The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1868-07-14

laws in spirit of justice to ALL it is deemed es-
sentia that portion of the militia should be we'll
disciplined and armed, and should be thus ready
at any moment, under the orders of the CON-
mander-in-chief, for active duty
1t is not proposed, nor is it required by the
Constitution, that the two races should be mus
tered and drilled in the same companies and regi-
ments Following the example of the govern
ment 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, in all other things concerning our
white and colored fellow citizens absolute civil
and political equality should be maintained
The public burdens should fall equally on beth,
and there should be no distinction between them
in their political and civil rights.
The Constitution provides that "to maintain
the honor and good faith of the State untarnished
the public debt, regularly contracted before and
since the rebellion shall be regarded as inviola-
Bile, and never be questioned" 1t would be diff
cult to overstate the value of character to indi-
viduals or to States. A State which deliberately
says, ''this is my seal-the debt is just, but I
will not pay it," proclaims that there is no virtue
in moral obligation, and sinks at once to the
level of savage races, whom treaty or obliga-.
ton can bind. States flourish and prosper, and
are respected in proportion as they adhere to the
eternal principles of justice North Carolina,
when fully herself, uninfuenced by the passions
of the rebellion, would have felt any stain upon
her credit as a wound, and would have submitted
to any sacrifice to avert even the suspicion that
her honor could be sullied 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 binding as they
| e IL IL
cannot be evaded or avoided. 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
injuriously when the interest is promptly paid
and when it is that accumulation of
valuable property and general prosperity is the
result of the indebtedness. The credit of Eng
land is equal to that of any country, yet the
English debt is the result of the accumulation of
ages and is of enormous magnitude. The secret
of the credit of England is the unvarying pune
tuality 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 Assembly,
responding to the general wish of our people,
will make prompt and ample provision for meet
ing 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 es-
sential to the development of her resources.
Money thus expended and money expended for
education, will constitute the very best invest
ment the State could make A vigorous and
we'll directed system of internal improvements,
from the seashore to the Tennessee line, thus
placing us in direct communication with the
Mississippi valley, with cheap rates of freight
and travel, would stimulate agriculture and the
mechanic arts, build up our seaports, increase
ha5a tpEs md On
5 State, give employment to thousands of our peo-
pie, 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 geograph-
ical situation, the saubrity of her climate or the
nature and variety OF her resources and produc-
lions. She is exempted on the one hand from
the protracted and rigorous winters of the North
and on the other from the blasting heats of the
South. Favored thus with climate and soil ex-
tending from Currituck to Cherokee five hun
, dred miles, and one hundred and eighty miles in
width at one point, with fifty thousand square
miles of territory, and a population of not more
than twenty to the square mile, it is obvious
} that great and prosperous future is before her
|
What We need is capital and mind, to bring out
these resources-to render them convenient and
useful and available for wealth and power. We
: need skilled labor. We need educated, think
ng investigating, enterprising minds, our
farms, In our workshops and manufactures, III
our mines, on our railroads, at the head of our
schools and presses and indeed in every indus
trial enterprise or pursuit.
Fellow citizens let us come out Of the caverns
of the past, and forgetting whatever is not wor-
thy to be remembered, letus resolve to do our
duty in our day and time, as North Carolinians,
as Americans In climate and with soil for
which Providence has done so much, let us re-
solve to do something for ourselves and our chill
dren. Let US devote ourselves to the art of
peace. Let our children and our children S
children, when they shall come to take our
Places say of US, Our ancestors remembered and
did what was wise, and what good for us.
Behold, the beautiful country they have left to
us!-the just and equal laws that are over US,
and the hope that their work has made strong in
us that we can do even more for our children
than they have done for u.s." Let us at least
unite upon the one great object of improving
and building up the State. Let us welcome cap
ital and immigration, furnishing shey will
the indispensable means to our progress and pros
perity. Prejudices growing out of nativity or out
OF the rebellion, are not worthy to be cherished.
Let us discard such prejudices We are once
more Americans ALL Let us receive with cour-
tesy and kindness every citizen of the Northern
or Eastern States who may cast his lot among
us, and measure him as We measure others, ac-
cording to his personal and moral worth. We
cannot hope to improve our condition if we repel
capital and immigration, either by so acting rs
to produce the belief that it il not safe to settle
/ mt ofHr of laU