The laws must be maintained. These laws are

over all. Every citizen, of whatever party or color, must be absolutely free to express his political opinions, and must be safe in his own house. These outrages and these violations of law must and shall cease. Criminals must and shall be brought to justice. The whole power of both governments, State and Federal, is pledged to this, and this power will be exerted. Criminals who may escape to counties adjoining Alamance will be pursued, and, if not delivered up by the civil authorities of said counties, or if sheltered or protected in said counties with the knowledge of the civil authorities, the said counties will also be declared to be in a state of insurrection. I earnestly appeal to all good citizens to aid the civil authorities in maintaining peace and good order, and to support me in my purpose to protect life and property without regard to party or color. Done at the city of Raleigh, this 7th day of March, 1870, and in the ninety-fourth year of our Indepen

dence.

W. W. HOLDEN, Governor.

On the 6th of June another proclamation was issued by the Governor, relating no less than seven murders in five different counties, most of which had been committed in the month of May, with other deeds of violence, all of which were alleged to have been perpetrated by the "Ku-klux." Among these was the murder of John W. Stephenson, a Republican Senator from Caswell County, in the daytime in the court-house at Yanceyville, where a large number of the citizens of the county were assembled, at a meeting of the Democratic party. The body was subsequently found with a cord around the neck, but no clew to the perpetrators of the crime was discovered. In this proclamation large rewards were offered for the arrest of the murderers, and all officers, civil and military, were urged to aid in bringing these and all other offenders to justice; and especially to discountenance, discourage, and repress, all organizations of men who ride or walk at night in disguise, with arms in their hands.

By a proclamation, dated July 8th, the Governor declared Caswell County in a state of insurrection, and subsequently, for the purpose of maintaining peace, a portion of the militia was organized under command of Colonel Kirk, and sent into the disturbed counties. This power was exercised by virtue of an act of the General Assembly, passed at the session of 1869-'70, which provides that the "Governor is hereby authorized and empowered, whenever in his judgment the civil authorities in any county are unable to protect its citizens in the enjoyment of life and property, to declare such county to be in a state of insurrection, and to call into active service the militia of the State to such an extent as may become necessary to suppress such insurrection; and in such case the Governor is further authorized to call upon the President for such assist

ance, if any, as in his judgment may be necessary to enforce the law."

A large number of persons suspected of being implicated, directly or indirectly, in the commission of deeds of violence, were arrested by Colonel Kirk, and held subject to military authority. This action on the part of the State officers produced an excitement among the people. The Democrats and Conservatives denounced Governor Holden with much bitterness, asserting that the accounts of disorders were greatly exaggerated, that the civil authorities were fully competent to preserve order, and that the stringent measures adopted were unconstitutional and unjustifiable. As early as the latter part of March, the ConserVatives issued an address to the people of the State, in which they said: "There is and has been no armed resistance-no uprising of the people-no outbreaks to disturb or hinder the full administration of the civil law. We assert that there is not a county in the State in which any sheriff or other peace-officer may not go unattended, and with perfect safety, and execute any process upon any citizen of the State. It is true that murders and other outrages have been committed, but they have not been confined to any particular locality or any political party; and, when Governor Holden represented to the President and to Congress that these acts are evidences of disloyalty, he is guilty of a wilful libel upon a people whose rights he has sworn to protect."

And, in another address to the people in July by the same party, it was asserted that "it is very generally believed, and there is much ground for such belief, as we have reason to know, that this armed movement has been set on foot by preconcert and arrangement just before an important general election in the State, for the purpose of controlling it by intimidation, or defeating it entirely, by provoking the people to a violent conflict with the armed men referred to, and then proclaiming the whole State in insurrection."

On the 16th of July, immediately after the arrests, which caused so much excitement, had been made, writs of habeas corpus were obtained from Chief-Justice Pearson of the Supreme Court and served upon Colonel Kirk, commanding him to produce four of the arrested parties in court. This writ Kirk refused to obey, on the ground that he was acting under orders from the Governor not to deliver up the prisoners to the civil authorities. Upon this refusal of Colonel Kirk to make return to the writ, Chief-Justice Pearson communicated with Governor Holden to ascertain whether the course of Colonel Kirk was in accordance with his orders, and received the following reply:

EXECUTIVE OFFICE, RALEIGH, July 19, 1870. To the HON. RICHMOND M. PEARSON, Chief Justice of North Carolina.

