Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-09-04
COMMUNICATED. !


Judge Penrson's Letter.-NO. 2.
Judge PEARSON claims to be member OF
the Conservative party, and, certainly, il
he believe the charges, direct and i'm
piled, which his letter contains against the
Radicals, he must regard them as wholly
unfit to be entrusted with the government
of the country. He evidently admits that
in North Carolina the followers of GRANT
and CoLFAx have given us
A Legislature composed of men who pay
no taxes, but have unlimited powers to
tax u.s.
That they have given us incompetent
Judges, Clerks, &c.
That they have torn up by the roots our
ancient mode of judicial proceedings,
That they have put many who are stran-
gers to us in high places.
That the political equality of the negroes
is weight which can only be borne by
the power and vigor of the white man.
That the Conservative party represent
the property and intelligence Of the State
and, when the storm is over, "will take
the guidance of affairs, and all will bt
WE'LL"
Four of the above propositions, first il
order, we know to be literally true, the
others are in Judge PEARsoN's own words
as indeed, all are. He is obliged, therefore,
to base his support of GRANT and GoLFA2
on the plea of avertiDg apprehended So
cial disturbances, and his position may be
stated in this wise
81 will take GRANT and CoLFAx, with the
multitudinous sins Of their party upon
them, rather than civil war, which must
follow their defeat, and ! advise others to
do the same.
To this l reply:
The predictions of civil war made by
Judge PEARSON, in the event of the defeat
of GRANT and CoLFAx, are based upon as
sertions unfounded in fact, are the mere
emanations of his own brain. unsustained
by sound argument, and do not deserve Sc
rious notice.
We, the people of the South, cannot
support GRANT and CoLFAX, for the reason
that the success of those men Will fasten
ing despotism which revolution alone will
be effectual to remove.
The battle for civil liberty must be
fought in November at the polls by the
ballot, and if SEYMOUR and BLAIR should
then be defeated, our descendants, as vel
rs ourselves, will be slaves.
To follow the question of civil war still
further. I have proved from the cotempo
rary history Of Great Britain that the as
sertions upon which Judge PEARSON rests
his predictions are baseless. will now
add what judicial, or political blindness
must have prevented the Judge from see
ing that including women and minors
there are as many white people, at thi:
day, in the Southern States, disfranchiset
by the operation of the reconstruction act
as there are negroes in said States, and these
people are seeking no other remedy than
they are entitled to under the Constitution
of the United States, and they are q people
too, whose birthright, and the birthright O
whose ancestors was freedom, bit IN Hei
behalf lie is silent, his earning rOice is hearC
only for the negro. Judge PEARSON no
only ignores the events of contemporary
history, he misrepresents them also. Tha
he should refer to the negro as in the cen
ioyment of political rights for years, "wheI
he knows that until April Goth, 1865, he acos
q Slare; that he has not had the right tc
vote for more than one year, and that il
was then granted to him as privilege fol
partisan purpose, and never sought Dy
him as right proves the recklessness Of
the partisan rather than the candor of the
patriot, or the uprightness of the Judge.
That the freedmen should be deprived OF
political rights is, says the Judge, g against
the eternal laws of nature" How was il.
then, that READE, CALDWELL, DICK, SETTLE,
LOGAN, HARRIS, HENRY, and other persons
now leaders of the Radical party in North
Carolina, not only opposed the extension
of suffrage to the freedmen in the Conven
ton of 1865, but were unwilling even tc
allow them the right of being represented
and how was it that Judge PEARSON was
of the same way of thinking? Why could
he not then see that this refusal was
against the eternal laws of nature" and
must end in civil war?
The law OF nature is indeed eternal, IN
changing and universal. If it be crime
to debar four millions of negroes from the
suffrage, it is crime to debar one million
or even one. 1t is crime under the Law
OF. nature to murder one man as # Is tc
murder one hundred Why, then, does
the platform of the Radical party embodj