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THE WILMINGTON JOURNAL. "WILMINGTON, N. C, THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 2, I860. The Governor .Message. "We publish to-day, in advance of the mails, the message of Governor Worth, sent in to the General Assembly on yester day. We hope its extreme length "will not prevent its careful reading, as the import ance of the matters touching our Federal relations and State interests demand the careful attention of every citizen. Our Relation to the Negro. The subject of labor is now engrossing the attention of every Southern man vrho thinks either of the present necessities of the country, or of its future development. Debarred any participation in the legisla tion of the General Government, and tram meled in the management of State politics, all turn to the study of their material prosperity. Before the war, agriculture was the 'great interest of the whole South, and it had been pushed to a high point of success when the revo lution began. Together with every other branch of industry, it has received a blow from the effects of which it must soon die, unless new lif 3 be infused into the el ements with which it was formerly prose cuted so vigorously. There is but one an svscr to the question, "What is the cause of the reduction of the prodacts of the South ?" and that is, want of labor. It is needless to inquire what; has produced this state of things. It is a fact, and to manage the subject in its rpresent condition, should be the object of those who live in the "Land we Love." To do this, we must first know what is the supply which can be brought to use; and secondly, how that may be most effectually applied. The thoughtful, can did man sees that there is no source but the m-gro that can yield a reliable and sufficient quantity of labor for the agricultural pro ducts of the South. To deny this, is to ig nore the experience of the past and the tests of the present. Perhaps a few words to impress this fact may not be out of place. The native white population, meagre at best, has been greatly reduced, and the large portion of those, left by our bloody struggle for liberty, are either unable or disqualified for the duties of field labor. We might as well apply the spirited race horse to the drudgery of the dray. Some attempts have been made to introduce white labor from abroad, or from the North, and invariably such efforts have failed to yield profitable results. There are sound reasons for this: first, the climate is such as to break down the white man with violent disease, which all experience upon first coming among us. Secondly, our method of culti vation, our habits, food, &c, are entirely dif ferent ; and lastly, the great West offers in ducements which, for the present, are bound to draw away the white settler, particularly as the stream of emigration has so long flowed in that direction that the current will not change until the channel has become chok ed by too great a supply. This will not happen within this or several coming gen erations. The tendency of the negro is to quit the natural field of labor and rush to the towns and cities, thus to become, in a majority of cases, the victim of his own ignorance, ac quired vice and disease. Our province should bo to take charge of the negro in all that pertains to his welfare ; for, by improving his condition mentally, morally, and physically, wo shall advance ourselves, benefit our present condition, and secure the prosperity of our children. And be fore going farther, let it be distinctly un derstood that we believe there is a barrier between the equality of the races which God has made, and that any attempt which man may make to remove or overcome it, must end in calamities which the violation of nations' laws will always entail. The first duty will be to direct the mor als; and how can this best be accomplished. In our judgment it must be effected by in fluencing their affections, securing their confidence, enlightening their conscience, and directing their intellect. The negro is now free, but because so, it does not follow that he is able to take care of himself. All of our preconceived notions; all our present convictions tell us that alone he is unable to walk in the paths of civilization, much less to reach the heights of moral excel lence. Humanity, religion, duty, interest demand, and order, that we assume at once the position of teacher to this race, so long a useful part of people. They were brought to us by the English and Yankees, the heathen savage ; as slaves we taught them to be useful christians. They are free by no working of theirs; shall they, by our blind ness or neglect, become again what they were ? We will refer to this subject again, and in detail. Wilmington ami Weldon Railroad. In order that the Stockholders of this Road might the more carefully examine , the Annual Reports of their officials, they were printed for distribution in advance of the general meeting, which assembles to day in this city. As those most interested have or will inform themselves (being in possession of the reports), we give only such a synopsis as will jrove interesting to the general reader. The reports show that the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad has suffered, like all similar corporations in the South, from a great depression and stringency in its finances, and a very heavy demand upon its funds for repairs and purchases of roll ing stock, made necessary by the exhaus tion of the war, and especially the great destruction of its property and track du ring the last months thereof. Still there is much cause of gratification and hope for the future welfare of the Road. Under all the untoward circumstances surrounding it, its prospects are very promising. The extensive repairs and improvements, begun during the last fiscal year, have been dili gently and zealously continued throughout the present, with such success as to restore the Road to a degree of efficiency unsur passed by any similar corporation in the country. From the Report of the Board of Direc tors we learn that the Hon. R. R. Bridgers, the President of the Company, is now absent in Europe, for the purpose, if practicable, of negotiating, on more favor able terms than could be secured in this country, such a loan as would enable the Company to meet the extraordinary de mands rendered necessary by the causes above referred to. Although the rate of interest in Europe is much lower tharit has been for some time past, unfortunately, there is so great timidity, or rather distrust, among foreign capitalists in regard to all American securities, arising almost entirely from the political condition of the United States, that for the present the negotiations of Mr. Bridgers have not been successful. Similar applications on the part of some of the most prominent Northern railway companies, have met the same fate. The connection of the Charlotte and Rutherford Road and the Manchester Road with the Road of this Company, by a con tinuous line of railway across the two branches of the Cape Fear river, and the action of the Board of Directors in this connection, is brought to the notice of the Stockholders in this Report. The discon tinuance of the present ferry-boat connec tion, and the completion of an actual con nection by rail, will be an event over which the traveling public will rejoice, and wo presume the Stockholders will cheerfully ratify and confirm all that has been done to secure an end so much to be desired by all, and which must largely increase the income of the Companies interested. THE SUPERINTENDENT'S ItEPOET commences by giving a detailed account of the earnings and expenses of the Road. The financial statement for the year is given as follows : Heceiiils and Expenditures. Tho gross receipts for the year