and just
administration, not only as vitality impor-
| tant to every interest and right which they
hold dear, but as the last hope of free
government. The very fidelity of our peo-
pie to their obligations to the Confederate
government is the surest evidence of their
faithfulness in their present relations
They see in the success of Radicalism
naught but continued oppression and ty-
ranny, while they expect in its overthrow
! a renewal of sectional reconciliation and
good feeling.
Therefore to them the election for Pres
ident is something more than preference
between individuals or the division of
spoils, and while we may have decided
choice, We are most DESTROYS to sink it
in Difference to the wishes of others.
! Those who suppose we have any preju-
dices against the soldiers who fought against
us, are greatly mistaken. Commencing
the men at the North whose political edu-
| cation and opinions deferred them from
entering into the war, which they believed
to be waged in opposition to the Constitu-
ton, we can yet admire those gallant sol
diers who were fighting for a restoration of
the Union, and have not, since the cessa-
ton of active hostilities, surrendered .he
principles upon which they fought the war
to a successful close.
All we ask of the Democrats of the North
is to unite earnestly and cordially upon any
one Of the great men whose names are
mentioned in connection with the nomina-
ton, and whether he be War or Peace
Democrat, we will rally as one man to his
banner We expect nothing, We want
nothing, from any Administration or Con-
gress but Constitutional restoration of
the Southern States to the Union.
Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-15
OUR IREDELL CORRESPONDENTS.
Execution of DuIa-He Confesses to have
, Committed Murder in w Imin ton.

Execution of DuIa-ie COnfesses to have
Committed Murder in w IminSton.
STATEsyILLE, N. c., May 7, 1868.
lessrs. Editors On the LIST instant,
Thomas G. Dula was executed in this place
for the murder of Laura Foster. The hon.
icide was committed in Wilkes county, in
May, 1866. He moved his trial to this
county and was twice convicted here the
first trial having been set aside by the Su-
preme Court. He was member of the
42d n. G. Regiment, and was stationed
with his regiment in or near Wilmington
during the Winter of '63 and '64, and also
during that of "a and '65. The day be-
fore his execution, he told the Rev. Mr.
Yates, a Methodist preacher stationed at
this place, that during the time his regi-
ment was stationed at Wilmington, he
killed man in o house of ill-fame in that
city.
His statement is that he met three
blockade runners at the house and had a
quarrel with one of them, and he (Dula)
knocked him down with a chair. A second
one attacked him, and Dula stabbed him
in the breast or bowels, and he thinks
killed him. He struck the remaining one
on the right arm with pistol and disabled
him he then escaped from the house and
went back to the regiment. He did not
tell Mr.. Yates the street, or house, or name
of any of the parties where it occurred,
neither did lie mention the year, but his
regiment was stationed in Wilmington as
mentioned above.
Some innocent man may have been sus-
pected of the deed, and [ write to you
merely to let you know who the culprit
was.
He was only twenty four years old when
executed, but was the most hardened, des-
perate devil that was ever hanged in this
or any other State He made a speech an
hour long at the gallows, charged perjury
on the witnesses against him, but never
once denied his guilt of the murder for
which he was hanged. @.
Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-15
For the Journal.
WILMINGTON, N. c., May Is, 1868.

Observing that you have published frag-
mentary reports of the late Diocesan Con-
vention, which it was my pleasure to at
tend, and having heard the desire expressed
by some to know what action was taken
with regard to the election of an Assistant
Bishop, and other matters which your re-
port leaves unexplained, give from the
notes in my possession brief synopsis of
the proceedings of the Convention on the
second and third days, including the re-
port upon that subject, and, also, other in
teresting resolutions
Among the many excellent discourses to
which you have alluded, should be men
toned the Convention Sermon, preached
by the Rev. r. E. Terry, Rector Of ST.
Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-15

Some of the Northern papers, in noticing
the position taken by several of the lead
ing Southern journals upon the subject OF
the Presidential nomination, seem to be
struck, not to say surprised, al the decided
preference expressed by some of them for
a distinguished Federal soldier. while all
show most commendable disposition to
support any man who may be most accept
able to the North. This all results from a
want of appreciation of Southern charac-
ter, and shows that our friends have been
somewhat deceived in regard to us by the
falsehoods of Radical papers and speakers.
While we do cherish the most sacred
Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-15

the admission of South Carolina. North
Carolina will doubtless come in next week.
Joseph, the heir-expectant, and several of
his carpet.bag friends, are here to urge it,
as we'll as to get that gay. old secesh Sum-
ner, his father, put in condition to take the
oath and office of Governor to which the
negroes and Yankees in the State have
elected him. 81 TOD.
Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-15
Wake Forest College.

