The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1870-08-04
m. North Carolina Troubles.

The North Carolina Troubles.
The outrages perpetrated by Cover
nor HOLDEN, of North Carolina, and
his band Of cut.throats under the lead
OF Colonel KIRK, sort Of loyal jay
hawker from Tennessee, are beginning
to nauseate even the radical press.
Every shadow Of respect for law, even
the promptings of common humanity,
have been utterly disregarded by HoL-
DEN and his banditti, and when the
people of the State cry out for protec-
ton the United States Government
sends regular troops to support HOLDEN
and KIRK. At last, so Infamous and
oppressive has HOLDEN administration
become, that so influential Republi
can journal as the New York Times is
forced to break silence in condemnation
of the outrage. We extract the follow
ing from its leading editorial OF Au-
gust ,:
Gov. Holden has chosen course,
so fiagrantly wrong that it is impossible
to respect his motives, and at the same
time credit him with a judgment beiit-
ting his position. We must conclude
either that he is playing the part OF
reckless partisan, and without regard to
decency or right, is preparing to control
the State election on Thursday,-ortha
Welding to bad advisers, he iorgets his
duty to the people, whose servant he Is,
to the State whose interests and honor
he has sworn to protect, and to the law
whose majesty is superior to even his
pretensions. One or the other OF these
conclusions seems inevitable. How
else shall we comprehend the hasty
proclamation of martial law, the organ
ization of motley troops-not the lawful
miltia-under the command of a Ten
nessee Colonel, the refusal to obey or
ders Of regular Courts, the arrest of cit
liens without warrant and their deten-
ton without trial--and, finally, the de-
clared purpose to try these prisoners by
military court, with man not far re-
moved from an outlaw at its head?
1t is not possible to watch without
Indignation the progress of the record
which Gov. Holden is making for his
own condemnation. The method he
has adopted for organizing trooEs-the
neglect of the constitutional provisions
in this respect, and the departure from
the non-partisan attitude becoming a
matter at once so delicate and so mo-
mentous-may account for the aver
sion with which these troops are viewed
by the people generally, They are a
partisan force, under the direction OF a
Col. Kirk, whose antecedents are obi
Gus, and whose character and temper
display the license, recklessness, and
cruelty of an unbridlcd partisanshiP.
This man Kirk Gov Holden has in
vested with many Of the powers of a
military dictator in the counties that
are unhappily subject to his sway. His
will is warrant enough for the arrest ofre-
spectacle citizens; he keeps them prison
ers without informing them Of the cause
oftheir arrest; he threatens to shoot Off
GERS of the law who may enter his camp
with writs of hdJeaS corpus; and on at
least one well attested occasion, he in
ilicted torture upon prisoner For
these inlamies, Governor Holden is re-
sponsiblc He asserts practically that
the haLeos corpus act is suspended,
though the Chief Justice decides that
it is not; and that his Court shrnks
from contest in which the material
power of the Government is arraycd
against the officers OF justice and the
moral power of the law The whole
spectacle is disgracciul to the Governor
and humiliating to the country. For
il shows that the Executive of a recon-
structcd State may uSurp functions not
contemplated by the Constitution under
which he was elected, and may become
the despotic master OF people whom
he is supposed TO serve.
1t is unfortunate that the Governor,
who has placed himself above the law,
is nevertheless able to boast of the sup
port OF the Government of the United
States. For what purpose are national
troops sent into North Carolina? In
famous as Holden 5 orders are, infamous
as the conduct Of his minion, Kirk, has
been, we have vet TO hear Of the first
attempt at armed resistance to either.
There is martial law without an insur-
rection,-a great display ormilitary force
to crush insurgents who have no yisi-
ble existence. There is no conceivable
use for the United States troops now in
the Statc-unlcss it be TO keep guard at
the polls on Thursday in the interest Of
Holden. But are bayonets proper adj
iuncts Of the ballot-boX, even in North
Carolina? Can President Grant have
properly studied the position in North
Carolina when he allowed Holden to
make United States soldiers the instru-
ments of a cruel tyranny?