Wilmington journal., 1875-08-27
OUGHT GOVERNGR EEOLDENS
DGSA TO BE REMOVED?

OSiGkhE GOV EhNSR kkOBsbIINS
DISABILITIES TO BE REMOVED?
There arc some things men cannot
forget and that as citizens they ought
not to forget.
Carolinians ought not to forget that
when Governor of the State, WILLIAM
W. HOLDEN overturned their Consttu-
tion, set at naught their laws, dcfed
their judges and openly ruled by the
strong arm of military power that
he enlisted organized and commission
ed standing army of brig"nds and
cut-throats under the command Of q
known murderer and assassin from an
other state that he created aud en-
powered Il military commission
to try and shoot his fellow cti-
zens already il filthy dungeons by his
command that he failed So to try
and then to shoot them only because
of the discharge of the prisoners upon
wrlts OF h0bc0s corpus before FEEDER
al Judge. These are deeds that citi-
zesl1 living under democratic form
uf government ought not to fo! g,t
when committed 10y their Chief Magls-
trate.
For these deeds WILLIAM w. HoL
DEN was tried, convicted and driven III
Disgrace froul the hIgh Office he het,i.
The trial was fair, aud the proof
was ,ull; the conviction whs true an!
the senteLc> Just. That was four yeas
ago. Then he was an unilouDted crimifl-
nj rightly and justly punished for th,.
highest official crimes known to ih,. ls,.t
of the laud. What is he now? l. he not
criminal still What has he don" si'.ce
then to purge himself OF his Sf.'n: quit.
to merit mercy or 10 WIN GOnlIdci:ce from
the people he 40 grossly outraged? iId~
he ever spoken one word OF sorrow. has
he ever uttered one word of repentance
for his crimes? Has he not indeed
openly sloriGd i'll his shame and de-
cared that he has nothing TO take
back or to disnvow And not only this
| but has he not permitted the party OF
which he was the head and to waich
| he still belongs, to endorse III the
most public and in the most era phltc
manner, not only himself a man but
the very crimes for which he was pun
! ished ? Will the Convention pardon a
man who thus htunts lis crimes rs
virtues in its very face? 70 remove
| Governor Holden's disabilities would
| be not TO pardon him for crime com
mitted and repeuted OF, but to reverse
and over rue the sentence of the High
Court of Imponchment, and say that
| tho criminal WAS right and the court
wrong.
Nor is their anything in the circum-
stances of the present day to mako
Caroinians look with ienient eye upon
tue official shortcomings of men in
exalted positions. The present Chief
Magistrate of the State hns lst pros
tituted his high Office TO such low par
| tizan purpose in the matter OF the Va
cancy in the Orange delegation that
there is little to incliue men to show
| mercy TO Governors who set part =
| above law.
Nor does the course Of the Supreme
Court during the last four years recon
Gle men to mercy. Richmond NJ.
Pearson, then and now, Chief justice
of the State, the Judge, who, with
scarce more than the feeblest word OF
feeble protest, permitted the ernline
to be trampled III the dust before his
very eyes. was permitted to go I'M
and since then that body has out
| Heroded Herod in lis usurpation OF
political power.
There is a manifest conspiracy on
foot at this very whiting to seize by
fraud if not by force, the control OF
| the Convention that is so soon to meet.
Brogden has already done what he
could to promote it. Settle Is asked
to do his part next week and now we art
! asked to pardon HOLDEN! And OF al
times in the world, will Caroiiuians
oSlCCt GLlS lJI CStub IliIlC III lAtSiA u
stultify themselves? Pardon one Rad
ical Governor when another Radical
Governor has just cheated them out OF
q member of a Convention upon which
hang all their hopes for the future
Pardon for Radical Governor when 6
Radical Judge is listening to prop
osition to cheat us out of two Other
members of that Convention We
rather think not.
Are the people of North Carolins
ready to say that the man who raised
an army and declaring martial Law
inaugurated civil war is an innocent
man? If not, it will he we'll for theil
A Delegates in Convention assembled, tc
v pause and consider before they remove
the disabilities of WILDIAM ". HOLDEN