Wilmington journal., 1875-02-19
STATE DE st.
u Ge O4G Uebs.
lCGkCITDED !


! Of twenty millions. What is our dnfy
! with regard TO that debt Ii the STATE,
! to-day were IL the situation that she
/ was at tho beginning of the year 1867.
! there would be no need to ask that
Question. But how great. how sad the
change since that rInI.! In that year
! the State was seized upon, thrown. AZ
! II were. INTO the political CrnciOle
: melted down and moulded anew. It
10 calamity, never to be suthcIentjy
regretted, that tine -rcUnatructIOu
measures were framed and pressed
through Congress at Il time when tL,.
passions eD2endered by the war were
raging with undated turY; nay. when
they were s5iil further Intensified by
ali almost desperate conflict between
the Executive aud Legislative branches
OF the government. OF cUnrse the
South Was bound 10 be the victim If
! those passions. Tue auimua Of the
! reconstruction measures cannot be
mistaken. The trst object was po-
! iltlcal: to call into existence a cOnSttl-
uency that would sustain the asc nd
hncy OF the purity then power. Hence
all those moral. social and Industrial
elements which should lave entered
INTO the problem, to make those.
measures nealtLiul or even aafe,-
Were entirely discarded. The 81 sc0rd
object was penal: that object WAS TO
cripple the power of the South and TO
prescribe all men holding a certain set
of opinions; to 9epress, and, if posi-
BILE, to fix upon them permanent
brand. 50 far as regarded the GRIP
ping Of the South, the success of tie
measures was 20 great as to satisfy
the most sangulne hopes of its advo-
Gates; SO lar as regarded the proscrIp
tive part, ITS success was obliged to be
ephemerai; baru upon talents and
virtue ls opposed to the first instincts
of Elman nature. This prescription
embraced dlhfraDchls, ment and dis
qualification for Office. Disfranc5ise-
mtnt was employed only as a means OF
initiating a constitution. disqualifica-
ton, AS II means of removing from the
political arena Il C ass of men, whose
opinions and influence it WAS believed
would be adverse to the reconstruction
measures. Both were intended to be
only temporary, only III their opera
tion-the former especially. But
the arbitrary conduct Of the
Commanding General, IN enforc-
ciug dis1ranchise ment after the Con
NtItltlOd cl'tGiI. All! dShl ~ ttlt
manifest purpose OF the Recoustruc-
tiou Acts, delivere the control of the
State for two years to a set of men as
base as they were lrreepOns BILE Mel
without shame men whose only in
stiuct was booty ; men deeply versed
in every guileful art, skilled in every
device Of fraud. and piuminR item
selves on their proficiency in such
a a. XEaa
sadder spectacle IN the history OF the
world than this noble old Common
wealth at that time-lylng PROSTATE
and bound by military power, while
these obscene harpg+s fettened on hcr
life blood History is full of acts Of
| military violence, but when before
! was the military arm of "a government
made to perform the vile Office Of
, binding down people, while The
/ worst of men rloted lu pinuder aud
/ outrage. 1t WAS reserved for ks.di-
! cal aduinistrafiOn in this great Re
! public to give the first example OF this
| crownlng lntamy Once rlgInat"d
| ti>"t alrn,,ietr-t tion hos i-.0,,nn earr.,..,
! ored of it's shame. The same apecta-
! ole has been oitentlmes exhibited
since, is exhibited to day in the State
| of Louisiana, i'll huger and more hid
e0us proportions, If possible. than 1t
was then in the State Of North Ceroh
ma Short time would the Radlcs'
government in4tallcd in '6S IL North
Carolina, have lasted, had it not been
for Federal hayonets- It would have
been speedily put down by a brave
and honest people. A mere organized
robbery-its downfall wluld have
been hailed with rejoicing everywhere
As it was. it las left traces of its cor
rupt sway, so broad and deep. thai
generations cannot etfHce them. II
has set back the agencies of civiliza
ton for a hundred years,
1t is the part of practical mon tc
look at things as they are. The ques
ton before US now is, not what we
would do, but what we can do. t.
| determine this question, it is neceasa
: rv to take IL hasty view of the resour.
ces of North Carolina before the var
and then to II axe an estimate Of the
resources of the State after the war
and after the scarce less disastrous re
suits of the Reconstruction Acts.
The wealth of North Carolina, eX
, c!usively, or alrnC st 30, an agricultn
al State, consisted III planta ions ant
farms, III her system OF labor, thel
slavery, in i've stocks of various
kinds, and other forms of persona
I | orertv OF manufacturing wealth
She had but little. Her mineral re
> eources were but beginning to attrac
attention. The savings offormer gen
+. erations were investt d in Banks, or i
: uotes Or bonds of pEvate individuals
+ OF all these, sc rec anything eXcrp
land escaped destruction, and OF land
much thwts at IL cultivation was redu
e crd to comparative exhaustion. Ou
Y banks We're total Y enguiphed; al
= of The money then at interest, probat
, lv not more than 10 per cent. va
IS realized after the war il any avaiieb
Y form. The live stock of the Stat
:. uad, for the most part, been used Il
aud consumed during The war. AbuS
70 all, our Que hundred N lions OF siuE
j" nrnrnrt9 vas corG Gated unsoint J.
. !. Is no figure of spec Gil 10 =. !, ~
, ,.fter the war North Carolina was
: Flln.
4 But despite these unparalleled losse
i the same spirit which had Sustain,
le our people during the war ,enab!ecrHe
to bear up still. By the saie of Il
remnants of produce which RENAME
e after the war. they procured means
equip, though poorly, their plantatlo
aud farms anew. The freedme
= who good Will the white race pc
s' se-sed With very rare exceptions, C
Ill operated witt them. The effects
ar their limited Iabors were speed
90 seen; the prospect was altogeth
- hopeful. llilage was txtend~d "v
he the greater part OF the land former
er in cultivation, and sa, gnlne men /
of gan to indulge the hope, that t
h. prosperity of the State might, at i
=, very distant day, reach It's form
a. standard.
ur 4 terrible blow was, however, il
ge pending, and fell with fatal resui
II upon the enactment OF the Recl
struction Act aud the Effects viii
do follow VT d upon them. Those Acts d.
re- troyed the harmony which had hitht
to existed between the two races, q