were...011,5'J'J 17 Tlie expenditures lor tne same period were. 356,247 28 Excess of receipts over expenditurcs,$255,351 89 Of the above receipts about 100,000 were from the sale of old material, which makes the gross earnings of tho Road about 500,000. There has been a heavy outlay for rolling stock, rendered necessary by the wholesale destruction of engines and cars about the time of the surrender of tho Confederate forces in this State. The great want of the Road now is new iron and other improvements of the track, and to replace some of the temporary bridges chinery in both freight, with permanent ones. The ma department is well supplied, and engines and cars, passenger and the facilities of the Company are very efficient. In regard to local and through freights,- and the policy adopted by this Road, Col. Fremont submits the following sensible remarks, in speaking of their tariff of charges : " This arrangement embraced through rates from the Northern cities via. Portsmouth to this city, and other places along our line, and re opened an old route with increased facilities and brought us much freight. Soon, however, com plaints were made by our Wilmington merchants that by it injury was done the trade of this city, operating, as they said, to divert trade to the ports of Virginia. This effect had not been intended nor anticipated, and to remove any cause of com plaint on this subject the Board of Directors or dered the tarifi, then but just adopted, to be re voked, and new local rates substituted, which have, since the first of October, been the measure of our proportion of through rates from Northern cities to places on this road. " I do not think this change in the rates char ged has had the effect to change, materially, the direction of produce to market, though it has added to our receipts, while it has caused some complaint from the merchants of Petersburg and Norfolk and the people of our Northern couu ties. " These complaints are mainly due, I think, to the principle of discrimination in favor of the long distances a principle this Company has always considered important, if not indispensable. " To discriminate in making freight charges has been long and well established. No railway can be well and justly managed where that prin cple is not observed. " Suppose the horizontal system to be adopted, and all goods paid the same rates per ton per mile for long or short distances, the cost of hauling and handling being the same, and the rate Leing such, that short distances were simply remunerative, the charges for the longest distances would be excessive, amounting to a prohibition. Carry the principle out as we may, for one, two or three thousand miles, and we could not enjoy the products or manufactories of other countries. " It has been thought best, therefore, to equal ize the burdens of transportation, and of main taining our great Kailway lines by charging less and less as the distance traveled becomes greater and greater ; thus while the residents near the market towns pay more per mile than those residing at the greatest, distances yet the cost of transportation thus distributed is not op pressive upon either, and it enables the Railways to be maintained, as they are, for the mutual benefit of stockholders and people. "This is precisely the principle that regulates the local tariff of freight for this and most other Railways. "The distances charged for are the same, reckon ed either from Wilmington or Weldon, hence the citizens that receive goods and forward their produce at Halifax, Enfield, Cattleboro', Rocky Mount and Wilson, have no more cause of complaint than those who receive and deliver theirs at North East, Rocky Point, Burgaw, South Washington, Teachey's Magnolia and Warsaw. All are charged by the same table ot distances. 'If the complaint is made that the local rates are too high in one case, they are equally so in both. The real point of difficulty seems to be that Weldon is not the market town, but that it is sixty or eighty miles distant from that point, while Wilmington is at the Southern terminus of the road. 'As to high rales, all we can say is, they are not so high in proportion to the cost of opera ting, or the. value of properly transported, as they were in 1S61 nor do the receipts nett as much by a large per ccntage as they did then." Consolidation. Thn announcement in our columns ol a meeting of the Stockholders of the North Carolina Railroad, to be held in Raleigh on the 12th of December next, for tho purpose "of considering the By-Laws and regula tions proposed by the committee, and also such amendments to the charter as may be suggested," probably warrants us in sup posing that one of the important amend ments to the charter, which will be sugges ted, is the c msolidation of that road with the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad, running f -om Goldsboro' to Morehead City, and probably, also a consolidation with the Western North Carolina Road running from Salisbury west, already completed to Mor- ganton. While we will go as far as the farthest in urging upon the Legislature and the people to foster and aid the great lines of Railroad in operation, and those in course of construc tion in the State, we shall steadily and zealously oppose any scheme which forcet trade from its legitimate channels and com pels the farmers, miners, manufacturers or merchants to patronize particular toads or particular markets. Trade should be free to seek the most advantageous route and market, and wa desire to see our roads and seaports built up by jre?ettg equal or, superior advantages, and not by special legislation for the benefit of any particular one. We had hoped that with the failure on the part of the friends of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad, before the last Legislature, to secure the sanction of that body to the scheme of consolidation, it would be abandoned. Many of the friends, how ever, of that road seem determined to bring the matter again before the consideration of the ensuing Legislature, and, we sup pose, the Stockholders of the North Caro lina Railroad, in the December meeting, will have this matter under advisement. We hardly think that a majority of the in dividual Stockholders of that road can be induced to accept the proposition. Without discussing the very serious legal questions involved in this proposed con solidation, as to the right of such persons or corporations, holding a majority of the stock in those Companies, forcing those owning a minority of such stock into a cor poration totally different from the one to which they subscribed, or was contempla ted bv their charter an interference with tho Kacredness of contracts, our Courts would hardly sanction we will only view this question in a practical poiut of view, its utility, its advantages and its justice. In both of these roads, and in the West ern North Carolina, also, the Stato owns very large interests ; in fact, the prepon derating interest her subscription to the North Carolina Railroad being 3,000,000 ; in the Atlantic and North Carolina Rail road, 1,006,000; and in the Western North Carolina Railroad. 