We return our thanks to the Managers
for all invitation to attend ''Social Par
ty," complimentary to the graduating class
at Wake Forest College on the 18th of June.
It would afford us much pleasure to be
able to attend. We hope some Ct our
young friends will give us an account of
their Commencement
Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-15
Il Thanks.

We are indebted to an esteemed friend
on the line of the Wilmington, Charlotte
and Rutherford Railroad for supplying us
with missing numbers Of the JOURNAL for
our files. Our friend Will accept our sin
cere thanks
Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-15
The CROPS.

A friend in Richmond county writes US
that the weather in that section is delight
full, and the crops are in a very healthy
condition and looking finely. Corn has
an excellent stand, and if the Seasons are
not too wet, will turn out better than last
Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-15

cratic Legislatures have rescinded the
action of former bodies adopting this
Amendment, and in the latter State pass
ing the annulling act over the veto OF a
Radical Governor. And there is now be-
fore the House of Representatives Of the
Congress of the United States a joint reso-
luton, adopted by the Legislature of the
former State, protesting against the Re
construction Acts, and instructing her Sen
ators and requesting her Representatives
to vote against all such laws. This, too,
when there is barely majority of Demo
Gratis in her Legislature, and the entire
Executive department is under the control
of Radicals, and in that State, more than
any other, will the hottest struggle i'll the
Presidential election take place.
In the face Of these facts we repeat that
it is the basest ingratitude for us to deny
sympathy for our sufferings and ill-treat-
ment and the most strenuous efforts upon
the part of Nothern Democrats and Con-
servatives to relieve lis from our present
depiorable condition. Doubtless, leading
individuals are only actuated by selfish
and ambitious neutrality-suspicious. of com
merce, finance and taxation have their in
fuences, and properly too, but the great
heart of the party beats in warmest SYM
pathy with our troubles, and its success
will certainly herald our relief from the
odious and unjust laws under which we now
writhe.
With tho noDnn1rafS n control of the
Executive Department and the IL ouse of
Representatives, we will see the Supreme
Court take courage to pronounce the I'M
constitutionality of the Reconstruction
Acts, and with this decision will fall the
last vestige of the iniquities which Radi-
calism is attempting to fasten upon u.s.
The military governments would be at an
end; the Freedmen's Bureau would be
starved out of existence; the carpet-baggers
would take their departures, and the ne
groes would welcome again the return of
kindly relations between them and their
only friends, and would receive the protec
ton of those who really have their welfare
at heart. And with the exception of the
abolition of slavery, which is nowhere
more thoroughly accepted than at the
South, We might we'll expect to see some
thing of the old prosperity and feeling.
But these are dependent upon the I'M
certain success of the opponents of Rad
calism. We have our duty to perform, not
only to ourselves, but for our friends. We
must not only prepare ourselves for de-
feat. but must, in the trying emergencies
by which we are surrounded, show our
selves deserving success. We can, by our
conduct, nerve the hands of those doing
battle for u.s. and if they fail, we can at
least submit to our fate with stout hearts
and unsullied honors.
Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-15
EpisCupxI Convention.

We are under obligations to an esteemed
friend for special report of the two last
days of the proceedings of the Episcopal
Convention, which will be found in our
columns to-day.
Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-15
What has the South to Expect from the
North.

What has the South to Expect from the
North:
It has become too customary of late for
Southern journals to deprecate the efforts
made by the Democrats and Conservatives
of the North to avert from the South the
attempt of the Radicals to place the South
ern States under the control of negroes and
Adventures and restore to the whole
country the authority of the Constitution.
The same thing is true also of Southern
travellers, whose only knowledge of North
ern politics is picked up in the parlors of
the ST. Nicholas and International Hotels.
We regard it as the basest ingratitude for
politically nothing whatever to expect from
either of the great political parties of the
North, when we see one Of these parties
battling manfully with favorable and in
creasing prospects of success upon this
very issue when we see such statesmen as
CowAN, of Pennsylvania, DooLrTTIE, of
Wisconsin, and DIXON, of Connecticut, de-
liberately sacrificing their own political
prospects in order to aid others to secure
justice for the South.
These persons contend that, while the
Democrats and Conservatives of the North
are unwilling to grant the negroes among
them the right of suffrage, they care not if
they exercise that right in the South, and
even if they are successful in the Presi-
dental and Congressional elections next
Fall, they are not prepared to reverse the
Reconstruction legislation of Congress ;
they dare not declare to their constituents
that they will signalize their return to Office
by overturning the unconstitutional statutes
| which has marked the career of their op-
ponents. The utterance and publication
of such sentiments, we submit, are not in
accordance with the facts of the case, and
are well calculated to depress our people,
cause them to abandon their only friends
and give up the only hope they have for
a Constitutional reconstruction of the
Union.
We must judge of the purposes of party
not only by the published platforms which
it may adopt from time to time, in its pub
| AAS AhSSC1h5o hho SOAfCAlAOu0s OuG NY 1LS
acts when its representatives in any State
are in the majority. We can appeal to the
open declarations of every Democratic and
Conservative meeting and speaker, since
the adoption of the present Reconstruction
measures, to prove their position in direct
and earnest opposition and hostility to
these tyrannical and Illegal acts we can
point to the issues upon which they con-
tended successfully in Connecticut, Cali
fornia, New York, New Jersey and Penn
sylvania, and partially so in Ohio. In each
and every one of these States the repeal of
the Reconstruction Acts was the leading,
and in some of them the only leading,
question.
But we are not confined in our defence
of this party merely to the platforms of
| Conventions and the declarations of speak
ers. In some of the States, where success
has given them the power, they have acted
fully up to the principles upon which they
have won the battle. In California the
Democratic Legislature has refused to
adopt the Howard Amendment, while in
Ohio and New Jersey the present Demo
Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-15
impeachment.

