Wilmington journal., 1868-04-03
How 1t Works.

How 1t Works.
The Infamous Convention had tende
regard, so-called, fort honor and the wei
fare of North Carolina but while we are
much opposed to reputation, as much op
posed to furnishing the bright escutcheol
of the State as we can be, and while W
desire to see by all honorable means tn
credit of the State upheld, we cannot hell
thinking the series of financial measure
adopted by the Convention will operat
barslly and oppressively and unjustly upol
the people of North Carolina, and that
is open to the suspicion of having beer
adopted in the interest and for the beEen
of Northern capitalists. -.
The State debt contracted Ill ald Oh 'he
war was repudiated. This debt was due al
home. due to our own people was helO
and owned here It's payment would nave
afforded immediate and tangible relief tc
thousands and thousands of distressed
widows and orphans. The money thus
Maid ont would have been put IN clrcula
ton here ct home-would have renamed
here at home, and thus would have releved
the whole community. But this debt was
repudiated, and the poor people who had
trusted to the honor and plighted faith OF
the State were made beggars. What was
the result The banks were all broken
the University was made bankrupt the
Common School fund was destroyed the
Common Schools we're closed and the chill
dren of the State deprived of their only
hone of education. Every interest IN the
State, whether Commercial, Agricultural,
Educational, Social or Religious, felt and
still feels, the shock of that blow
But this was not the only debt due by
North Carolina The debt contracted be-
fore the war and since the war, the Con-
vention have, with very yirtuous zeal, de-
clared shall be paid and have ordered the
Legislature to provide means for the pay
ment of its coupons on the first Of January,
1869. in part, and from thence onward as
they fall due. Now it SO happens that the
bulk of this debt is due to Northern capl-
talists that the bonds are owned and held
there that not a dollar paid thereon, e1-
cent to tie few bond-holders in the State,
is put in circulation here or IN any way
benefits the people of North Carolina, ex-
cept in the way of sustaining the credit of
the State The money goes abroad and
stays abroad. This is peculiarly hard when
it is considered that these very bonds were,
many of them, probably the bulk OF them,
bought for fifty cents on the dollar, thus
making the impoverished people Of the
State pay twelve per cent. interest on a
large debt, simply on a point OF honor,
that had hitherto been hoOted at. The
blow, we say, is peculiarly hard on the
people of North Carolina. In the one case
both honor and interest demanded alike
that the plighted faith of the State should
be maintained, but the call OF honor and
the cry of an oppressed people were alike
disregarded. In the ether case honor alone
demanded the payment OF the debt, and
honor was satisfied. In the one case honor,
backed by the demand OF every material
interest in the State-backed by the walls
of the widows and orphans Of North Caro-
lina-was counted all unholy thing in the
other case honor, with 4 retinue Of North
ern capitalists at her back, was bowed down
to and done homage to by these chivalrous
knights Of the Infamous Convention.
But this is not al. This same COnven-
ton has provided, rs far as III its power
lay, for the population Of private debts by
all the stay laws their wits could contrlve,
and singulary enough, the practical dlstlnc-
tion between honor and Northern money,
and honor and North Carolina poverty,
prevails equally in regard to private debts
us to State debts. Our own people can
collect nothing-Northern creditors how
ever, meet with no obstruction. the FEEDER
al Courts being open to them. Such Is
our condition-wc can collect nOthlng-We
are at the mercy of Northern creditors IN
the Federal Courts. The State will not
pay us that we lent her; but III the face of
these facts, Will soon make us part with
what we have left in order to meet the de-
mands of these Unsuitable Northern cormo-
rants. Our only hope is ia the rejection
of the Constitution that attempts to force
these things upon us. We are opposed to
repudiation-we admit that our people
need practical, substantial relief; but we
deny that this is relief, and we are utterly
opposed to making distinctions, in matters
of equal obligation, in favor of Northern
people at the expense of our own.
RndiCalIsm IEl Brunswick.
In our Thursdays issue we published
40 f0T. county