1.418,000. The stock in the Atlantic and North Carolina Rail road has never attained any considerable value, and has never paid a dividend. The Western North Carolina Railroad, being yet incomplete, is barely making a support, and without aid from the State, or being galvanized into life by a union with a live Company, must continue to languish. The North Carolina Railroad, on the other hand, has been very lucrative, and its stock, previous to the war, paid a handsome div idend, while the business was gradually in- creasinsr. We suppose there has been a renewal of its old business and the corpo ration has already experienced a renewal of life and hope; and unless the drain upon its travel and freight at Greensboro', by the opening of the Piedmont Road, is not too great, we should think that, under the in telligent and prudent management of its present officials, there is good prospect of a renewal of dividends at no distant day. The North Carolina Railroad is two hun dred and twenty-three miles long, and that portion of the road between Charlotte and Raleigh, one hundred and seventy-fire miles, had to sustain the entire Company, as the forty-eight miles between Raleigh and Goldsboro' never was profitable. By far the most profitable portion of the road now, is the ninety-three miles between Charlotte and Greensboro', and in order for the Com pany to recuperate, the business on this section of the road, increased by the "Dan ville Connection," must counterbalance the decreased receipts upon the remainder of the road, fifty-two miles to Raleigh. This may and probably will be done so long as the ports of Wilmington, Newbern, More head City and Norfolk are equally open to the commerce of Western North Carolina ; but any attempt to force to any particular one, may cause it to seek Richmond, as more available than the one thus singled out. But it is evident that the North Carolina Railroad has already enough of its line, now necessarily unprofitable, without adding one hundred and seventy-six miles, the combined lengths of the two roads propos ed to be consolidated with it, or even the ninety-five miles of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad. Such an additiou of unprofitable length would inevitably crush out every hope of the North Carolina Rail road becoming remunerative. The attempt, therefore, by consolidation to save the $2,- 484,000 the State owns in the other two roads, or the $1,066,000 she owns in the: Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad, the $3,000,000 of stock in the North Carolina Railroad must surely be involved in the common ruin. It is but poor economy of our remaining strength to link the desti nies of the largest and probably the strong est work in the State, with the doubtful fate of the weakest. The fact that a car, if the roads were un der one and the same management, could be loaded at Charlotte or Morganton and discharge its freight at the wharves in Morehead City, is a consideration of im portance, but one that does not boar upon the question, as the same stato of affairs can and ought to exist under the present sepa rate and distinct managements, as the con solidation qf trains accomplishes this, with the advantage also to the shipper of Wil mington and Norfolk, as well as Morehead City. There is nothing to be gained, and probably much to bo lost, in this respect by consolidation. A consolidation of trains is what is needed and desired, and, we trust, if this is not already done, it will be effected as a matter of mutual benefit to the railroads and to the public. Consolidation also woidd be converting the great purposes for which the North Carolina Railroad was constructed to build ing up Newbern and Morehead City. That road was finished before the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad ; and so cer tain were the citizens of Wilmington that it would not be used in antagonism to their interests, but that its impartial manage ment would not only prove a feeder to the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, but add to the business ol this city, that one-tenth of the entire individual subscriptions were made in Wilmington, and the Governor has very recently acknowledged the great interest we have in that corpoiation, by appointing cne of the State Directors from this place. To unite this corporation with a road leading to . a different port, which gave little or no aid in its construction, would be a violation of faith on the pvt of the State, with a community that has expended liberally of its means for works of internal improvement. What would be the political effect of a huge railroad corporation of four hundred miles, controlled by the State? What power would it give to the Governor ? How long before North Carolina would b5 governed by a railroad regency. as New York and New Jersey" are without even the benefit derived from the railroads in these States, in paying the expenses of the government to a great measure ? We hope never to see the day when the sovereignty of North Carolina will be sunk into a great railroad monopoly. North Carolina. Legislature It will be seen by Monday's proceedings of the North Carolina Legislature, to be found in another column, that the Editor of this paper has been elected Chief Clerk of the Senate. We deem it proper to state that during the Editor's temporary absence from his post, arrangements have been made for the Editorial department of the Journal, which we feel confident will prove satisfactory to the readers of the paper. By special reports and correspondence the patrons of the Journal will be kept advised of all matters of interest in Raleigh. Wilmington and Weldon Railroad. Tho 31st Annual Meeting of the Stockholders in the above road was held in this city, on the 21st inst. Pat rick Murphy, Esq., presided as Chairman, Messrs. J. W. Thompson and Jas. II. Whitakcr were ap pointed Secretaries. Tho crowded state of our columns compels us to omit the proceedings in this issure. Mr. Bridgers was re-elected President, almost unanimously, there being only 417 shares voted against him out of a vote ot 8,728. Tho old board of Directors were also re-elected. GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE. Si ATE OF NoIU'H CaKOIIXA, ) Executive Department, JUUei'jh, iV'oo. YJth, I860. ) To the Honorable the General Assembly of orth Carolina: Gentlemen: Tho attention of this whole nation is now specially directed to the anomalous condi tion of our national affairs. It seems lit, therefore, that our consideration should be primarily direc ted to the restoration of national order and har mony. Although we are now denied any legisla tive participation in the conduct of the Govern ment of the United States, we should not be list less as to passing events, nor unmindful of the benefits to be derived from an occasional review of the past. More than eighteen months ago a bloody .sectional war was closed by the total over throw of the weaker, by the stronger section. Its declared object, on the one side, was to break up the Union; on the other to preserve it. It ended as might have been expected. The commanders of the Southern armies, after the South was completely exhausted, as to everything which constitutes strength in war and after exhibitions of valor in the held, which astonished the world, surrendered on the stipu lation of impunity to the surrendering forces. Arms had established the supremacy of the Union. Not a guerilla party in the South remained under arms. The whole people ot the South, whether they had favored the inception of the war or sym pathized with iheir section after it began, or not, gave every evidence they could give of their sub mission to the result of the conflict, and their willingness to obey the Constitution and laws of the United States. What was then in the way of an immediate restoration of the Union ? The machinery of government, in the Southern States, was in the hands o:7 those who had given their adhesion to the rebellion. This was a state of things not contemplated by the Constitution of the United States. Precedent furnished no guid ance in altering the machinery of the rebellious State governments, so as to work in harmony with the National Government. The President, wlio owed his elevated position to his reputation for statesmanship, and the consistent devotion of his life to the preservation of the Union, held that he ought not to recognize the officers of the States who had given their adhesion to tho rebellion, even so far as to