Year: 1867

puD!lcan liberty.


But, however great the turpitude of inau-
gurating the late rebellion, without wrongs
to be complained of or any resort to the
illustrious founders of the ifepublic-and
however shocking to the moi.,l sense Of man.
kind the inhuman and barba 'ous manner IN
which it was conducted-the crowning
guilt of its instigators and leaders was in
continuing it, with increased horrors, after
all hope of success was plainly at an end
1t is charity to attribute their conduct to
ovcrbearing pride and reckless disregard
for the lives of their dcludcd and conscrip-
ted followers, and not to the bascr feeling
of delight in blood. or the desire to render
their work of ruin mere terrible and COM
plete.


We all rccollect the peace movements in
North Carolina in 1864, by primary meet
ings in the several countless which were sup
pressed by the authorities, and by the cruel
persecution of the participators. In the
elections Of that year, notwithstanding
threats and violence, and armed soldiers at
the ballot-boxes, to deter the people from re-
turning ptace candidates to the Legislature


nearly Il majority OF such were returned in
each branch. During its session in the lat
ter part of 1864, and the beginning of 1865,
bold and earnest efforts were made to effect
a termination of the war, and to treat for


peace, on the best attainable terms, through


the agency of the individual States. The
cause of tie Coniederacy WAS then clearly
desperate, and the further cffusion Of blood
useless and wicked But the leaders of the
rebellion, with their supporters and sympa-
thiscrs. pronounced the movement treason
It's advocates were pronounced traitors, and
loaded with every opprobious epithet calcu-
lated to degrade and destroy the reputation
of men. The movement fa;led-the war
ragged with increased fury for q few terrible
months, and peace came by snbiugation.-
But in those few months how much of desc
lation and woe fell to our lot! How. many
hearts were made desoate-how many
households robbed of their only light =


Upon whose hands is the blood of husbands,
fathers and SONS thus uselcssly she'd in the
mere wantonncss of pride and obstinacy, or
from the viler motive Of desperate revenge?


Bat it is more TO our purpose to consider
the obstinate persistence Of these men in its
bearing npon the present. Had the peace
movements of 1S64-'5 been allowed, we
could then have easily stipulated for an i'm
mediate return to the Union, the restoration
of political rights and representation in Con
grcss. Such terms, and perhaps better. were
Offered ut the Fortress Monroe conference,
as late as February, 1865. Those who re-
fused to stop the war upon any terms, based
on the restoration of the Union, and persis-
ted in the bloody contest to the point of alb
solute Suhiugation, are responsible for our
present unfortunate relations with the FeCc-
raj government.


1t is necessary to a correct understanding
Of subsequent events to inquire into the ac-
tual political condition of North Carolina,
at the termination of the war, and to eXam-
inc the policy pursued by the government,
and the reasons upon which it was based.


Secession was treason. When the war be-
gan, it was rebellion. When it was contin-
ued. from ohstinacy or revenge. beyond all
reasonable hope of success, it become whole
sale murder. Thus will posterity character
iZc the guilt of those who inauguratcd it, and
persisted until dsarmetl and subiugatcd hy
actual force from legitimate authority. When
that occurred, the personal position of the
voluntary participators was that of culprits,
whose only screen from just and lawful pun
ishment was the mercy Of the conqueror.
But the position of the State was anomalous.
The anomaly grew out Of our peculiar form
OF government If secession was void, how
could a State he considered out Of the Union
If in the Union still. how could it he denied
tHH llGllt 10 plittc Ill power, again, Tue most
guilty and rehcllious of its citizens If this
were permitted, could the nation escape the
present dangers and if so, could it long sur
vive the precedent of having those fresh and
unrepentant from the bloody fields of trea-
son and rebellion, Immediately re-instated,
as matter of constitutional right, into the
high positions of trust and power, which
they had recently so crlminally abused =
They might take advantage of such restitu-
ton of power to repeat their former, I'M
punished treason. and renew their efforts
against the nations life. They were toonum-
crous for the remedy which the eyecutioncr
might justly afford, and such resort
forbidden by the spirit of the age and by the
dictates of Christian mercy. The only other
remedy was disfranchisement, either partial
and temporary, or complete. These difficult
tics had to be met, and it was desirable that
it should be done upon established princi-
pies.


However much disputed before, the result
of the war decided that a State in the Union
could not, by any act, legally Withdraw its
territory or its people from the authority of
the Federal Government. In this sense
State could not 90 out of the Union. But a
State is an organized political community.
Without an organized government, it lacks
the essential quality requisite to consti
tute State. Although the citizens residing
within certain established boundaries may
still retain the political right to have such
an organization set up, still, until this is
done, the corporate rights appertaining to a
State us such, are necessarily in abeyance.-
The insurgent States, by rebellion and vio-
lence, destroyed their organized governments,
and while they were not able to Withdraw
their territory or their people from the right
tul authority of the general government, they
did succeed in upsetting their constitutional
organizations, and thus put in abeyance every
political right of their citizens, save one
And that was the right secured in the Con-
stitution OF the United States, by the clause
guaranteeing " to every State in the Union
a republican form of government" This
right subsisted even during the war, and is
as indestructible as the constitution itself
But until its practical application is secured |
by the necessary action on the part of the
government, every other political right must |
remain in abeyance. AS soon as the constitu-
tional State governments were destroyed by |
violence, 1t became the duty of the United
States to remove the disturbing force by the |
military power of the nation, so as to enable |
the civil authority to discharge its constitu-
tional duty to the States, by re-establishing