Wilmington journal., 1876-08-04

BE GOFERNOR OF NORTH CAR
OLINA.
What North Carolina needs and
what she nnst have If she ould regain
her. former prosperity is q good and
stable government controlled by GER
tain known and fixed laws. The citizen
must have rights. These rights must
be known and 80 must also be known
the remedy for their violation. Arbi>
trary government, personal goveln
ment, despotic government, the One~
man government of uncertain, un-
known, powers must cease or our State
will continue in its downward course.
This being 50 it becomes all impor-
tant to know if either of the candi
dates, now seeking the suffrages of the
people, regard the government OF
North Carolina Al personal arbitrary
government to be administered by him.
if elected, according to his own des
potic villa will SO absolute and So
far reaching. that no power in the
State may gainsay it. Fortunately,
we do not have to go far or AN answer
to this question. nor does that answer
rest upon questionable authority, nor
is it clothed in doubtful Or ambigu-
ous language.
Judge Settle has not chosen to leave
the people of North Carolina in any
doubt as to his opinions on this all i'm
portant question. He has taken the
most public occasion to give expression
to them. He did so in the face of the
greatest excitement and indignation.
aroused solely because of the fact that
the then Governor of North Caro-
lima was illustrating those opinions in
the administration of the government;
and again in the following year he took
occasion to express them and most
solemnly to enter. them of record In
the highest judicial tribunal of the
State!
What then are the powers that
Judge Settle has declared, he will carry
with him to the Governors Office, if he
is elected /? That is the question and
this is the answer. He has declared
that if he shall become Governor of
North Carolina he will be practically
possessed of absolute and unoontrOl>
liable power; that he will be supreme
master in North Carolina with none to
hinder or control him! This is the
power that Judge Settle claims is con-
ferred upon every man who becomes
Governor of the State.
The language we use is broad and
comprehensive and it is made SO de-
signedly. There is practically no limit
to the power claimed by Judge Settle
to belong to the Governor of North
Carolina under the Constitution of
North Carolina.
Does any one doubt this; if 80, let
him turn to pages S11 ct seq.
volume Ga, North Carolina Reports
and he will there find it laid down by
Judge Settle and the other Judges of
the Supreme Court that under the
Constitution the Courts could not in
terfere with Governor Holden
although he had gone so far
as TO raise an army, although he had
suspended civil law and although he
had organized a drum head court
martial to try and shoot like dogs some
of the best citizens in North Carolina.
This was in 1870. Six months later
he took occasion to express his opinion
more elaborately and with still greater
deliberation. On page $50, ct seq. vol. .65,
N. O. Reports, it is solemnly entered
of record in the Supreme Court of the
State that in the opinion of Judge
Settle
"AH of the physical 2)oaOer of the
State Is Vested IN the executive and
the judiciary has not the 20OaUer to call
| st93O1l the posse cO211itGtus' or to 'ac-
cept VOlatnteers' to come into cOltis-
sion aDith q military poaUeg' called
into active service by the executive. "
So says the Supreme Court record,
as every nan may read for himself.
Let us see how this doctrine will
work out in practice. If Settle be
right, all that Governor Brogden has to
do to-day, to make himself absolute
monarch in North Carolina, is to call
into active service a military power
no matter how small and there is no
remedy or redress for any outrage he
may commit 80 long as he keeps that
military force in the field and no matter
how wrongfully it is kept there. He
may at his convenience organize a
drum-head court martial aad go to
work shooting ali obnoxious pers ons
and there is no remedy. The courts
according to Judge Settle, under the
constitution, have no power to come
in collision with any military force, no
matter how small Or how illegal it may
be, that the Governor may call into
active service. He may prevent
the assembling of the Legislature
He may forbid the meetings of the
courts. In q word under the Consti-
tuition, if Judge Settle be right, Gov
ernor Brogden can make himself per-
petual and absolute monarch simply
by bringing handful of negro soldiers
in the field. Nor would it be an ex-
pensiye operation, for single squad
of single company of Mabson's COL
ored Brogden Guards would be sufi-
cient to overturn every vestige of
peoples government in the State. if
Judge Settle be right.
Is this the sort of government the
people of North Carolina want ? If
not, they must be careful not to vote
foe e., E,a lnr Il