Weekly North Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1850-1858, 1851-11-05

vas chisel The one exists only in the unrefected
beauties of nature; the other lies buried in her
beress qoarres of native MARBLE which not even the
hand Of Utility, much less the finger of Taste, has
yet pointed out for exploration. ".,s - ,s@a9.. r
Where, in fine, all those other imposing testi-
monlals, indicating the growth, prosperity and power
! Of fourshing Commonwealth. The Statesman and
Phiianthropist will find them nowhere within our
borders unless they exist in the latent and undeve
i oPed energies of our people. -- . % 49,
This picture of the condition of our beloved State,
gloomy and lamentable as it may be, is literally true.
I've extenuaed nothing. nor set down aught in mall
ICE, Had loved he, less should not dare, thus
rudely, to draw aside the veil and expose her deform-
tiles. But there is fault somewhere, and there is
remedy. invite your attention whilst seek the
one and explain the other. 20, ..l..
7 The torpor which may have made painfully man
iest cannot be ascrbed to any inferiority in
the mental or physical organization of our people; |;
fthey are, IN the msin. Anglo Saxon in their origin,
claiming descent from an ancestry common alike to
most of the citizens of the other States in the Union
and we can divine no cause that would render the de-
scendants within our territory less vigorous in mind
or body than their forefathers. tcannot be attrbut-
ed to any peculiarly in institutions and form of
government, for the most prosperous States that sur
round US are blessed with the same institutions, and
governed by the same general policy.
| The character of soil has not dispitel,
has our climate enervated, population. The soil,
in return for the labors of the husbandman yields
abundant harvest and is no less remarkable for the
quantity than the infinite variety of its productions
whilst the climate without creating any Perceptibe
change in the temPeIaments or characteristics OF our
people, is so modified, in different sections, that
snow. clouds float upon our mountains at the same
time that flowers brought from the tropics bloom
| ing on our Eastern shore, and exhang sweet odours
! beneath Summers sun. The absenae of public
virtue, practice of vice and immortality, can not
have blunted the moral of her population, for
in no other State is virtue more highly appreciated
integrity so scrupulously practised-vsce more gen.
orally reprobated-and crime so certainly punished.
The torpor Of the Body Polite of which speak, has
total want of State Pride among our people, in the
sense that have considered it.
| The extinction of this sentiment-or should rath-
er say decay, for l hope the germ still exists-has
been occasioned in eminent degree, by the course
and action of the prominent public men in our State,
who give tone to, and control public opinion and.
in arraigning them at the bar of that public opinion
which they have mlsdirected, and holding them res
ponsible for the dire consequences to our most vital
interests, which have followed in the train OF their
conduct and example, l intend no injustice to the
! living-I mean no disrespect to the dead. On the
contrary, if time permitted, it would be pleasing
we'll as grateful task, whilst awakening the sum-
bering energies of the one to canonze the virtues OF
the other. We have had-we now have Patriots,
Statesmen, and Orators, whose love of country, tai
ents, and cloquence, would render them ornaments
to any State but in selecting objects for the peculiar
devotion of their patriotism, and in choosing theatres
for the exercise and display of their talents and elo-
quence they have, in my humble Judgment commit
ted most grievous error, and that shall sum-
! mon the bo!dness to expose.
There exists in this Republic the singular, yet,
time has shown. consistent anomaly of two Govern
ments operating within the several States at the same
time, and intended to work harmonousy in the same
system-one domestic, acting directly upon the i'm
mediate interests of its citizens, in the protection of
their persons and property-the other chiefly foreign,
having its powers defined by express delegation, and
II. :E~-l:
where that invasion is necessary to consummate the
main and princ pal purpose contemplated in its crea-
ton. The discussion of the extent and nature of the
powers thus delegated to the latter, and of the pro-
priey of their exercise under various circumstances,
has originated political pares organized with refer
ed upon principle, arraying men who honestly differ
in opinion opposite sides Of questions Of national
policy, and, when confined to the legitimate purpose
of advancing issues thus made are eminently conser
vative Their conflicts elicit truth and expose error
and no patriot can regret their existence, will re-
fuse connection and affiation with them. Solon in
corporaed provision in the Athenan code, requir-
ing every man to take side the other in the
discussion and ultimate decision Of public questions,
in order the wisdom and counsel Of vrtuous
men. These questions Of national character are
sometimes of great magnitude, involving the rights
of the States the fate Of the Union, yea, the exis
tence of Constitutional liberty itself, and. in such
emergencies, they demand the highest consideration
from every citizen in the respective States but they
are oftimes mere ephemeral issues, creating mo-
mentary excitement and then passing away, having
affected, in serious respect, the general welfare
In instance, however, the internal regulations
and local interest of any one of the States be made
subordinate and inferior in the scale of importance.
to questions and issues pertaining to the Federal
Government, without retardng the progress and en-
dangerng the future welfare of the particular State
whose public sentiment may be thus misdirected.
1t has been the misfortune of our State, that her
statesmen, and leading men generally, have given to
national issues, whether momentous or ephemera,
apparent precedence in their regard. By speeches,
essays, and personal appeal, they have directed the
attention of people habitualIy and constantly
to these subjects, that many of our citizens regard
then, as the only questions demanding peculiar con-
sderation; and believing, from the prominence al.
ways accorded to national politics, that the Federal
head at Washington is the only source of life and
vitality to our system--that national councils is
the only true medium of wise legisation-and that
national glory is the only altar at which patriot
should offer obations, they have ceased to manifest
that anxious zeal for the local prosperity Of their
State which untutored nature itself would otherwise
have prompted them to feel and exhibit.
|; By the example of her Statesmen, our young men
of genius and talent, Jas they respectively enter he
grand drama of life, turn aside from the paths OF Lite
the cultivation Of Art-repudiate the homely avoca-
tons of Commerce, Trade, and Mechanical Industry.
; and seek political life affording and opening the
only to fame those pursuits alone
chosen, which may eventually lead the young aspi-
rants to political honors. @ ,u----.
Under the instruction Of her Patriots, the patriotism
of our peoplehas been extended overa wider surface
but it is wholly Intellectual for good, because the
strength of their local attachments has been impaired
Her citizens abandon their homes and resides with
out regret, with positive indifference, and, carrying
with them wealth, intelligence and vrtre, earn in
some more favored State, to feel and cherish devo-
ton to the immediate government which protects
+. them that would have had kindred feeling here
The wealth thus abstraced is enriching every soil
n the intelligence Thus lost is enghtenng every cabi
net-and the virtue thus removed is adornng everi
social circle in this wide-spread Union. Not only