make them the instruments of reorganization ; that while the States existed, and the Union had been preserved, there were, in these States, no legislative, judicial or executive officers, lawfully constituted. To enable these States to reform their Constitutions, and the machinery of their governments, he granted amnesty to the people who had favored the rebellion, with certain exceptions, on the condition of their renewing al legiance to the United States, by taking an oath to support the Constitution, reserving the right to grant pardons upon special petitions, to such individuals of the excepted classes as he might deem deserving of them. He appointed Provisional Governors, under whose orders elections " ere held for delegates to State Conventions, those only being allowed to vote at such elections, to whom general or special pardons had been granted. Tho great body of the people complied with the conditions, and voted at such elections. When our Convention assembled, it was under stood that the President, and the people of the dominant States, expected of us three amendments of our Constitution, as essential to harmonious union, and permanent reconciliation ; to wit : the renunciation of the doctrine of Secession ; the abo lition of Slavery ; and the repudiation of the debt contracted in the prosecution of the rebellion ; and the ratification bv the Legislature, thereafter to assemble, of an amendment to the Constitution of the United Stales, proposed during the war, abol ishing slavery throughout the United States. From all we could learn from the press, the avowals of representative men of the North, and all the sources ot information, pve entertained no doubt that these views of the President were approved by the great body of those who elected him. Many of our peo ple deemed some ot these terms hard and injuri ous to the well-being of the State ; but regarding them as the conditions to restored amity, pre scribed by our conquerors, they were accepted with remarkable unanimity, and have since been ob served with strict fidelity. One of them reduced from affluence to poverty a large number of our people in no wise responsible tor this sectional war. We accepted them, because we thoutrht these terms were required bv the victors from the van quished, as all that was required of us as prelimi naries to the restoration of concord between the late belligerents. We elected Senators and Repre.- oeiiuinves iu ouugieas, mm an me quauncauons . 1 - . : T -11 Hi! prescribed in the Constitution. We were not lerno rant that Congress, during the war, had prescribed an oath of office, commonly known as the "test oath," which very few, if any, of our people who had remained citizens or the State, during the war, could conscientiously take. We regarded this act as unconstitutional. Article 6, Section 3, of the Constitution of the United States, pro vides that Senators and Representatives and other officer "shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States." If Congress have thn power to add to this oath such further oath as it may deem expedient, it is manifest that any jmrly, having temporary as cendancy in Congress, can prescribe an oath which will exclude from Congress all who do not agree in sentiment with the dominant party. This principle would destroy the very basis of "our national government. It was never intended that a party, having temporary ascendancy, should have authority to mke its ascendancy perpetual. Wo believed, from tho resolutions of Congress passed during the war, and tho manifest require ments of enlightened policy, that, the North was willing to restore friendly relations with the South, and nobody could expect any cordiality to be res tored while this statute was held to be inforce. We expected it to be repealed or to be declared unconstitutional and void by the Supreme Court of the United States, in which tribunal, fortunate ly for the cause of civil liberty, partisanship has as yet made but slight inroads. We believed that the constitutional guards, and the virtue and in telligence of the electors, were a sufficient pro tection against disloyal men finding their way in to the national councils ; or, if experience should indicate the necessity of others, they would be provided in amendments of the Constitution, and not in partizan legislation. In the matter of elect ing our Senators and Representatives to Congress, every citizen who had advocated the doctrine of secession before the war, or ti'ien conspicuous part in the military conflict, delicately forebore to ask for a seat in Congress. Although human expe rience has taught that those who (right or wrong) have exhibited manly courage in military conflict rarely disregard the terms of capitulation when conquered, in this State, no one who had favored the initiation of the war, or distinguished himself in the hold during its progress, asked to be made a member of Congress. Every Senator and Re presentative elected had always opposed secession until the United States could no longer protect his person or property. Up to this time, we thought the wise and magnanimous policy of the President was about to produce at an early day the benefi cent results he contemplated. A few days before the meeting of Congress, after we had complied with all these supposed preliminaries to national reconciliation, speeches of distinguished partisan leaders of the Congress, soon to assemble, gave us premonitions of the purposes of the dominant party. I need not rpmilid you of the chilling shock we received when the actipn of the dominant par ty in Congress announced that our members, irre spective of iheir qualifications, would not be re ceivedand that the Union, for the preservation of which bo many lives bad been lost, and so frightful national debt had been created, should be practically dissolved, until it should be the pleasure of the dominant party majority to restore it. Up to this time, this faction of the Congress contemplated by the Constitution of the United 8tates exercised the legislative power, without de claring when, if ever, or upon what conditions, the people of the other States they govern, shal! have representation, and the recent elections, in the dominant States sanction this action. It is pro per to refer to the actions of the people and the 1 authcmtW rilla party existed in tho late rebellious States.' In this State, not a single instance has occurred where a Sheriff has had occasion since the surrender, to require a posse or other aid to execute civil pro cess. Our bench of Judges have - executed their duties in a manner which would have given lustre to the Judiciary of any period in the history of the world. The steadiness with which our Judges have held the scales of justice has at la-it. prtfv ted iraise even from those who at first studied to malign them. A few of the agents of the Freedmen's Bureau, and, I grieve to say. a few of our own people who seek to propitiate the favor of our conquerors by furnishing aliment to their unjust prejudices, Lave sought to make the impression, at the North, that freedmen and Union men could not have justice at the hands of our Courts. To this end emissaries have been em ployed to traverse the country and record ex parte statements to cast odium on the administration of justice petitions have been covertly got up by some of our own citizens and sent to the President of the United States, charging disloyalty to our people and favoritism to our Courts, to embitter against us the virtuou.3 classes of the North. Amongst ns these machinations are well under stood. The virtuous and intelligent men of the North who have settled among us, and especially the soldiers who stood in front of the fight, on both sides, in the late conflict of arms, despise these slanders. Through the agency of whole-souled men