Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1870-09-09

the writ of habedS corpus. All Americans
have strongly implanted in their very ma
ture deep and abiding respect and rever-
ence for that ancient bulwark Of our iber-
ties. This is so much the case that, even
In times when the public necessity requires
its temporary suspension, we see among
the people certain restlessness and un-
easiness, and an indefnable dread of some
great and impending evil, and all faces
grow brighter and hearts beat lighter when
it is once more restored to the citizen. /
sincerely trust that tl,.5'tiL4e is now at hand
when it will again be allowed full sway in
this our law-loving and law-abiding, but
heretofore oppressed and downtrodden
State.
My friends. l have already alluded to the
changed expression Of your faces since our
great victory, and now L want, IN a brief
way, to speak of those of the Radicals.
They were constantly wreathed in smiles
before the election, and they chuckled over
the great victory which they felt assured
was in store for them-in this they re-
minded me very much of an anecdote I
once heard of an Irishman and bull and
without intending to wonnd the feelings
of any Republican here, [ will proceed to
tell it, as illustrating their present uncom-
Portable fix:
An Irishman was walking along the road
one day, and observed in adjoining
field bull who was wrought up almost to
frenzy, and was paving the ground and
digging it up with his horns, and doing
many other unreasonable things, and the
Irishman thought it would be rare Jun to
catch him by the horns and rub his nose
in the dirt, and the more he thought of 1t
tho funnier it got until he rolled over with
laughter and glee, and finally he could re
sist the temptation no longer, SO he jumped
over the fence, seized the bull by the horns
and just as he was about executing his plan
of rubbing the bulls nose in the dirt, he
Suddenly found himself tossed back over
the fence, very much hurt and bruised,
ami as he limped sadly away he remarked,
BE jabbers its mighty fine thing that l
had nv laugh first" and SO it is with the
Radicals, it is well they had their laugh
before the election, for if one Of them has
smiled since it has not been my good for
tame TO see it.
But, my friends, while our grandtriumph
brings with it great JOY and qualification,
ii at the same time devolve8 upon Us great
and grave responsibilities. L shall only
speak Of one Of these responsibilities to-
night, and ] select that because we've
been so constantly assailed and maIigned
by the opposition in regard to the course
We would pursue concerning 1t when we
should be restored to power. [ refer to
our duties and obligations towards the
cOIoTcd voters.
My friends, we owe them but little in
the way of gratitude. They have used
their new found power persistently and al
most boldly to our detriment. They have
repudiated the good and true people of
the land, and have elevated to Office
swarm of grasping, and in many instances
dishonest strangers, who have prOstituted
their positions for our oppression and
their own emOlument l am glad to say,
however, in the recent election they have
repudated these people, and have only re-
turned three or four carpet baggerS to the
next Legislature. Among these [ regret
to see that our sister city of Wilmington
is afflicted with one who is probably the
most bitter and extreme partisan IN the
crowd (Some one here remarked they
call him "big Indian.'O Yes, my friends,
they call him 'big Indian" and in my
opinion he will be found to be about the
''last of the Mohicans." Or when these
have not been selected they have put for
ward of native born people, both white
and colored, who, with a few honorable
gree of malignity, venallty and depravity
only equaled by their ignorance and in
competency. These officers have robbed
our treasury, crushed all enterprise and
spread ruin and bankruptcy, both indi-
vidual and State, broad cast over the land.
And moro marvellous and incomprehensi-
BILE than all this, these col Ored voters, who
have recently been relieved from state of
hereditary bondage, and who profess to
look upon their newly acquired freedom
as the greatest boon ever bestowed by
man upon his fellow have in the recent cleo
ton voted-in this section of the State at
least-almost to a man in favor of the sus-
pension of the writ OF habeas corpus, and
in favor Of consignlng many of the white
men of this country, who have not like
them been born slaves, but who like the
good aud great ST. Paul were free born,
to dungeons and chains, and death itself,
without charge of offence against the law
or any proof of crime. And the fourth
day of this month presented to the eyes
of the astonished world seventy thousand
colored voters marching to the polls and
depositing their ballots in favor of slavery
and chains and bonds for the white man,
and the great mass of the white men going
to the same polls and voting for
freedom for all, both white and
colored resistance to tyrants, observance
of the Constitution and obedience to the
laws.
But notwithstanding all this and more,
much more than could say, zoe must car
7.y out in good faith our repeated pledges to
the black man; we must show him that we
can be as magnanimous and generous in
the bright day of victory as we have been
patient and long suffering in the dark and
weary night of defeat. And now that we
are in power we must protect and defend
him in the free and full enjoyment of all
his political rights and privileges; we must
show him that the white man who tramples
upon the rights of the black man will be
punished in precisely the same manner and
in the same degree as the black man who
invades the rights of the white man. Thus
we will convince him that we have always
been truthful and fair to our promises and |
declarations and that the political trick
sters and mountebanks of the white race,
whom he has chosen for his leaders, are
the liars and knaves we have always repre- |
sented them to be. Liberty, my fellow
citizens, is too dear to the true American |
heart tfor any man who believes in free |
Institutions to ever attempt to wrest it from |
those Ihn haya anca tasted lis Syzaats or !