The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-05-21
No Obligation Legal OF
Moral.
Continued from Page one.)

Continued from Page One.)
of the celebrate "carpet-ba bag Legisla-
ture of 1S68-'69-'70. And let us not
forget that colored troops were sta
toned at all important voting places
to intimidate self-respecting white
men. Thus, it is seen, this Legislature
did not owe it's existence to any provi-
sion i'm the Candy Constitution, but
solely to the will of the representa-
tives of the Republican party in Con-
gress. That Constitution after it had
gone through the forms of adoption
contained this provision:
Section /. Every male person born
in the United States, and every male
person who has been naturalized, be-
ing twenty-one years old or upward,
who shall have resided i'm this State
twelve months next preceding the
election and thirty days in the county
in which he offers to vote, shall be
deemed an electOr
No one can rightfully claim, there
fore, that this Legislature could ex
ercise any power conferred on a Leg
islature of the State by the Candy
Constitution; for, under that instru-
ment it was not a Legislature Of the
State.
This Legislature was called togeth-
er July /, 1868, by wv. w. Holden,
GOYernor-e elect while Jonathan
Worth was the legal Governor. The
summons was isgued on the 18th of
June, and in it he reminded the mem
bers that they had been chosen under
and by authority of the law of the
United States of March 2. 1867"
Such a Legislature, representing
the minority who were permitted to
vote, assembling and passing laws af-
ter the adoption of the Candy Consti-
tuition, was sufficiently criticised and
denounced by the press of the State
to warn sensible people everywhere
i'm the United States that its acts could
never impose any recognized moral
obligation on the Taxpayers of the
state. Josiah Turner, Joseph A.
Engelhard, William l.. Saunders and
some other indignant patriots let no
opportunity escape; they warned Gen.
Candy, and they warned the Republi-
can leaders in Congress. For ex-
ample, the Wilmington Daily Journal
of August q, after the schemes of
the carpet-baggers became known,
said:
Does an one suppose the people
of North Carolina will be taxed to
pay the eXtraVagances and corruptions
of the mendicant strangers who are
voting away her substance and bur-
dening her people beyond reasonable
endurance? 20
This was the body which issued the
vast number of special tax" bonds
and piled up that debt which the
people of the State repudiated as
soon as the carpet Dagger" discov-
cred by the election of 1874, whereby
the Democrats gained majority i'm
the House of Representatives, that
his occupation down South had lost
its supports
OF their right to repudiate such a
debt it is inconceiVable that any per-
son animated by a spark of justice
can suggest doubt; but it is worth
while to repeat the view of Prcsi-
dent Johnson contained in a message
to Congress nineteen days after this
body assembled:
1T follows that all The State Cow
ernments organized lnder the acts 81
Congress for that purpose and mill
taTy control are illegitimate and of no
validity whatever
So then, even if the purchasers had
paid into the treasury the face value
of the bonds, and the money had been
honestly disbursed for public improve
ments, there could be no legal obliga-
ton to discharge the apparent debt
but when evidence is lacking that
even the few cents on the dollar re-
ceiVed went anywhere else han into
the pockets of the "mendicants," the
moral obligation is as weak as the
legal.
In further Illustration of the pub
Lefty given to the declared purpose
of the people to repudiate these bonds,
and of the Indignation with which
they submitted to the usurpations of
the Republican Congress, here is
What Governor Worth said when he
was Ousted from the Governors office
fifteen days after wv. w. Holden,
Governor ELECT" had issued his call
for the assembling of the so-called
Legislature:
I do not recognize the validity
of the late election under which you
tHoldenl and those cooperating With
ycu (the Legislature claim to be in
vested with the civil government of
the State
II regard all of you as, in effect.
appointees Of the military power of
the United States and not as deriving
your powers from the consent of
those you claim to govern"
The situation summed up, then, is
as follows:
/. The bonds issued ~ the convcn-
ton were not even authorized by the
usurrers who called that convention
into existence;
3. The "carpet-bag" Legislature
was not chosen by popular vote as
was required by even the Candy Con-
stitution, and hence it's sittings were.
without any authority except the bay
onet government at Char lesion:
). The Special Tax Bonds issued
by this Legislature were no more a
valid debt of North Carolina than if
they had been issued by the Leg:sla-
ture of Maine or ca iifnrTf1.
4. The criticisms ana indignant de-
nunciations of this Legislature. as
Well as of the convention. gave am
pie notice that the victims Of this
tyranny would never admit that they