public opinion, it is hoped, will soon reach a healthy stato. Our Judges, unmoved by these unworthy imputations, and unawed by intimations that they would be suspended from the exercise of their "functions if their adjudica tions did not accord with the dominant power, have silenced slander itself. No murmur is now heard against the fairness with which justice is adminis tered in our Courts. The fearful increase of crime, the natural sequent of a civil war iu which disrespect for the rights of non-combatants was authoritatively countenanced, if not encouraged, is being rapidly repressed, ai.d. reverence for jus tice is having its natural triumph. Our Legisla tive Department has been anxiously endeavoring to alter our Code to suit our novel situation, and to bring order out of the chaos produced by the late convulsion. This review f our national af fairs brings us to the present period. In June last I received from the Honorable William II. Seward, Secretary of Stato of the United States, a commu nication, herewith transmitted to you, covering an attested copy of a joint resolution of Congress, proposing a "fourteenth article as au amendment to tno Constitution of the United States. It pro poses : first, lhat "all prisons born or naturalized m the United States, ami subject to the jurisdiction theroof, are citizens of the United States and of the Staie wherein thev reside." Second. That "no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or im munities of citizens of the United States." Third. That "no State shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of its laws." l'ourth. J. hat "representatives shall ue ap portioned among the several States ac- ng to their respective numbers, count ing the whole number ot persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of elec tors for President and Vice President of the Uni ted States, Representatives in Congress, the ex ecutive and judicial officers of a State, or the j members ot the .Legislature thereof, is denied to anv of the male inhabitants of such btate, being twenty-ono years of age and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for partici pation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of rep resentation therein shall be reduced in the pro portion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twentv-one years of ago in such State." P'li'th. That " no person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of Presi dent and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the Uni ted States, or as a member of any State Legisla ture, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged m insurrection or re bellion against the same, or criven aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. Rut Concress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability." Sixth. That "validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned." Seventh. That " neither the united States nor any State, shall assume c- pay any debt or obli gation incurred in aid insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave ; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void." 8th. That " the Congress shall have power to enforce by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. The Constitution provides that " the House of Representatives shall be comoosed ot members, chosen every second year bv the people of the several States," and that " the Senate of the Uni ted States shall be composed of two Senators from each State." This proposition is not made to us by a Congress so composed ; this State, with eleven others, being denied representation in the body which proposed thus to amend the iunua mental law. It was the clear intention of the Con stitution that every State should have a right to representation in a Congress proposing alterations in the original articles ot compact : and, on this account alone, no State, pretending to have rights under the Constitution, can, with proper, scru pulousness or dignity, ratify an amendment thus proposed. It is remarkable that this proposed amendment contemplates, under one article, to change the Constitution in eight particulars, some of them altogether incongruous, to be ratified as a whole. We are not allowed to ratify such of them as we approve, and reject those we disap prove. This is the first attempt to introduce the vice of omnibus legislation into the grave matter of changing the fundamental law. In 1789, Con gress proposed to tho States, pursuant to the 5th article, of the original Constitution, twelve new articles, as amendments. Ten of these were rati fied by three-fourths of the States. The resolu tion, by which these articles were submitted to the States, authorizes tho State to ratify " all or any of them." Ten of them were ratified two were rejected. Each of the other three amendaiendments which have been adopted, to wit : tho Elecenth, recom mended in 175)4 the Twelfth in 1803 and the Thir teenth in 18G , was confined to one matter. To some of the provisions of this proposed Four teenth article, constitutionally, submitted to us, there would probably be no objection. To others or to the heterogeneous whole it is hoped the State will never give her assent. A commentary on all of the proposed amend ments would "make this document inordi nately long. A few remarks, on one or two of them, may notbe inappropriate. Under our laws, made in conformity to the Consti tution of the United States. cvey one of the fol lowing State officers, who entered on the discharge of his duties prior to the 20th day of May, ISiil, took the oath to support the Constitution of the United States ; viz : the Governor, Judges of the Supreme and Superior Courts, rublie Treasurer, Secretary of State, Comptroller, Justices of the reaoe, Sheriffs, Clerks of the County and Superior Courts. Clerks and Masters in Equity, Clerk of the Supreme Court, Constables, County Trustees, Cor oners, Registers, Entry-takers, Trocessioncrs, Rangers, Standard-keepers, Surveyors, every nfh- cer ot the Militia, Attorney General, btate and County Solicitors, every member of the General Assembly, and every other officer holding any of fice of trust or profit in this State. Every lawyer was likewise required to take it, though the right to practice law has not been held to be an office of trust or profit. The persons who had held these offices prior to tho war comprise a vast proportion of the population of the State. All Postmasters and others who had held office under the United States, had also taken this oath. These classes embraced the great body of the intelligence of the State. When war had been inaugurated when one section confronted tho other in military conflict when personal security compelled obedience to those in de facto authority, who of all these clas ses of officers, who remained m the Stato. did not join his own section in the fight or give " aid and comfort in the technical sense of this phrase, or in the sense which future interpretation may as sign to it, to those who did join in it? Scarcely a man remained among ns who can conscientiously say that he gave no "aid and comfort" to the Southern soldiers during that conflict. Rut strange to say, this amendment leaves eligible to office any one who went into a Convention and voted for tho ordinance of secession ; and any one who voluntarilv took up arms and fouirht on the side of the South to tlfc end of the war. or held a seat in the Confederate Congress, provided such person had neve taken an oath to support the Constitution of the United States. If it be held that a deeper shade of guilt attaches to those who had held office aMd taken this oath, than to others who owed like allegiance to the United States, is a lawyer who had taken that. oath and afterwards ioined in the rebellion, less guilty than a constable or a postmaster, or other