Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1872-04-19

purer, more honest and hospitable people |
than that State was. Containing no great |
cities and few railroads, her citizens were |
plain, unpretendiDg agriculturists. 1t was |
on her soil that the first Declaration of In |
dependence was made, on the goth of May, |
17T5, more than a year before Jefferson |
penned, in almost the same language, his |
Immortal paper. Her people, while de-
voted to the Union, loved her more for
she was their mother before the Union had
any existence. Rejoicing in peace, they
always responded promptly to the call of
their country in every war in which 1t was
engaged, and when our late unhappy revo
luton was inaugurated, though they enter
ed it sorrowfuly, they fought through it
splendidly; and to-day, beneath the mel
ancholy mounds with which that Southern
land is bilowed, there are more North Car
olinians sleeping, in proportion to the pop
ulation Of the State, than there are soldiers
from any otherState on either side. They
had simple, economical government, and
a very learned and spotless Judiciary,
against whom no suspicion was ever
bre&tEed. And J. will add, for the benefit
of the gentleman who so elabOt ately tabU-
lated their illteTacy, that before the war
they had, besides their colleges, academies
| and high schools, thirty-fve hundred COM
mon schools, attended by one hundred and
fifty thousand children, or tWO-thirds Of all
in the State, between five and tWenty-one
years Of age, and owned school fund
larger by 100000 than the State of Mas
/ sachusetts had. The State debt was COM
! paratively small, taxes were light, the adj
ministration Of justice cheap, and official
! corruption unknown.
Such was their happy condition twelve
! years ago. What is it now? Let the fig
tlres furnished by former State treasurer,
! published in the minority report of this
/ committee, on page 3IS, tell, so far as the
| financial situation is concerned. They are
/ summed up as follows:
+ Taxable property in the State of
North Carolina in 1860. .S292, 297 1902
Taxable property OF North Carolina
! Taxation for State PURPOSES in 1850 543 643
! Taxation for State purposes i'll 1870. 1,l60,413
, Taxation for county purposes in 1860 255. III
Taxation for county purposes in 1870 923,62i
/ Average cost of conducting the State
government for three years, (1S5S,
| 1879 and 1860 .................... 49,, 977
1868 and 1870. 57673S
I Public debt OF North Carolina in 1861 9,6995U0
Public debt of North Carolina i'll 1871 81, 8S7 ,465
From these figures it appears that the
! State debt has been increased nearly four
fold since the war, (f0r the war debt is eX
cluded,) as also have been the yearly eX-
| penses Of the State and the county taxes
each; while, although the taxable property
/ has decreased Onc-half, the taxation for
State purposes has doubled. These figures
are more eloquent than any speech can be,
and contain an epitOme of the history of
, Radical reconstruction. In them can be
! found, too, one Of the causes of Ku-KluX-
| ism, but by no means the only one.
L shall now proceed to discuss in gene
raj way some Of the other features of our
situation.
And first, ! wish to say that the effort
which has been made to identify the
Democratic or Conservative party of my
State with the ku-kluX, and to make the
terms convertible, is grossly unjust, and
most discreditable to those making the
charge. do not know Of a single public
man of that party who has not publicly de-
nounced Eu-kluXism as not only criminal
per Sc, but when committed by Democrats,
as disastrous in party point of view. And
still the allegation is persistcntly made that
they are responsible for all these onenses,
and the partisan press still continues to de
nOunce every man opposed to the Radical
infamies which have disgraced the State as
one Of the "'ku-kluX Democracy
A year ago, when, after defeating
tive Radical who commenced the canvass
with about two thousand majority, | al
piled for admission to my seat. a petition,
purporting to be signed by fifteen hundred
| DANES, was presented III the Senate pro-
/ testing against the admission Of Governor
Vance and myself upon the ground that
we - were elected by systematic violence
and blOOdshed, for which we were indivi-
dually responsihle,' when the facts, so far
as | was concerned, were that during
heated canvass of twelve counties, includ-
ing the day Of election, there was not
Throughout the entire district q single
/ breach of the peace, nor any complaint that
a single human being had been inter1ercd
with III the slightest degree in the exercise
Of his right of suttrage. The great mass of
the ostensible signers OF the petition were
colOred men who could not write, and
| some of them came to me and told me they
never authorized the use of their names,
while others said they had been deceived
as TO the character Ofthe petition. When
| the matter was exposed in the Senate. the
base libelers who had prepared the petition
added the crime OF perjury to the previous
one OF forgery by swearing that they had
signed the names by authority and under
circumstances involving physical impOS-
sibility. This, however, is but a weak il
lustratiOn Of the uniform rascality which
has characterized the career Of the Repub-
lican party of that State.
Take one of the latest specimens, which
is furnished by the case Of my colleague,
[ Mr.. Leach According to the atlidavits
Of respectable men of both political parties,
it is as clear case Of malicious prosecution
and persecution for political reasons as ever
diSgraced the judicial annals of any State.
He is one Of those true SONS Of the soil
whose services i'll exposing and denouncing
the crimes Of that party and in defeating
one OF its best candidates in q large RepuO-
licah district, have made him an object Of
terror to its aspiring statesmen. it was
necessary to get him Out of the way, and it
was thought best to charge him with being
a kU-ktuE. The attempt was made by one
Of the leading Republicans OF that part
Of the State, Il Federal Ofcchodcr, and the
result was that the witness introduced 20
establish the charge confessed on cross
examination, that he was instigated by that
officer under u promise that he would he
discharged from a prosecution for violating
the revenue laws, and was told by him that
Leach must be got rid of and bis popularity
broken down, for the government officer
wanted his (Leach's) place in Congress. 1t
was further proved by Democrats and Re
publicans alike that my colleague had, when
invited, refused to Join a secret political
society, had warned his tellOw-citizens
against it, had denounced it as illegal, and
had actually broken it up.
And yet so great is their fear Of his pop
ularity, and SO determined arc they to hunt
him down, that they have got up a new in
dictmept against him in the United States
court for ''intimidating VOTERS and part
OF the programme is to have his case taken
up during the next summer term, 50 as to
keep him out of the coming canvass as
much as possible. They are certainly
welcome to all the votes they make by that
proceeding. L have cited these two in
stances to show how the politicians ofthat
party illustrate its F'great moral ideas"
VIII now give you specimen OF two Ofthe