Newspapers / The Durham Recorder (Durham, … / Oct. 31, 1866, edition 1 / Page 1
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r if? 0 A A . A- VS. VS. V v A Xy,& UNION, THE CONSTITUTION AND TIIK L A WS-T H EaG U A RD I A N S OF OUR LIBERTIES. Vol. XLVI. HILLSBOROUGH, N. C, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 18GG. No. 2361. 2 THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL A MENDSIENT. LETTER FROM 00V. SHARKEY. , Wnhicgton, City Kjt . 17lb, 1868. Hit ExctUtnty B. C. itumphrtyt, Govtrnor of MitsUtipyi : Dear Sir : The public prints inform me that our Legislature is to be convened in eitra tension on.the 15th of October, .The proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States as a 14ih article, ma; possibly be submitted to the Legislature for its adoption or rejection, and as our State has had no opportunity of being heaid through her representatives on this inte resting subject, and as the people of the State have a right to know the opinion of their representatives on a question so vital ly important, I adopt this method, the only one lei', me, of giving very brief! the out line of the opinions which I entertsin in re gno to this proposed amendment. No doubt the good sense of the LegiaUture will guide that body to a correet conclusion, but the interest I feel for the welfare and the dignity of the State demand that I should not remain silent when both are so derpljr iavolved. In the first place, I do not believe th amendment wsi recommended by two-thirds of the Congress of the United States. The constitutional House of Representative consists of tnembris chosen bv the people of the seeral States," and the Senate con. siitof'two Senators from each State." It is very clear that a body not so compos, ed, or in other words, where a considera ble number of the Stales are excluded from representation in both branches, is not the Congress of the United States. As well might an bdy of usurpers assemble and claim to be the Congress of the United States. Each State hits a right to know that alt claiming to be members, possess the constitutional requisites. Mississippi d.es not and cannot know that the members who recommend this amendment were constitu tional members of Congress. Nearly one third of the States were excluded from rep resentation in both House by a majority of members who assumed to be the Con gress. If a majority may thus exclude Mates from representation, it is esy to per ceive that it may go on in the work of de tlanng States lisloval and in the exclusion of minorities, until Congress shall be made to consist only of members lrm a few of the larger Stile, with all others excluded. For instance, New York and Pennsylvania may so rnvnage is ti control a majority, ami begin by excluding first one small State and then another and so on, until all the legislative power of the nation is usurped and controlled by those two Sttes, and ultimately even by the hrgest of them. When the Southern Ststes adapted the amendment abolishinc slavery, the state of things was very different the had not elected or sent members to the Congress which recommended that amendment. Out when thi$ amrndinent was proposed, they had elected members who appeared at the proper time and demanded t- be admitted, (tut were rejected. We are not, therefore, to be told that we have rerognized this as a constitutional Congress. Hut agan i 'Hie President is a component part of the Legislative Utpartmciit.and the Constitution decUrrs that "Every order, resolution or vote to which the concurrence of the Senste and House of Representatives war be neceary, (except on a qoestion of adjournment,) shall be presented to the JVftiden!,' 4-c. .:. Nothing can take effect, or be complete until a-v prevented. And the rae is not altered because a two thirds te is required on amendments proposed ; iich resolution is not a complete legists, live act until so presented In no other wiv, except through the President, cm such resolution be communicated to the Mates. As the proposed amendment was tint submitted to the President, it dues Dot amount to a recommendation. It is a nut 111 T. 15 ut tct us look, for a momaftit, at the pro visions of the amendment. The first section declares that" AH per aons bun or naturalized in the Uwted fctates, and subjectto the Juriaditfioo there of, are citizens of the United State and of the State wherein they reside." It then proceeds to prohibit the States from making or enforcing any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens." It does not say what are privileges and im munities ; that is left for the next Congress to provide in virtue of the last section, which declares that " Congress shall hve power to enforce, by appropriate legisla tion, the provisions of the article." We may find Congress confering " privileges and immunities" on one class to the exclu sion of another class ; or we may find Con gress assuming absolute control overall the people of a State and their domestic con cerns, and this virtually abolishes the State. Perhaps any State that has so little self respect as to adopt the amendment, de serves no better fate, The second section, if rar construction of it be right, would probably exclude one State from Representation in Congress, as I suppose the number of male aegroesover twetity-or.e to nearly equal the number of i . . i t ft ... . wnite aiaies. in, ineremre, mcrccuuu to force negro suffrage upon us, whether we are willing or not. Either do this or you shall have no representation. It i presumed that our intelligent people would not hesitate long in making their choice. The miid section provides that no per son shall hold any office who may have heretofore taken an th to support the Constitution of the United States, and who afterwards engaged in the rebellion, or whu gave aid and coinfurt to those who did engage in it. This is a sweeping act of disfranchisement, which would embrace, perhaps a majority of our citizens; fur there are probably few who have not, in some way or other, taken an oath to support the Constitution. Even those who opposed secession, and engaged in the war only under compulsion would be emb'aced by this provision, as well as the mm h had given to a hun gry soldier a niesl victu.il or a piece of bread ; and also all those who, in charity, had given an article of clothing to a suffer ing friend or a reUtivc in the imy. Such a provision would be so contrary to the theory of our Government, and so oppres sive towards a very large class of :he popu lation of the Southern States, that it cannot be supposed tint those who proposed it could hae entertained a hope that it would be accepted. They ought to hwe known, too, that such a provision was calculated to endanger the-existence of the Govern ment, as revolutions may always be ex pected, sooner or hter, from acts which disfranchised the enfranchised cla. If the people cannot exclude unworthy or undeserving men from office by the instru mentality ol the ballot-box, then they are unfit fur self-government, and the sooner they abandon the experiment the better. 1 need say nothing of the fourth section, but the fifth isthe Trojan horse abounding in mi-chief. It pro idc that" Congress shall have power to eaforce, by appropriate leg islation, the provision of this article," which may be constiucd to authorize Con grrss to do whatever it may di-sire to do. Under this same protiion,attached to the emancipation' amendment, yon have Civil High's bill and the Fieedmeii Bureau bill. It was construed in the Senate, just. a' I ad'oonUhed many member of the Legis lature it would be, to authorize thce odious messuret. We should profit by the expe rience it has furnished u. I might have greatly extended my argu ment in support of the man? objections to this amendment, but have deemed it suffi cient very briefly to express my own opin ions, snd to leave the subject for the n flec tion of all who may feel an interest in it. I will only ad t, that should this amend ment become part of the Constitution, we shall have a very different Government from that which we inherited from our ances tors. Very repectfully, your obedient servant, W. L. SHARKEY. A shark, of the sain-eating kind, weigh ing 1,000 poinds, was canght io Boston harbor Monday. RALEIGH MANUFACTURING COM PANY. At the meeting of the stockholders of the Raleigh Manufacturing Company, held 'on Saturday evening, at the banking house of the Kaleigh national bank, Gen. D. M. Barringer was appointed chairman and Maj. W. B. Gulick secretary. The charter was presented for the consideration of the meeting and unanimously adopted, after a slight alteration in its phraseology. The stockholders then proceeded to or ganize under the charter. The following gentlemen were elected as directors, viz : VV. H. Willard, Gen. D. M. Barringer, Hon. Dan. G. Powle, Hon. Kemp. P. Bat tle, Geo. W. Mordecai, Esq., Gen. Robt. W.fc'avwood, Capt. W. E. Peirce,, Col. Gro, Little and R. W. Pulliam. Alter the election of the Board, W. H. Willard, Esq.. was elected president, and appointed to go at once to the north and purchase soch machinery as is required to put the establishment iate immediate ope ration. It was resulted to combine the office of superintendent, secretary and treasurer, and R. N.Taylor, Esq.. was ap pointed to this position. The property, 20 indes west of this city, known as the Orange factory, in Orange county, has be cime the property of this company, and that known as the Gorgas manufactory is selected for its operations in this city. There will be at Orange factory 2100 spindles, in perfect order, in motion by the first day of January, and, very soon there after, from 40 to CO looms will be put in operation in this city, to be added to as the company may be enabled to command the means. We predict in advance, that the gentle men who have led in this enterprise will never have occasion to lament their course. Timid men might hesitate, but wise ones know that even under present embarrass ments, judiciously maiugeJ manufactories will yield the best possible revenues. The future prosperity and greatness of North Carolina is as well assured as any event can be, and with even tolerable decent legislation for their encouragement, the lulls aud valleys of the state will soon bris tle wiili foundries, mills and factories. AW. l'rograt. THREE RULES FOR READEItd. In the Englishman's Magazine, the Dean of Ely lays down the three fallowing rules to those who would become proficients in reading t First finish each word. I use ih phrase io the sense of a watchmaker or jew eller. The difference between two arti cles, which at a little distance look much the same, all lies in the finish. Karh wheel in a watch must be thoroughly finished ; and so each word in the sentence muot be pronounced. This will make reading both pleasant and audible. Careful pronuncia tion is more important than none. Some time ago 1 heard a person make a speech in a large hull ; he spoke distinctly, and I heard every word ; unlortu lately he became warm in his sulject and spoke'loudly and energetically anil immediately his speech became an inarticulate tioie. Secondly 1). n.t drop the voice at the end of the sentence. Simple ns this rule may seem, it is one of the most necessary to enforce. If the whole of a sentence be audible except the conclusion, the passage read becomes discontinuous, a series of in telligibto portions inlerpeird with blanks. Confusion of necessity attaches to the whole. Thirdly Always read from a full chest. The reading voice should always be a com plete voce U petto f and the chest, which it truly the wind chest of the human or gan, should never be exhausted. This is as important for the speaker as for the hear ers, and for the hearers as for the speaker. The voice it delivered with ease, and be comes agreeable. Singers know well the importance, indeed the necessity, ol taking breath at proper places. The same thins I it important lor reading; io a Urge build ng, mention io mis raaiicr is muispcnsa-ble. Correspondence of the London Dally News. SCHAMYL. THE CIRCASSIAN CHIEF TAKES THE OITM OF At- LKOIANCE TO THE CZAR. 8t. Petereburg, September 21, 1866. ' Schamyl. the captive Circassian chief, tain, has taken the oath of allegiance to hie imperial majestv. The cirrnmarnnrp. un der which such a change was brought abour in ine naugnty prisoner are described as follows io the Russian Invalid Ii willh - - in wv remembered that alter fighting against the uussians lor xu years, ecnamyt was taken prisoner in 1859. at the canture of finnih . and sent thence, with his family and a few retainers, to reside at Kiauga, a town in. the central part of Russia. The consider. ation which was shown him from the first by his victors made a deep impression on me uncivilized mountaineer, who had ex pected nothing short of decapitation. Ilia reception by the inhabitants of the town to which he was banished still further sof tened his heart, and one by one his Asiatie semi-barbarous fears and prejudices were removed. At last even he was honorably received by the emperor at Chugnieff, at a cavalry revew. Struck with the mag nanimitv and condescension of the Cr.ar: so different in his bearing from Asiatic poieniaies, ocnamyi tnere and then con fessed that his heart was fairly won, and that he only waited an opportunity to give proof of his sincerity and gratitude. At last, only a month ago, a great sorrow came to disturb the serenity of his advanced yean his favorite daughter, Nafisato, died. The emperor having been informed of tha sad event by telegraph, at once dispatched an officer, who was charged with tha con veyance of the body of Nafisato to her native Caucasus. Thereupon Schamyl addressed the following autograph tetter in Arabic to the emperor: Thou, great sovereign, hast vanquished me and the people subject to me, by force of arms ; thou, great sovereign, hast spared my life ; thou, great sovereign, has subdued my heart bythy beneficence. It is my sacred duty, as a decrepit old man. loaded with thy favors and vanquished by thy mag nanimity, to instil into my children a sense of their obligations toward Russia and hi lawful rulers-. 1 have enjoined them to. cher'fh feeling of evorlasting gratitude to ward thee, O sovereign, for all the fivers which thou continually heapest noon me. I have enjoined them to be true subjects of the Czar of Russia, and useful servants of our new country. Render, O sovereign, my old age tranquil by ordering that I should take an oath of allegiance to thee, together with my children. 1 am ready to take that oath publicly. I call upon 'Al mighty God and his great prophet Mthnmet to witness my sincerity snd the purity of my thonghts, and I record my oath an. the most holy Koran, before the not long chilled body of my best loved daughter Kafistto. Vouchsafe, O sovereign, to grant this my most earnest prayer." The emperor had, of course, no objection to receive the Imaum's oath of allegiance, which must infallibly have an important effect on the Mussulman population of Cirossia. Accordingly, on the 6:h of August (rth of September) last, Schamyl and his sons, Kasi-Mahoma and Ma'umet Shfi, swore fealty to ths emperor and his successors in the great hall of the at mbly of nobles at Kaluga. Rock Island Manveacturimo CoMrtr' Charlotte, N. An enterprise .; out chant of this city, who desires to sec uth ern manufactures encouraged, Ins c '.led our attention to a notice in the Rae gV Sentinel of the woolen factoryjat Ch riit:e. N. C. saying that for years he has h united the goods turnedut by this factory, an J that they are the "most reliable, !uac5 goods" he ever saw or wore. Riehtnond PitpalcS. At Charleston, on Thursday, during 4 flag presentation toazouave volunteer corni paoy of negroes, General Scott arrested al who wore shoulder straps and side arms i J violation of the order of the depart het prohibiting military organizations of auy kind in South Carolina.
The Durham Recorder (Durham, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Oct. 31, 1866, edition 1
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