Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-07-10

| the Constitution, that the two races should
| be mustered and drilled in the same con-
panies and regiments. Following the ex-
ample of the government of the United
States. they may be divided into separate
companies and regiments; but it is due to
the colored race that they should have,
whenever they desire it. officers of their
own color for their own companies and
regiments. In this, as in all other things
concerning our white and colored fellow
citizens, absolute civil and political equali-
ty should be maintained. The public bur-
dens should fall equally on both, and there
should be no distinction between them in
their political and civil rights
The Constitution provides that ''to main
tain the honor and good faith of the State
untarnished, the public debt, regularly
contracted before and since the rebellion,
shall be regarded as inviolable, and never
be questioned" 1t would be difficult to
over-state the value of character to individ-
uals or to States. A State which deliber-
ately says, " this is my seal-the debt is
just, but will not pay it," proclaims that
there is no virtue in moral obligation, and
sinks at once to the level of savage races,
whom no treaty or obligation can bind
States flourish and prosper, and are respec-
ted, in proportion as they adhere to the
eternal principles of Justice North Caro-
lima, when fully herself, uninhuenced by
the passions of the rebellion, would have
felt any stain upon her credit as wound,
and would have submitted to any sacrifice
to avert even the suspicion that her honor
could be sulied by any act of her own
North Carolina is again State, in the full
sense in which she was before she rebelled,
and her obligations and duties are as bind
ing as they formerly were. These obIiga-
tions and duties cannot be evaded or avoid
ed. The payment of the interest on her
debt, as provided for in the Constitution,
would at once place her credit on secure
footing. A debt ceases to affect credit in
juriously when the interest is promptly
paid, and when it is seen that an accumu-
| ton of valuable property and general pros
perity is the result of the indebtedness
The credit of England is equal to any coun-
try, yet the English debt is the result OF
| the accumulation of ages, and is of enorm-
Gus magnitude. The secret of the credit
of England is the unvarying punctuality
with which her interest is paid, and the
fact that she is constantly adding to her
wealth and power by the use of what she
has borrowed.
do not doubt that the General Assem-
bly,, responding to the general wish of our
people, will make prompt and ample pro-
vision for meeting the interest on the State
debt.
BY meeting promptly the interest on her
debt the State will be enabled to borrow
money to prosecute internal improvements,
which are essential to the development Of
her resources. Money thus expended, and
money expended for education, will consti
tute the very best Investment the State
could make. 4 vigorous and we'll directed
system OF internal Improvements, from the
seashore to the Tennessee line, thus pla-
cling us in direct communication with the
Mississippi valley, with cheap rates of
| freight and travel, would stimulate agricul-
ture and the mechanic arts, build up our
seaports, increase our commerce both for
ton from the Northern States and from
Europe, arrest emigration from the
State, give employment to thousands
of our people, and thus place US
at no very distant day in the front
rank Of American States. No State in the
Union has superior advantages to North
Carolina, whether We consider the extent
of her seacoast, the value of her harbors
her geographical situation, the salubrity of
her climate, or the nature and variety of
her resources and productions She is ex-
| empted on the one hand from the protrac-
ted and rigorous winters of the North, and
South. Favored thus with climate and
soil, extending from Currituck to Cherokee
five hundred miles, and one hundred and
eighty miles in width at one point, with
fifty thousand square miles of territory, and
population of not more than twenty to
the square mile, it is obvious that great
and prosperous future is before her if her
people should prove true to themselves
What we need is capital and mind to bring
out these resources-to render them con-
venient and useful and available for wealth
and power. We need skilled labor. We
need educated, thinking, investigating, en-
terprising mind on our farms, in our work
shops and manufactures, in our mines, on
our railroads, at the head of our schools
and presses, and indeed in every industrial
enterprise or pursuit.
Fellow citizens, let us come out Of the
caverns of the past, and, forgetting what
ever is not worthy to be remembered, let
us resolve to do our duty in our day and
time as North Carolinians, as Americans.
In q climate and with a soil for which