inferior officer who had taken the oath and after wards give aid to the rebellion? If it be said that the dispensing power reserved to two-thirds of Congress may bp relied on to prevent any Bpecial hardship, it is inconceivable how bo lartre a bod v. charged with so many more important duties, could exercise this power"with justice or discre tion. If this amendment should be ratified, it is believed that not a single one could be found in me cate wno was oetore tne war, a uovernor a Judge of the Supreme or Knnerior Court, a mem ber of Congress, or. member of the General As sembly of this State, who would be eligible as a county register or villaee postmaster, without this dispensation of two-thirds of Congress. The ad vocates of this amendment urge that if we ratify it representation in Congress will be conceded to us ; and that if we reiect it. we must MnAnt fmm the dominant party in Congress, calamities still more dire than we have yet felt. There is no war rant for either assertion. It would have been as unbecomming in Congress to offer it to us under any such, promise or such threat as it would be degrading to us to ratify it under such circum stancesv It should be considered solelv in refer ence to its fitness to form a part of the fundamental law of a country claiming high position among en lightened and christian nations. The fifth section of this proposed article has the same import, and is intended to convey as much power, as if it were repeated at the end of each one of the four preceding sections. The original Constitution, in closing the catalogue of the powers of Congress, givesj the authority " to make all laws which shall be necessary and pro per for carrying into execution the foregoing pow ers, and all other powers vested by this Constitu tion in the Government of the United States, or any department or officer thereof." This author ity has always been understood to apply to power conferred on the Government of the United States by amendments subsequently made, landjhas re peatedly received the consideration of the judi ciary. If the design of this fifth section is simply to reaffirm the long established principle of power necessarily implied under the provision just re cited it is needless surplusage; Ibut if. as its special insertion indicates it is intended to amplify the various powers which would be reasonably im plied from the sections which precede it, and to give to Congress a peculiar authority over the subjects embraced in the proposbd fourteenth ar ticle, it is mischievous and dangerous. If there bo any feature in the American system of freedom which gives to it practical value, it is the fact that a municipal code is provided under the jurisdiction of each State, by which all contro versies as to life, liberty or propeity, except in the now limited field of Federal jurisdiction, are de termined by a jury of the county or neighbor hood where the parties reside and the contest ari ses; but, if Congress is hereafter to become tho protector of life, liberty and property in the States, and the truarantor of equal protection of tho laws; i and by appropriate legislation to declare a system of rights and remedies, which can be administer ed only in the Federal Courts, then the most com mon and familiar officers of justice must be trans ferred to the few in the Stato where these Courts arc held, and to judges and other officers, deriving and holding their commissions, not from the au thority and people of the State as heretofore, but from the President and Senate of the United States. The States, as by so much, aro to cease to be self-governing communities as heretofore, md trespasses against the person, assaults and batteries, false imprisonments apd ihclike, where only our own citizens are parties must be regula ted by the Congress of the nation and adjudged only in its Courts. I cannot believe that the de liberate judgment of tho people of any State or anv section will approve such an innovation, for although its annoyances may be ours to-day, they must expect them to bo theirs to-morrow. The people of this State, with a singular approach to unanimity, arc sincerely desirous of a restoration of their constitutional relations with the American Union. In the face of circumstances, rendering it nearly impossible, they havo paid its Government the taxes of former years, laid when another de facto Government, whose powers they could not have resisted if they would, was making levies iu money and k:nd almost greater than they could bear; they acquiesced in the extinction of slavery which annihilated more than half their wealth ; they have borne with patience the exclusion of their Senators and Representatives from the halls of Congress, where they havo had no one to con tradict or explain tho most exaggerated misrep resentations, or even to make known their griev ances. How long this unnatural condition of our rela tions is to continue, it seems, wo shall be allowed to have no share in determining. No time has been set, and no conditions proposed, on which it may be terminated. In the meantime, I trust, wo shall meet events as they arise with a reasoable and manly fortitude, ready at all times to fulfill our duties as patriotic citizens, but under no cir cumstances willing to sacrifice the honor and rights of the State, as a member of the Union, not in the sense of tho advocates of secession, but as taught by Iredell and Marshall, and Story and Rent and Webster, and in which moderate men everywhere, North and South, before the war, were supposed to concur. Anxious as I was to avert the late war, and have at all times been to compose our troubles on the basis of the Union as our fathers framed it, I can perceive in this pro posed amendment nothing calculated to perpetu ate the Union ; but its tendency seems to me bet ter suited to perpetuate sectional alienation and estrangement, and I have, therefore, no hesitation in recommending that it be not rahed. THE AFRICAN RACE. Most of the African race among us were lately slaves, their masters cared for their subsistence. Their habits illy fit them to provide for their in dispensable daily waats. Nothing can be more absurd than the supposition that the great body of them can now participate in governmental affairs with any discretion. A very few of them are dis creet and virtuous, aud have considerable intelli gence ; and when the State shall be left free to manage her internal affairs, without extraneous interference, I do not doubt that the qusstion as to what share ought to be granted them, in the elective franchise, will be candidly considered. To grant universal suffrage to them now is manifest ly absurd. What ought to be done in reference to this race, if its consideration cou'd be approached apart from passion and party politics, would embarrass the wisest statesman and philanthropist. Unhap pily, our present condition does not allow such calm consideration. At present it blends itself with our national affairs. From the earliest period of our history under the National Union, it has been tho cause, or the pretext, for sectional strife. Disunionists, North and South, have constantly used it to alienate one section of our. country from the other. When these strifes at list culminated in war, and slavery was sud denly abolished, and the South thereby grievous impoverished and constrained to accommodate it self to a violent change, more suddenly introduced than the teachings of experience would seem to warrant, all patriotic men looked for national re pose as a set-off. The one great theory of our Government, which was supposed to be settled, was that each State should manage its own inter nal affairs ; but so far from the abolition of slave ry having composed our sectional differences, it has only intensified them the negro being still the subject of