Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1872-08-23

being so very strong, no fair-minded Dem
Ocrat can doubt what he ought to do. let,
the reluctance which many of us feel to
vote for either ofthem Is hard to overcome.
l did, and do, most heal thy zsympathiZe
with that class which received Mr.. Greeley's
nomination in smuclIl sorrow. am sure
this feeling proceeded from no unworthy
passion or prejudice, but was the natural
result of sober thought OH the condition of
the country and the fitness of things per-
tanning thereto. -4
In our view the controversy between the
parties was not all about men, and not
wholly on questions OF mere administra-
ton. The Liberal Republicans and some
Democrats think that we owe all our suf-
ferings to the corruption or incapacity of
General Grant and the rings that surround
him. But the prime cause lies further
back and deeper down in wrongs for
which tie triumph of Mr.. Greeley with all
his retOrIns offers no immediate atone
nent, and only partial remedy.
In England, after every civil commOtiOn,
the victorious party vented it's rage and
gratified It's rapacity by passing bills of
atCainder and bills of pains and penalties
against their fallen and helpless opponents.
The best and greatest men Oftheir respect
i've ages were the victims Of these legisla-
tive DEGREES. In all the most notable cases
subsC quent Parliaments acknowledged the
wrong, reversed the attainders, and made
what reparation they could. Our fathers
determined that no such thing should ever
be done here, and so they put their solemn
interdict into plain words, and made it a
part of the fundamental law that neither
Congress nor any State Legislature should
ever pass bill of attainder.
The reconstruction act of 1867 was bin
of attainder more deliberately cruel, and
lXKyifl nd oil
ously unjust than any British bill that ever
was passed. But its authors were con-
sciOus that it could not stand, and they
| must replace it with something else, for
| sooner or later the courts would be sure to
! pronounce it void. Besides, the object be-
| ing to put the Southern people under the
| domination of greedy Adventures from the
| North with Unlimited license to Cypress
and plumber them, the officers of the army
were not very good agents in such nefa-
| riOus business. The negroes would be i'll
, struments of tyranny much more easily
managed. But an act Of Congress dis
| franchising the white people for offences
| real or imputed, and han ling over their
| State Governments to negroes to be run by
| them i'll the interests of carpet-baggers,
would be merely another bill of attainder,
or rather modification Of the first one,
making it much worse, but equally within
the reach of judicial correction. In this
| strait they reSOrted to the eXpedient of con-
verting the Constitution itself into BuL
| Of Attainder.
The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amend
ments were frauds upon the spirit and let
| ter of the instrument, inasInuch as they
| elected the worst outrage which it W as
! made to prevent. They We're carried
against the known will of nearly every
State in the Union by shameless deception
IN the North, and by brutal violence in tie
| South MAY this be washed in Lethe
and forSotten?" Certainly not, as long as
any portion of our people are compelled to
bear the intOlerable burden of the yoke
| thus fastened upon them. | need not say
how much they have suffered already, nor
| try ia conjecture how much they will be
called To endure hereafter; but it is certain
| that any ordinary dcSpntiSm would have
| been visitation of mercy i'll comparison
| When We reflect upon the number and
| rapacity Of the thieves that have been up
| held i'll their pillagc by EIcans of the negro
| governments, We calmot help but regret
| The nOn-adOrtiOn of Mr.. Stevens PROPOSE
ton, ltrucioIis us it was, for universal con-
! liScltiOn. Ghe pernicinus consequences o.
this rule are felt in the general AS well Us
| the local governments. The legislation OF
| Congress j. largely controlled by lit repre-
| SeuLatIVrS Ot the cdrpet-bag Interest, and
| the worst acts of the Executive admins
tratiun are done to please the power which
| COrrUL$ the negroes at the meeting places
of the leagues, and drives them thence 20
| the polls.
Mr.. Greeley's election W i'll not do all that
We could wish IT, &" us from these evils :;
it will not even he :: popul II condemnation
of the base mcd;:s by which they were i'll
tIicted upon us; but il will be5iu the pro
cess of their gradual extinction. 1t will
give the White people a reasonable hope
that the heritablc qualities of their father s
blood may some day lie restored. In the
meantime, if it does moi reverse the attain
der, it " i'll at least il Sure a InercifuIeXecu
| ton of it, Democrats who disliked Mr.
Greeley nomination have reflected well,
and think will support him with almost
perfect unanimity. The thought that a
victory will not give us everything al once
may diminish in some degree " the zap
ture of the strft,' but it will not impair
the efficiency Of their support, for they are
impcllcd to their utmost CXcrtiOns by a
profound conviction that nothing but his
| election will save the country from long
period Of misg"vernment and perhaps the,
total destruction Of our free institutions.
l am with great respect, yours, &c,
| J. S. BLACK.
York, Pa, August 8, 1872.