SIR: Your communication of yesterday concerning the arrests made by Colonel Geo. W. Kirk, together with the enclosed, is received.

prisoners to the civil authorities. In regard to the second branch of the question, that the power of the county be called out if necessary to aid the sheriff in taking the petitioners by force out of the hands of Kirk, the Court was of opinion that "the power of the county, or posse comitatus, means the men of the county in which the writ is to be executed; in this instance, Caswell and that county are declared to be in a state of insurrection. Shall insurgents be called out by the person who is to execute the writ, to join in conflict with the military forces of the State?" The Chief Justice, asserting that the whole physical power of the State was by the constitution under the control of the Governor, that the judiciary had "only a moral power," and that "by the theory of the constitution there can be no conflict between these two branches of the government," concluded by saying: "The writ will be directed to the marshal of the Supreme Court, with instructions to exhibit it and a copy of this opinion to his Excellency the Governor. If he orders the petitioner to be delivered to the marshal, well; if not, following the example of Chief-Justice Taney, in Merriman's case (see ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA for the year 1861, page 354), I have discharged my duty; the power of the judiciary is exhausted, and the responsibility must rest on the Executive."

Upon the presentation of this writ by the marshal to the Governor, the latter refused to allow the surrender of the prisoners, saying:

"I do not see how I can restore the civil authority until I suppress the insurrection, which your Honor declares I have the power to do; and I do not see how I can surrender the

insurgents to the civil authority until that authority is restored. It would be mockery in me to declare that the civil authority was unable to protect the citizens against the insurgents, and then turn the insurgents over to the civil authority."

As the State courts now seemed to be powerless in the matter, the friends of the petitioners sought relief in the United States Court, and obtained from Judge Brooks of the District Court a writ of habeas corpus commanding Kirk to produce before him the bodies of the prisoners. To avoid any conflict between the State and Federal authorities, Governor Holden telegraphed to President Grant as follows, for instructions:

STATE OF N. CAROLINA, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, RALEIGH, August 7, 1870.

To the President of the United States.

SIR: The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of this State, sustained by his Associate Justices, has decided that I have a right to declare counties in a state of insurrection and to arrest and hold all suspected persons in such counties. This I have done.

But the District Judge, Brooks, relying on the fourteenth amendment and the act of Congress of 1867, page 385, chapter 28, has issued a writ of habeas corpus, commanding the officer, Kirk, to produce before him the bodies of certain prisoners detained by my order.

I deny his right thus to interfere with the local laws in murder cases. I hold these persons under Court Judges who have jurisdiction of the whole our State laws and under the decision of our Supreme matter, and it is not known to Judge Brooks in what manner or by what tribunal the prisoners will be examined and tried.

he holds the prisoners under my order and that he The officer will be directed to reply to the writ that refuses to obey the writ. If the marshal shall then call on the posse comitatus there may be a conflict; but if he should call first on the Federal troops it will be for you to say whether the troops shall be used to take the prisoners out of my hands.

Army of the United States, under your orders, shall It is my purpose to detain the prisoners unless the demand them.

An early answer is respectfully requested.

W. W. HOLDEN, Governor.

In reply to these inquiries, Attorney-General Ackerman, to whom the question was submitted by the President, held that the United States District Judge could not "refuse to issue the writ, if the petition makes out a case for it under the habeas corpus act of 1867, 14 Statutes, 385," and advised that the "State authorities yield to the United States Judiciary," adding, that "if the return be uncontroverted, or the facts appearing on proof to the judge, after a denial by the petitioner, show the arrests to have been made under lawful State authority, he will remand the prisoners."

In accordance with this opinion, Governor Holden ordered Colonel Kirk to obey the writs issued by Chief-Justice Pearson, in order that the cases might be tried in the State Court. The proceedings in the United States Court were therefore discontinued. Subsequently, on the 19th of August, the prisoners appeared before Chief-Justice Pearson, and, on probable cause being shown of their complicity in certain outrages charged against them, were recognized to appear at the Superior Court of their respective counties.

The disorders and excitement that had been

prevalent for so many months now began to subside, and comparative tranquillity was restored among the people. Hence early in November the Governor issued the following proclamation:

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, RALEIGH, Nov. 10, 1870. Be it known, that the proclamation issued from this department, dated March 7, 1870, declaring the county of Alamance in a state of insurrection, and the proclamation issued from this department, dated July 8, 1870, declaring the county of Caswell in a state of insurrection, are hereby revoked, and it is hereby declared that said proclamations shall not have further force or effect.