strife. The North claimed that hu manity required its interposition to protect the recently emancipated slaves from aggression on the part of the white people of the South, and new and strange tribunals were instituted among us to manage this race, claiming and exercising, long after hostilities had ceased, exclusive jurisdiction, civil and criminal, over whites and blacks, as to all matters to which a freedman was a party, and resting their decisions and modes of proceeding on no known rules. It behooves every patriotic mind to solve the prootem, what is best to be done to avoid this sectional strife in relation to the ne Kro ? Is it possible, in entire consistency with the well-being of the African race, to avoid this ei.du. ring source of animosity between the sections ? It seems to me that the course to be pursued is obvious if the parties to the controversy sincerely desire reconciliation. The cause of the trouble is the unequal distribution of the race between the sections. The plain and practical remedy is their more equal diffusion. Existing circumstances in vite such diffusion, lhe people of the South (whether from prejudice or not is immaterial to me view I take) do not regard the netrro as their equal, lie is not allowed the right of suffrage. The North insists that this prejudice of the South does cruel wrong to the African. Among us they aro very poor, and few ol them have acquired local attachments by ownership of land. The results ot emancipation and war have made the whites poor also ; and ttic uncertain condition of our Fed eral relations prevents the influx of capital or pop uKtLion. x-uteijuiso is paraiyzed. f ew aro able to employ laborers and pay them liberally. On the other hand tho dominant States are rich. in all of them the wages of labor is much greater than we can pay. In many of them are public lands of great fertility which the laws give to the actual Pettier at a nominal price, in one of thete States a nor uonoi mo people has given a substantial earnest of tho principles they profess by electing two Africans as members of their State Legislature Everything seems to invite their emigration to the dominant .States ; but most of them are too poor to pay the expenses of moving. This difli- umijtiurt.v uc uveicomo oy inverting the annro- iiaiiuii mauu lu susiani me freedman Rureau to defraying the traveling expenses of those who may choose to move, allowing each one to choose the State or Territory to which he wmild go v nen inns leitiree and aided to go where they uoiy iiiiuh uieir condition win be bettered, no grounds will be left for further sectional strife as to their government. Who that would avoid tho rock on which our ship of Stato is threatened with wreck, will object to this scheme of reconcil iation? It is clear that the Northern States will not object to it. It will place the negroes, volun tarily emigrating to them, under their immediate guardianship, wnere they can look after their per sonal protection and mental and moral culture much more discreetly than they can by a Freed man's Bureau, or any other machinery while they remain here. I am sure North Carolina will not object to this scheme. If it be objected that the emigration would bo so universal, as to leave us, for a time, without a sufficiency of laborers, and it be conceded that this would "be the result, who would not prefer to perform servile labor until other labor could be procured, to the inquietude and humiliation to which we are now subjected? But, such would not bo the result. North Caro. hua means to treat her frcedmen with justice and humauity. Very many of them retain the feelings of kindness and confidenco which they formerly felt towards their late masters, and these recipro cate the feeling, and pay them fair wages, and giYO them every reasonable aid to better their con dition ; although wo may bo unable to perceive anything to encourage our efforts in the past his tory of the race. I respectfully recommend that you propose this plan of national reconcilia tion to the Congress of tho United States Whether the suggestion bo carried out or not, it behooves us to consider what the welfare of tho State requires us to do in special reference to the African race among us. The task which the sud den emancipation of so many slaves imposed, if we were allowed to undertake it without interfer ence, would be a most difficult one. We must face it, as it is ; and do tho best we can for tho com mon weal of the white and the black. The most prominent subjects demanding now legislation, is crime and pauperism. Our courts have been so occupied with the criminal side of the dockets that little attention could bo given to civil suits, and our jails are still crowded. Stealing, formerly regarded as tho meanest of crimes, and of infrequent occurrence in this State, from tho manner in which the late war was conducted, and other causes, has come to be regarded as a rather veneablo offence. The action of onr courts has done much to chock it. It is still frightfully com mon. . Negroes compose much the larger class of these offenders. Much the larger number of con victs, of all colors, are insolvents, and the expen ses of their prosecution and imprisonment swell largely the frightful burthen of taxation under which our impoverished people are laboring. This evil must bo remedied, if possible. Under our exisiting laws, recently enacted, pow er is conferred on the Justices of the Peace to erect work-houses for their respective counties, in which insolvent convicts should work out tho .fines imposed, ard the costs of prosecution. The erection of proper buildings will cost much. Coun ties cannot bear the expense of erecting around them sufficient walls to prevent the escape of prisoners. The salary of the superintends nt snd other employees must bo considerable. How can the convict be compelled to labor 1 What is he to work at? If a mechanic, is it contemplated to sup ply each county work-shop with the necessary tools and materials ? Is leather to be provided for tho shoemaker and saddler ; coal, anvil, hammer ami bellows for the blacksmith ; plank and planes for tho carpenter, &c ? If not, what is ho to work at? Or if he be not a mechanic, what is ho to work at ? Certainly not at fanning. This would require tho keeping of mulos or horses with uncertainty whether any. or how many convicts would be sent to the work-house. The Sii- pGrintendant could notpitch his crop in uncertainty whether lie would nave any hands or how many he would have, acd almost a certainty that when he put his convict in the field to work he would runaway. I submit whether it would not be better to keep up our highways by taxation, and to com- Sel insolent vagrants and others, convicted of mis emeanors to work with ball and chain on the high ways or other public works of the Counties, allow ing them, as provided in our County Workhouse Acts to raiso tho lino and costs by apprenticing themselves. PENITKNTIAUY. As to convicts for the higher grades f crime, I think a Penitentiary should be erected. This modo of punishment has been in long use in most of the States. It has never been discontinued, so far as I am informed, in any State which has adopted it, and I regard this experience as decisive in favor of tho plan. If this recommendation bo approved, I further recommend that provision be made for cm ploying convict labor, as far as practicable, in tho construction of the necessary buildings ; and that a proper commission be constituted to carry out the design in tho best manner. PAUPERISM. The number dependent for subsistence on pub lic charity is vastly greater than it ever was in any past period of our history. A benevolent feature of tho Freedman's Rureau was tho issuing of ra tions to indigent blacks. This, I understand, will be, or has been discontinued. Large