Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1876-05-12

OUGHT THE CANBK CO.'S ssh
TUITION TO BE CiiANGEH' CAN
THE PEOPLE BE TRGSrED'
WAR AGAINST OFFICE HOLD
Err
That the good of the people of North
Carolina requires changes to be made
in the constitution under which they
live, is no longer an open question. |
Nor is this any matter for surprise.
The convention of 1868 was composed
very largely of ignorant men, very
largely of corrupt meD, controlled by
strangers in our State and unknown 20 |
our people save as the representatives !
of their conquerors in long bloody
and disastrous war. It would indeed
have been we'll nigh miraculous had
the constitution it framed heen adap-
ted to the wants and condition of the
people of North Carolina for the simple
reason that the men who composed cit
neither knew nor cared what those
wants might be.
Nor was the mode in " ich the pre-
tended ratification of the constitution
was accomplished, calculated to sugar
coat the bitter pill. Change every
where and in everything was the order
of the day. Our entire system of
government was overthrown. Power
was taken from the many and given to
the few; was taken from the people
and given to the Office holders. The
PEOPLE were made subordinate and
their rulers were made supreme.
In all things the servant was put above
the master. The white race was
subjected to the rule OF the black race.
Thousands and thousands of our best
kept away from the polls while vast
hordes of ignorant excited negroes
were permitted to crowd to them,
breathing threats of vengeance against
their late owners. Watchful bayonets
and ready swords were every where
cleaning. Federal officers every where
stood ready to give the word to Fede-
raj soldiers to force with cannon and
with cavalry, with bullet and with
hayonet, upon dissrmed and subju-
gated peoples constitution ut once in
| famous in its origin and ruinous in it's
operation. What could people do
but submit who were free in neither
thought, speech nor action, and who
were utterly disarmed Candy,
General Edward Candy, then military
lord and master over our State, was a
General in the victorious Federal
army, the army that had pillaged and
plundered our people and laid waste
our country, had burned our cities,
had ravaged our women and murdered
our men. This man from his residence
in South Carolina gave orders for the
arrest and trial by military tribunal OF
citizens of North Carolina, appointed
and removed at will and merely by an
an ordinary telegram, even the very
highest officials of our State, our
very governors indeed; by military
order he held the civil officers of cities
and the peace officers of counties "re-
sponsible'' to himself for the discharge
of their duties; opened and closed at
will our citizens places of business
and permitted and forbade traffic at
will; at will he opened and closed the
ballotbox to our citizens; convened
| ~
seated members thereof; appropriated
, by military order the money of the
: people in their own State Treasury
and levied and collected taxes as tc
him might seem best. Such was the
man and such was the power, that
forced upon us the Infamous Constitu'
ton under which we live.
But the Candy Constitution, though
, thus begotten and born of outrage and
oppression, and though it must have
ever been q symbol of their subjuga
ton AMI humiliation, might have been
submitted to by the people of North
Carolin ;. had it not been in itself such
fruitful source of so many evils as &c
make it intolerable, as must ever be
the case when the office holders have
all the power ard the people have none
The evils growing out of it, however,
were so great and 30 many, from It's
very beginning, that the people
have increasingly clamored for their
removal. In 1873, and not until then
there was some relief had. But much
more was still needed, for the mach-n-
cry of our government was still com
plicated, still cumbersome and still
expensive, and its officers we're still
clothed with powers that were exces-
sive. exhorbitant, hurtful, oppressive
and corrapting. The executive and
judicial officers were still masters and
the people and their Legislature were
still servants and still helpless. Sal
aries and Offices were still multiplied
beyond all control to the gross OPP
preston of our people. To restore to
the people their rightful rule, to secure
an economical expenditure of their
hard-earned money, to strip the Office
holders of their oppressive power, fur.
Their changes had to be made in the
constitution.
To bring them about, a convention,
called in accordance with the constitu-
ton, assembled in Raleigh in 1875 and
proposed various amendments which,
if ratified, will make the people once
more masters and not servants in
North Carolina. All the changes, that
may be necessary, are now, by the pro-
posed amendments, Put within our
easy reach. They all seek to restore
power to the people, and to secure
careful, economical expenditure of
their money. The day that we have
looked for SO eagerly during all these
long, weary years of reconstruction is
at last nigh at hand. If the people