I take this occasion, as Chief Magistrate of North Carolina, to express my gratification at the peace and good order now prevailing in the counties of Alamance and Caswell, and generally throughout the State. I trust that peace and good order may continue; that partisan rancor and bitterness may abate; that our people of all classes and conditions may cultivate harmony and good-will among themselves; and that the whole people of the State, without respect to party, may unite fraternally and cordially to build up North Carolina, and to elevate her to the proud eminence which she once occupied as a member of the American Union.

Done at our city of Raleigh, this 10th day of November, one thousand eight hundred and seventy, and in the year of the Independence of the United

States the ninety-fifth.

[L. S.]

W. W. HOLDEN, Governor.

On the 4th of August an election for members of Congress, Attorney-General, and members of the Legislature, was held, and resulted in the success of the Democratic party. Five Democratic and two Republican members of Congress were chosen. Wm. M. Ship, the Democratic candidate for Attorney-General, was elected by a majority of 4,088, in a total vote of 170,616. The classification of the Legislature elected is as follows: Democrats, 32; House, 75; Republicans, 18; House, 45.

This body assembled at Raleigh on the 21st of November, and was in session at the close of the year. One of the first measures was to elect a United States Senator for the full term, when Zebulon B. Vance, a Democrat, and Governor during the war, whose political disabilities had not been removed, was chosen. Early in the session the fierce opposition that had been arrayed against Governor Holden during the year appeared in the form of a movement to depose him from office, and articles of impeachment were preferred by the House to the Senate. These articles, which were adopted on the 14th of December by a vote of 60 to 43, were eight in number, and had reference to his official acts in the suppression of disorders during the year. Article first charges that William W. Holden did, on the 7th day of March, 1870, "proclaim, and declare that the county of Alamance, in said State, was in insurrection; and did, after the days and times last aforesaid, send bodies of armed, desperate, and lawless men, organized and set on foot without authority of law, into said county, and occupy the same by military force and suspend civil authority, and the constitution and laws of the State; and did, after the days and times last aforesaid, and before the time of impeachment in this behalf, through and by means of such armed, desperate, and lawless men, arrest many peaceable and law-abiding citizens of said county of Alamance, then and there about their lawful business; and did detain, hold, imprison, hang, beat, and otherwise maltreat and injure many of them, when he well knew that such and said proclamation was utterly groundless and false, and that there was no insurrection in said county, and that all civil authorities, both State and county, in said county, were peacefully and regularly in the full, free, and unrestrained exercise, in all respects, of the functions of their offices, and the courts were all open, and the due administration of the law was unimpeded by any resistance whatsoever."

The remaining articles contain charges for having declared Caswell County in a state of insurrection, and making numerous other arrests; for having prevented the "delivery of such arrested persons to the civil authorities in

obedience to writs of habeas corpus, issued from the Supreme Court;" for having "unlawfully recruited, armed, and equipped as soldiers, a large number of men, to wit, five hundred men and more, and organized them as an army," and for having caused to be expended, for the support of said militia, about $80,000 from the State Treasury. More than one hundred names of persons who had been arrested by order of the Governor were set forth in the articles of impeachment. Upon these charges the trial was begun before the Senate, organized as a court of impeachment, Chief-Justice Pearson presiding, and was pending at the close of the year.

The views of the colored members of the Legislature on the subject of impeachment were published in an address "to the colored people throughout the State," denouncing, in strong terms, the proceedings against the Executive. "The only offence of Governor Holden," says the address, "and that which has brought down the wrath of the dominant party upon him, is that he thwarted the designs of a band of assassins, who had prepared to saturate this State in the blood of the poor people on the night before the last election, on account of their political sentiments, and to prevent them from voting. Because he dispersed this murderous host, organized by the so-called Conservative party, they propose to destroy him. First, they propose to suspend him, then to go through with a mock trial before the Senate, as they have already done before the House, where a true bill has been found without taking testimony."

The Legislature which was in session at the beginning of 1870 continued until the 28th of March. Very little business of general interest was transacted at this session. The question of calling a Constitutional Convention was much discussed, and reported on favorably, but no final action was taken thereon.