numbers of them, too old or infirm to labor, and a still larger number of children, too young to labor, and with out parents, or with parents not providing for them, must be cared for. In addition to these is tho large number mado dependent by the loss or tho maiming of their parents in tho late war. As to the number of these, last I cannot furnish tho sta tistics, contemplated by tho resolution of the Gen eral Assembly of tho 10th of March last, tho Chair man of the County Courts of some three or four Counties only, having sent me any returns, and these do not profess to bo full and accurate. Tho pauper negroes, formerly supported by the master, must now go to the poor houses. I recommend a revision of the poor laws. I am not prepared to suKjjest any specific alterations of them, but hopo your wisdom may be able to devise some plan of lightning the heavy burthen which the proper caro of the poor must t-oon impose upon us. APPRENTICESHIP. I recommend a revision of our laws in relation to apprenticeship. The future well-being of the State depends much upon tho manner in which our chil dren and youth are brought up. Great numbers of the rising generation, white and black, aro growing up without proper training in the habits of steady industry essential to make them moral and useful citizens; some of them children having no father to guide them; many of them, (in the language of one of our statutes,) " where the pa rents with whom such children may live, do not habitually employ their time in somo honest, in dustrious occupation." Rut to attain the proper ends of apprenticeship, no pains should bo spared in selecting the masters to 'whom the tutilago of such children is committed. In this, I think the administration of our laws requires amendment. When a child is to be bound apprentice, I fear that our County Courts, to which this duty is confided, and which are expected to act in loco parentis, of ten neglect to look properly to the fitness of the master to bring up tho child. Now, when the wel fare of the State requires the exercise of this pow er much more extensively than formerly, it is well to inquiro whether something may notbe done for the better protection and rearing of this class. In practice, I fear, that the eminently wise and bene ficent provision of our Statute, Rev Code, Chan. 54, Sec. 18, has not been sufficiently observed. It requires the grand jury of every county, annually, at the Orphan's Churt, to present to the Court, in writing, the names of all orphan children within their county, " that have not guardians, if not bound out to some trade or employment; and also all abuses, mismanagement and neglect of such guardians as are appointed by tho court of their county." I recommend that the provisions of this section be enlarged so as to embrace all children wlv m you may declare fit subjects of apprentice ship, and that the jury report at every term of tho court, and that it bo made the duty of the county attorney, at each term to give the act iu charge to the grand jury. I suggest further, that it would tend much to the security and proper care of ap prentices, if it were made the special duty of the county solicitor to attend to the binding of each apprentice and attest the indentures, with power, in every case where he may deem it expedient, to carry the case by appeal to tho Superior Court, and that proper provision bo mado for his com pensation for this service. I have received from Thos. P. Devereux, an aged citizen, distinguished for his intelligence, aud long the owner and manager of a large number of slaves, a letter on this subject, presenting many views aud reflections, the result of his expedience. I transmit his letter, with this message, and com mend his suggestions to your consideration. It has been the policy of tho General Assembly, since the ordiuance of emancipation, to so reform our laws as to personal rights, that no distinction should exist to the prejudice of the blacks. 1 find some distinctions still exist as to apprenticeship, inadvertently overlooked, I presume. Our laws require the binding of white females to the age of eighteen years, and colored females to the age of twenty-one years, and power is conferred on tho court to bind 'as appren tice tho children of free negroes, when th parents with whom such children may live, do net habitu ally employ their time in some honest, industrious occupation. There is no provision for binding white children so neglected by their parents. 1 hope tho law will be so altered as to abolitih these discriminations, and all others, if any others be found to exist. An embarrassing difficulty as t the binding of negro children, has lately present ed itself. On being notified by a citizen, to whom negro childicn had been bound as apprentices by the County Co..rt, that lie had been notified by al officer of tho Freedman's Rureau, that such bind ing would not bo respected, and that ho was re quired to surrender such children, tho indentures having been declared null by authority of tho offi cers of the Rureau. I had had no previous notice that such interference was contemolated. In re ply to a letter of inqniry, which I thereupon ad dressed to Rrevct-Major General RobLison, the Assistant Commissioner of tho Freedman's Ru reau in this State, he sent me a copy of the order uudcr which his subordinated acted, in t lithe words" The Civil Courts will not be allowed to make any discrimination between whites and blacks, in the apprentising of children. No child whose parents are ablo and willing to support it, can be bound without the consent of the parent!, children over fourteen years of age will not I bound out as apprentices under anv Hrciinistanc : Col. Rutherford will see that tho above rules uro Mnctly carried out, and will at once cancel all in dentures not made in confnrmitv tlwitwith." Tlii order, if carried into effect, substantially annuls, as I conceive, tho powers of our Courts over miner children of color. Tho correspondence on tlie sub ject is not concluded. I bono tho nrdr will be re voked. As soon as a final decision shall be reach ed, I will communicate it to you. ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. Soon after the adjournment of our Convention, I addressed calling his attention to tho fact, that our laws had been so reformed, that no discrimination t xicted as to the administration of iuatioe. to the nrti'idii'e of free persons of color. Ho promptly issued an order, a copy of which accompanies this commu nication, datedlJulv the 13th, 18CG, restoring to our Courts, with ono exception, all cases to whit " freedmen are parties. This order relieved our people from one source of great annoyance. It ha been faithfully observed on the part of the bu reau, and the power so justly and wisely excreit ' by our Courts, that nobody now doubts that iu" change of jurisdiction was a proper one. Our anomalous condition, the boundaiits el jurisdiction between the military and civil author- i i.i i -nr- itiea wuig uij ucuucu, uo leu tu juuiu respondence between the executive aud mili tary commandants of the State. It is spread oui on my letter-books, subject to vour inspection. It shows, as I think, a disposition on both sides to avoid unneccessary conflict. For a tinia I was dis tressed by a portion of our people, who by peti tions, addressed to the President, and otherwise, charged upon our courts partiality and favoritism, to the prejudioo of the United States' soldiers and negroes ; and by reports tending to the same f nd. murlA in mo hv iha military commandant of the State, covering complaints made to him by certain of our citizen, wao represented tfcey could.
Wilmington Journal [1844-1895] (Wilmington, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Nov. 22, 1866, edition 1
2
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