Wilmington journal., 1875-07-23
WHICH FaRTA Will THE PEO.
PIE TRUST


in accordance with Article XIII, of
the Constitution, has by two thirds
! vote of the members of each House
called Convention. That Convention
will meet in Raleigh on the first Mon
day in September next. for the pur-
pose of making the Constitution con-
form to the wants of our people, and
the two parties are before the people
asking for it's control. One is the
white mans party, composed OF about
one hundred thousand white men, and
the other is the negro party, compos-
ed of seventy-fve thous and negroes,
and some fifteen or twenty thousand
sacllawags and carpet -baggers. Which
party shall be entrusted with the i'm
portant and difficult work of adopting
the Constitution to the wants and wish
es of the people?
In the first place, does the Cousti-
tuition need changing, or is it already
as good as we wish Can we say as
did the stout old English Ba-
rons said at Runneymede, ''we
are unwillingt to change our laws" The
white mans party says now as it has
always said that the Constitution I'M
poses many grievous burdens upon the
people, so that it needs to be changed
in many and material respects. The
negro party says the Constitution is
not burden but blessing, and shall
remain unchanged if the people shall
give it control of the Convention. 1t,
therefore, the people do not like the
Candy Constitution, they must send
the candidates of the white mans par
ty to the Convention, and not the can
didates of the negro party.
Nor is this the only reason why tue
negro party ought not to be trusted.
Indeed, even if it were unequlvocally
in favor of amending the. Constitution,
the people ought not to trust them
Why? First, because the negro party
has already been tried and proved
wanting. It was the negro party tha0
imposed upon us the present Const1u-
| ton with all its expensive machinery,
it's numberless officers and its compll-
| Gated systems of Governmental OF
which havebeeu fairly tried and found
utterly unfit to meet the wants OF the
| Thepeople. party that made the Can
by Constitution must indeed be
brazen in its impudence, II 1t can ask
to be again trusted with the work
| of Constitution making. On the other
| hand the white mans party fought to
| the death against the ratification OF
| the Constitution, and failing IN that,
have been unceasing IN Its efforts TO
amend and alter it. 1t has sought to
to do this both by Convention and by
LIE gislative amendment, and the peo-
pie knowing this fact at the last cleo
ton, chose from that party two thirds
of the members of each House OF the
General Assembly. The Convention
was therefore called, and the question
again recurs which party shall control
the Convention, the negro party or
the white mans party. The negro
party is the party of ignorance, cor
ruption and extravaganza. The white
mans party is the party OF honesty.
intelligence, and econeny. In two
years the negro party spent 1891, 1885,
80, under the pretence of carrying OF
the Government. In four years in
which the security of the citizen has
been vastly better guarded the white
mans party spent only $945, 81 ,99.
Nor was the wasteful extravaganza
in the expenditure of their money the
only evil that befell the people under
the rule of the negro party. Then
was there danger to person as well as to
property. It was the negro party that
with Holden as Governor, and Kirk as
Commander, made open war upon the
people, overrunning the land with
spies, and cut-throats and assassins
that threw into crowded prisons, in the
hottest days of summer, without any
warrant of law whatsoever, the purest
and best men in the State that hung
innocent men by the neck until life
seemed extinct, without other warrant
of law than the order of Kinks brutal
cut-throats; that awedinto coward and
traitorous submission the highest ju-
dicial officers in the State that or
ganized military tribunals to try and
shoot innocent men by drum-head
court-martial like dogs. It was the
negro party that, by its Infamous and
internal prosecutions in the Federal
Courts, spread grief and Anguish, sor-
row and distress, throughout lage por-
tions o. ,e State, driving hundreds
and hui eds of good citizens into ex-
lie, whine their unprotected families
remained at home in utter, absolute
poverty. Who has forgotten the other
to fly, were dragged to Raleigh, hun
dreds of miles from their homes.
charged with violations of the whisky
or of the tabacco laws !?
what white man or what white woman
in all the land has either forgotten or
| forgiven these Infamous, these infer
nal outrages.
White men of North Carolina, do
you realize that the party that infiic-
ted all this danger upon you, is the
| party that is now asking you to give
it control of the Convention. Re
member, fellow white man, that the
negro party imposed the Infamous Con-
st1tutlon upon you. Remember that
administer it. Remember that in de-
fance of all law and of all liberty,
they defied the great writ of habeas cor
pus. Remember that but their defeat
at the hands of our indignant people,
they stood ready in 1870 to shoot your
| best and purest citizens like dogs.
AS it was in the past, so will it be in
the future, if the negro party shall
come into power. Bestir yourselves,
then, white men of North Carolina.
No matter whether you think of your
| lives, your liberties or your homesteads
no matter whether you think of your
wives, your mothers, your sisters, or
your daughters, or whether coward
like you think only of your ownselves
can you doubt for moment, whether
to choose the white mans part or the
negro party, the white mans rule or
the negro rnle
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