Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1858-01-13

would Siadicate the sanetity Of violated law and
puni tn 6ndsts agsinst the Amesscan Constitu.
tisnl WeIslt toe thai dlc suggest ma most potent
soyesSignE-tfIe pSople ofShe Uniteds6 tates-would
rcnd3 iu,tics To- the gjnries sustaiaed. But far
mofe grievous than the surrender-far more CALLING
than to see our own flag lowered on our own soil
was 10 be told that there to the dshonor OF
the United States There we're men on that sandy
beach, Mr.. President, who had carried your flag
aloft amidst the thickest of the foe, And one had
been promoted BY predecessor in your office for
first planting your coors upon the heights Of Cerro
.Goryiue Others among them had led your sotdiess
across the continent and always in the path Of duty
and. Of honor. For such men to be told that they
isgraced the country they once had served nobly
and so WE'LL was pang sharper than that Of death,
and might have wrung tear from men harder and
more callous than he who inflicted the irreparable
injury. {tiFh ssa r'e4 a.. ~
need not tell yon that was unable to anticipate
the act of Capt. Paulding. Military necessity re-
entered my mind, that American officer, protesting
to execute the law, would SO far forget his duty
as to infringe not only well established international
law, but also, the requirements Of that instrument
with which are involved the best hopes of mankind
the Constitution Of the United States. Even
could have foreseen the action of Capt Paulding,
military reasons would have prevented me from
leaving the Point But it was impossible to imagine
that 80 violent step-marked as it was in its de-
tails by conduct worthy of soldiers in the sack Of
the town-would have been taken by an officer of
the u. s. NAVY And, Mr. President, in the name
of the official oath which you have taken in the
presence Of Almighty God, l call upon you to pun
ish the offender and to right the wrong. presume
not to direct Your wisdom in the course it shall
pursue; but in the name of the men whose rights
your officers have infringed and whose honor has
been most harshly and heedlessly trampled in the
dust, call for the justice it is your high prerogative
to bestow. g.. ..s.. 81 ..-.- s-.......- -.., y.
But permit me to conclude by adding that in all
events and under all circumstances there duties
and responsibilities from which and the officers
and men represent will not, dare not, shrink. No
extreme of illegal nterference-no amount of hard
words and unjust epithets deter from follow
ing the path which is before The functionaries
of the Government may exhaust upon me the ex-
pletives of the language may insult the pub
lie conscience and degrade their characters by
applying to all the epithets their morbid imagina
tons suggest: but conscious of the right and JUS
tice of our cause we shall not relax efforts
be driven into violation of the law As long as
there is Central American exiled from his native
land and deprived Of the property and civil rights
for the services he rendered US, in evil well as
good report so long shall our time and energies
be devoted to the work of their restoration. As
long as the bones of our companions in arms, MUIR
dered under barbarous decree of the Costa Rcan
Government, lie bleaching and unburied on the
hillsdes of Nicaragua, so long shall our brains con-
trive and hands labor for the justice which
day we will surely obtain.
Permit your officers if you can, to trample under
foot the Constitution and the laws pass unnoticed
if you will, the most violent invasions of individual
rights and public duties; treat with scorn and
tempt, if you choose the demands for justice which
we humbly and deferentally place at your feet-we
will not be cast down or dismayed. We fight for
the rights Of our race which have been denied US
by ungrateful and degraded aristacracy. We
strive to retain unsued the device some of our an
! cestors have borne on many field" None shall
wound US with impunity." And SO long as our faith
! in right endures good-our confidence in the God
use all just and proper means to regain what has
| been wrongfully wrested from US.
| have the honor to remain,
With high respect
Your obedient servant
| WIN. WALKER
His excellency the President of the United States