The bonded debt of the State is about $30,000,000, classified as follows: Old, or ante-war bonds.

....

$8,378.200

Renewed bonds, issued during the war.. 1,128,000
Special tax bonds, issued since the war.
Bonds issued since the war, not special tax...

Total........

..... 11,407,000 8,986,845 $29,900,015

The railroad bonds issued during the war are not marketable; but it is contended that they were not issued in aid of the war, and ought to be recognized. To pay the interest (6 per cent.) on the above debt, and to meet the necessary expenses of the State government, will require an annual tax of $2,500,000.

The revenue from all sources for the support of public schools, for the year ended September 30, 1870, was $152,281.82. The amount paid during the same period for teachers' wages was $42,862.40. There have been schools during the past year in 74 of the 90 counties. There are about 800 townships in the State, and schools have been kept in 315 of these, making about 1,250 schools, which are

attended by about 45,000 children; of this number, 32,650 were white, and 12,350 colored. The number of school-houses is 709; and the average monthly pay of teachers is $24. The Insane Asylum has been conducted with ability and success. It is now crowded to repletion, and there are hundreds of insane throughout the State who should be cared for, and who cannot be received into the institution for want of room. There are now 220 convicts in the State Penitentiary, "and there are probably 200 more," says the Governor, "in the various county prisons who should be in it." The contractors are progressing rapidly with the main building, which will be completed as soon as the resources of the State will allow.

As a large proportion of the people of North Carolina are farmers, the subject of agriculture is one of prime importance, and in no year since the war has there been more earnestness to increase the productive capacity of the land than during the last. But an obstacle exists in the lack of thorough knowledge of the principles of successful farming; and it is thought that the State would find it greatly to her advantage to afford facilities for instruction in agriculture. The Governor called the attention of the Legislature to the importance of this subject: "It

is the duty," he says, as it is to the interest, of every State and every community, to encourage the acquisition of knowledge in farming. The simple elements of agriculture should be taught in all our schools, both public and private, as well as in the university and colleges. I respectfully and earnestly appeal to you, gentlemen, to give this subject your attention, and to devise such means as may be in your power to spread the knowledge of agriculture among the people, and to benefit the farming interests. The State fairs and the county fairs should be encouraged. An annual appropriation of $25,000 to these fairs would repay the State fourfold in increased production, and in the excellence of production of all kinds."

The subject of a constitutional convention began to be considered at the close of the year. One of the contemplated objects was to revise the present constitutional provisions relating to public schools. The question of a convention would probably be submitted to a vote of the people, and at the same time delegates be elected, who would act if the convention should be approved.

The following is the federal census of North Carolina, taken in the years 1860 and 1870:

Alexander

14.134 14,107

Orange..

17,507

16,947

Alleghany.

12,602 9,307

8.131

8.940

Anson

7,724

8,443

7.945

Ashe...

9,573 7,956

Granville.

24,831

23,396

11,170 11.221

20,408 19,442

8,895 8,039

Haywood

7.921 5,801

15,708 16,746

Rowan.. Rutherford..

16,810 14,589

13.121 11,573

NORTON, DANIEL S., a United States Senator, born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, April 12, 1829; died in Washington, D. C., July 14, 1870. He was educated at Kenyon College; served one year in the war with Mexico, in the Second Ohio Regiment, and subsequently turned his attention to the study of law. In 1850 he went across the plains to California, spending a part of that and the following year in Nicaragua. Returning to Ohio, he renewed the study of law, was admitted to the bar in 1852, and, after practising his profession in that State till 1855, removed to Minnesota. In 1857 he was elected

11,077 11,687 Yancey

27,978 15,429

14,749 13,372

Total.

5,909

8.655

1,071.135 992, 622

to the State Senate, and served in both branches of the State Legislature during the years following until 1865; in that year he was chosen as United States Senator for the term ending in 1871. Senator Norton was a delegate to the Philadelphia National Union Convention in 1866, and in Congress served on the Committees on Indian Affairs, Engrossed Bills, Claims, Territories, Patents, and the PatentOffice. Though elected to the Senate as a Republican, he had ceased to act with that party in 1868, and on most questions of national policy voted with the Democrats.

8,192

5,908

Warren..

17,768

15.726

9,647 10,195

Washington..

6,516

6,357

7,592

7,120

Watauga..

5,297

14,957

Wayne.

4,705

Wilkes...

15.539 14,749