The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1868-04-29
The sontherp Elections.

South Carolina began upon the l4tn OF april,
and was to continue for three days; and
General Meade has issued orders, in prospect
Of the voting in Georgia, forbidding sheriffs
to resign in order to evade their duty, under
penalty of trial by military commission
warning employers that attempts at lntlm'-
dation and coercion at the polls are subject
to the same punishment and calling upon
all good citizens to aid in securing fair
election We shall very possibly hear
great deal about military despotism in con-
nection with these elections; but we beg all
sensible people to reflect that if regular civil
government is ever to begin in those States,
it must, under the existing circumstance,
begin under military supervision. A mill
tary despotsm th. cures fair expression
of the public will IS surely preferable to q
mob despotism that couples an unfair ex-
preston. -
From the relentless and unscrupulcus mis-
representations in the Democratic papers of
the action of the, Conventions that have
framed the new Constitutions for the States
lately in rebellion, it would be supposed
that they were monuments of injustice and
folly-instrument wholly destitute of the
qualities most approved by experience, and
most desirable in, q fundamental law. A
careful study of them, or even mere intel
ligent reading, will show that such an inn
preston would be as mistaken as the effort
to create it is malicious. But the papers of
which we speak, knowing that nos one in a
thousand of their Feaders will ever see the
Constitutions, act accordingly. The din
about "Pan-African" or "Black-and- Tan"
Conventions, the ribaldry of the reports in
the New-York World. revealing nothing hut
contemptuous hostility toward the colored
population and fbyal Union men, with the
amusingly reckless vituperation necessarily
uttered by the Worlds rebel allies in the
Southern States, one of which in Alabama
reaches the height of absurdity in calling
one of these instruments 1.-THE putrid Con
stitution," are all parts of the efforts to throw
the political power in those States wholly
into the hands of the class most disaffected
to the Union and the Government.
Most of the new Constitutions are framed
in general upon the Constitution of the
United States, ampli6cd with the more ex
act detail necessary for the organic law of a
State. They resemble in general form and
phaseology the Constitutions of all the other
SUES anu l. SUN ssPeo "ie '' ~
I,,ose now IN LIE a., e'e I1l uu' ln
oeol.a an :. w ,oa e .'I aus or " ~
app p =. i .h", Az " rsns.;.t;o, go -
ton of New-York was unable to carry, al
though the vote was very nearly divided
The bill of rights in these Constitutions is
very detailed and comprehensive, as is to he
expected in political community in which
aarge part OF tne popuial ION mas Deen Just
emahciPa1ea; let tnere are ie" oi tue
guarantees that "oula seem unwlse TO any
thoughtlul man H.; iHey very st5ingen.,y
guaro personal liberty an.. very oisrlnc'iy
ueclare LIE supreme au'noiity vi ti,e oh.'eo
States. Ibis last, however, Is not oohe III
manner to conflict with the necessary exer-
else OF local power, or TO lead 10 any peril
Gus contamination. mus the FLORIDA Bill
or flights asserts rms state snail ever
remain a member OF the American Union,
the people thereof part OF the American
nation, and any attempt, from Whatever
source OF upon Whatever pretense, 10 dls
solve SAID Union or 10 sever salo nation
slall DE resisted Win the whoie power OF
the state" Georgia mas the same general
declaration. The North Carolina Bill OF
Rights uses substantially the same langu,
age. nut also declares that tne people OF
the otale nave the inherent, sole, ana e&clu-
slve right OF regulating the internal govern
ment and police thereof. hut every such
right should be exercised IN pursuance OF
law and consistently with the Constitution
OF the United States" -...
| The chiet interest IN all OF these C0nstltu-
| tIOOS and of course fhn chief nlanUp
the suffrage article. Ihey all secure equal
political rights, and 1t is this which makes
them "putrld to the mourners OF the lost
cause and to the Democratic party at the
North. Yet Of the new Constitutions that
we have seen, that of Louisiana seems to be
almost exceptional IN the condition OF its
suffrage article. The Louisiana Constitution
DISTINGUISHES certain classes of the late rebels
which it describes, and declines to restore
to them the right of voting until they shall
voluntarily write and sign certificate &C
knowledging the late rebellion to have been
morally and politically wrong. The diff
Guilty with this kind of security is that il
secures nothing. 1t is merely the swearing
upon brlckbat of the first days of the war
Honorable men it excludes, but the dishon
orable it admits and it is the dishonorablt
who are dangerous. The Georgia Constitu
ton has no such exclusion. 1t is as simple
and comprehensive as that of New York
So also with that of Florida; and the com
'nittee of the North Carolina Convention, il
their address to the people, say, with a forc'
and wisdom which we commend to the con
sideration OF those who may have been leo
by the most ruthless falsehoods to believ'
in the utter feebeness and folly of thes'
Conventions:
While giving suffrage to the coloret
people, the Convention has not been so in
consistent with Itself and with the grea