Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-08-21
The New Tyranny.


The iniquity has at length been accom-
plished, and the ignorant body of men,
ycleped the North Carolina Legislature,
under the leadership of their owners and
masters, Holden, Pool, Abbott & Co., have
at length, in the face of all constitutional
law and Justice, passed an infamous Police
Bill.
If the object of an army in time of war
is to win peace, surely when country is
quiet and without foe within its borders,
the imposition of an army on the people of
that country can mean nothing less than
war; and the passage of this Infamous bill
can be construed into nothing less than
declaration of war by those who now hold
the balance of power in the State. 1t will
prove the battle of the strong against the
weak-the many against the few-and is,
thus far, the last of those desperate meas
ures to which the INSCRIPTIONS leaders of
the Radical party in this State have resor-
ted for the perpetuation of their usurped
power.
It is for the people of North Carolina
themselves to say whether they will remain
the vassals of q worse than Brownlow, or
whether they will arouse in their might
and enter their protest at the ballot-box
against it. That ballot-box will next No
vember hold the record of ourselves as
freemen, or it will dig the grave of all that
is left of the virtue and worth and purity
of our constitutional freedom
N,olo ,,,k l,oH o,
of Holden than is possessed by any other
man on the entire range of the Atlantic
coast. Already has an ignorant Legisla-
ture granted him more than enough-more
than it is safe to trust into the hands of
any Republican officer of a Republican
country this bill gives him more power
than was ever held by Dictator of Ancient
Rome-an Office, the highest in the gift of
the people, and one which was only resort
ed to in times of extreme danger to the
State. Even were there such a necessity
now existing with us (which God knows
is mott, w. W. Holden is the last man in
North Carolina to whom such unlimited
power should be delegated. He is man
who reasons only by his prejudices, favors
only by his fears, and an outcast himself
from the esteem of all honest and virtuous
men, his hatred is for those whose
virtue he envies, and whose honesty is to
him living reproach.
Such is the man to whom miserable par
tisan Legislature has sold the good people
of North Carolina-first binding and then
casting them into the shambles. Let us
refer to the bond by which it has been eff
fected, and which shall remain to all future
ages tarnish on the escutcheon of our
State.
This infamous measure passed it's third
and last reading in the Senate on Wednes-
day, and was sent to the House for concur
renee, which concurrence was doubtless
ready for the bill on its arrival there. The
main features of this bill are said to be not
quite so offensive as were those of the for
mer one, for which this is a substitute
although it is undeniably both unconstitu-
tional in letter and tyrannical in spirit, and
IN reality also. It is unconstitutional mas
much as Its makes distinction in regard to
color, which is forbidden by the new Con-
sttution of the State, and because it is in
direct violation of one of the provisions of
the national instrument. It is a tyranny
and an outrage, inasmuch as it places in
Governor Holden's hands the appointment
OF every officer of the force, from the Gen
eral commanding down to the lowest COM
mlssioned officer, while it was formerly
Lett with the companies and regiments
to perfect their own organization.
AS will be seen by the legislative pro-
ceedingswe publish to-day, strenuous efforts
on the part of some of the more INTELLIGENT