It is said that the people of the North
were never so much excited since the sur
render of General LEE, as they are upon
the result of the Impeachment trial, and
the postponement of the decision until
Saturday will only add fuel to the flame.
1t seems, from the general barrenness of
the papers, that business and politics are
alike suspended, and that there was also an
abatement in the carnival of crime-all
alike waiting for the verdict"
The Senators whose voices are to fix the
Presidents fate are ffty-four in number, of
whom forty-two are Republicans, as fol-
lows
Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-15

BENJAMIN f. Wade o. JAS. W. Grimes, Iowa.
Henry b. Anthony, r. [ James Harlan. Iowa
Simon Cameron, Penn. J. Il. Henderson, Mo.
A. G. Cattel N. J. J. M. Howard, Mich.
Zach Chandler, Mich. Timothy o. Howe, Wis.
Cornelius Cole Cal. Edwin j. Morgan. N. Y.
Roscoe Conklin, N. Y. Justin S. Morrill,, Vt.
John CONFESS, Cal. Lot. u. Morrill,, Me.
FL. ". Corbett, Oregon. .. 2. Morton, Ind.
Aaron H Craigin, N. II. James W. Nye, Nevada.
Chas- D. Drake, Mo- J. W. Patterson, n. H.
G. +. Edmunds, Vt. Saml q. PomerOy, rs.
O. s. Ferry, Conn. Alex. Ramsay, Min
Vim. T. Fessenden Me. E. G. Ross Kansas.
J. s. Fowler, Tenn. VIM. NJ. Stewart, New.
John Sherman, 0. Charles Sumner, Mass.
VIM. sprague, r. I. t. w. Upton Nebraska.
John M. Thayer, Mob. p. G. VanWinkIe, W. V.
Lyman Trumbull, Ill. Henry Wilson, Mass.
G.. Fl. Williams, Oregon. W. T. Wiley W. V.
F. f. Freing huysen,N J. Richard Yates, I'll.
The Democratic and Conservative Sena
tors are twelve, as named:
J. A. Bayard, Del. JAS II. Doolittle, Wis.
@. r. BuckaleW, Penn. Thos. c. McCreary, Ky.
Garrett Davis, Ky. I. A. Hendricks, Ind.
James Dixon, Conn. Reverdy Johnson. Md.
Willard Salisbury, Del D. T. Patterson, Tenn
Dani L. Norton, Mimi. Geo. +. Vickers, Md.
To convict it will require thirty-six votes,
being two-thirds Of this number there
are twenty-three Radical Senators who do
not hesitate to say openly that they are for
conviction. It is safe to say that the twelve
bSulOcTdt1C aUu COuSSTFdGtFS OSilaCOrS Will
vote for acquittal. Of the remaining nine
teen Senators, all Republican, it is thought
that five will vote for conviction, while
fourteen have preserved commendable
silence and are classed as doubtful"
In the debate on Monday, preparatory
to the final vote which was to have taken
place upon Tuesday, Senators FEssENDEN,
TRUMBULL, GRIMES and HENDERSON de-
clared themselves in favor of acquittal,
leaving still three others necessary to in
sure the safety of the President. Senators
ANTHONY, SPRAGUE, FOWLER, VANWINKLE
and WILEY are more generally relied upon
to favor acquittal than any of the remain
ing, while many of the friends of the
President claim Senator FREL1NeHUYsEN
with much confidence. That the managers
regard the question as very close is shown by
their disposition to postponethe vote when
they heretofore displayed rather an in
decent haste to push the trial. Certainly,
if they supposed they could have gone on
without Senator HowARD's assistance, they
| would not have brooked the annoying de-
lay to the Radical saternalia of "Wade
and the apple blossoms" or kept the pat
riotic expectants so long in anxious sus-
pense.
Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-15

FRANCIS w DAWSON, Esq,
Editor Charleston Daily News.