The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1868-02-26

Sare gQsi fRjipg CbetseenTwo peoples liv.
ing Together end fystY entirely distinct. and
lypwbeststep promote the general welfare OF
the whole, is aIproblen of very difficult So
LUTON isrbe future of this hitherto slave
race is hidden by a veil SO deep, that no
mortal eye can lierceits folds. No man can
tell what WILDE their destiny. 1t may be-
and trust it will,he, that awaiting them
selves Of those glorious privileges of educa-
ton and advancement, which the Repuhli-
can party offers them, they will become
worthy c0mpeers of their great Anglo-Saxon
brothers, and will 'vietwith them in the con-
troll of this mighty Republic. Or it may
be, TINT looking eastward, to- the land OF
their nativity. they viii one day cross the
eeas, and found on their native shores anem-
pire, which will outstrip, in power and gran
deur, Egypt or Carthage, in their proudest
days. Or, percllance, with perpetually de-
creasing numbers, they will move towards
the setting sun, and like the poor Indians, at
last find their graves beneath the grass OF
the praries. We cannot tell what VIII be
their fate But this much ace Eao'0, that they
arc here among US, AMI that being here, they
are entitledto all the'rights which we our
selves possess; and SO long as this feeble
arm can strike, and so long as this stammer-
ing tongue shall have its atterance. will
not cease to he their defender, or to labor in
what regard as the sacred cause Of their
moral and intellectual advancement. :,
d Mr.. President, there are but two parties In
this land /; the one in favor OF the Govern
ment and the other opposed to it. Around
the flag of the one, all true patriots are raj
living, whilst the tlisaffected and the disloyal
are arraying themselves in the ranks OF the
other. The great issue which devides these
parties, is colored suffrage, heright to which,
l claim to be u legitimate and inevitable
sequence of the acceptance of that great po-
litical doctrine, coeval with the creation of
man and underlying the Declaration of In
dependence, and the Constitution of our
Government, of the civil and political equal
ity of all men. Yes, sir, upon this issue, a
devotion to the great principles of our Union
necessarily involves the advocacy of colored
suffrage and those who distinctly, deliber-
atey and voluntarily style themselves g the
white mans party become involved, be-
yond all question, in an attempt to under
mine the very Government itself. And
whilst claim no insensibility to the good
opinion OF many who oppose my position in
this particular, yet while life lasts, trust
that shall never lose my devotion to the
great principles of right, and ask for my
inanimate body, no more glorious winding
sheet than the fagof my country which rep
resents those great principles all over this
earth, and no epitaph more eulogistic than
that was one of the friends of an oppressed
race at time when those friends were few.
This brings me, sir, to the minority report
of Messrs Gambler and Congleton To the
second section of this report, l have very
serious objections. object to the use of the
word citizen, for two reasons. 1st, 1t ap-
plies. IN Its ordinary acceptation, though,
perhaps, not in its technical sense, to both
sexes; and secondly, according to the in
depreciation of our Conservative friends, it
does not apply to colorcd people. Now, if
the opposition party should Obtain control
OF Congress and repeal the Civil Rights
Bill, these gentlemen might hold. that our
colored friends could not vote, on the ground
that they were not citizens. The majority
report uses male persons instead, in re-
gard to the meaning of, which, there can be
no difference of opinion. This report, sir,
excludes five classes of citizens from the
elective franchise LIST, Those who have been
convicted of any Infamous crime, after be-
coming citizens of the United States. Now,
sir, hold that this restriction upon the right
of the ballot is anti republican. If a man be
guilty of an Infamous crime, it is the pro-
vince, of the Judicial, and not of the Legis-
lative tlepartineut of the State to inflict the
punishment. II the crime be of such ma
ture, that, upon conviction, the sentence of
the court is death, then this proviso is use
less if it be only imprisonment, then, hav-
ing performed the sentence of the law. |
would restore him to his civil and political
rights. Dsfranchlsement is badge of
slavery, which am unwilling to fas:en upon
any man in this free country OF ours.
The second excluded class consists of those
who have been judicially pronounced to be
of unsound mind. | may here remark that
the question of DISTINGUISHING all idiots and
insane persons was argued in committee, and
upon mature consideration it was decided
to he useless incumbrance upon the
Constitution. Very few idiots are born
in North Crrolina, and the insane are
confined in an Asylum, from which they can
not escape. Upon the legal maxim, then
de nainimis lea non curat. the majority OF
your committee refused to insert this clause
into the Constitution. The reason above
stated, that the law does not regard trifles,
is of much more striking force. as applied to
this minority report, than if the expression
call idiots and insane persons had been
used. For this exclusion applies only ia
those, who have been judicialIy declared to
be of unsound mind. imagine, sir. that O
remark which made to the drawer of this
report induced him to lie thus guarded in
his language. 1 told the delegate from Bun.
combe that Mr.. Graham thought he was in
sane upon the subject of Acknowledgement
Well, Mr. Gambler thought the same thing
of the delegate from Orange, and the ma
jority of the. committee thought they were
both insane; but concluded, that their in
sanity was not of such a type as should ex
clude them from the ballot
The third clause of disfranchisement is in
direct violation of one of the fundamental
principles of our Bill of Rights, viz Tha,
no &c post .fact0 law ought to be passed.
think, sir, in adopting this clause very
dangerous precedent would be set. No one
can possibly condem those who attempt by
threats or 5ribes to deter voters from the
free exercise OF the elective franchise in
more unmeasured terms than I; but, sir, ir
this country, we are all free men, and he
who is so weak on. ss.- base as to DO thus de
tered, is not entitled to that protection
which this clause is intended to throw
around him. --s..--.-as,-..,s..-,-.-s.,-s--.
The fourth, class. DISTINGUISHED includes 1
very large number of our most distinguished
and most loyal fellow-citizens; nor does thu
proviso. that when relieved of their disabili
| ties. they shall be re-enfranchised, meet ou
objections. Who knows, Sir, whether Con
gress will ever remove the disabilities from