Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1861-02-05
For the Standard.
AN ADDRESS TO NORTH. CARoEINTANs. :

AN ADDhEOO III
North arolinians, stand firm !-be not deceived
be not frightened from your propriety-be dra-
gooned neither into submission, nor premature re-
sistance-be not ridicued into rash commitment OF
yourselves to an uncertain future. Know ye not
that ye are called "a slow coach, old fogy,
rip Van Winkle" &c, and that this IS designed
for effect to make you cut loose from your secure
mornings? Know We not that you can afford to dis
regard these taunts? that such are always thrown
up to the moderate by the too fast representative
men of too fast age that slow as you are, your
Regulators were the first by ten years, to make
armed resistance to British nisrule on this CONT
nent that you made the first rational Republican
Declaration of Independence the world ever saw !?
that the abest of British commanders of that day call
ed part of your State "the hornets nest' of the
Revolution? that Burke virtually acknowledged in
the British Parliament that British power on this
continent was coven down on one OF your battle
fields that your character and credit are now as
good as, if not better than, any at the North that
YOU are fondly called 1.-THE Old North State" "the
honest old State" 1.-THE good old North State for
everP"
Now look on this picture, and then on the follow
ing Are you sufficiently like, and identified with,
your interesting and gallant little sister of South.
Carolina Ito whom God send safe deliverance,) to
cast in your lot noao with her? Know you not that
her older sisters have frequently had to hold her
back that she has often forgot that discretion is
the better part of valor to say nothing OF her null
LITIGATION ordinance thirty years ago? that when the
Mexican War was proclaimed and volunteers called
for her brave sons responded in such numbers that
many had to be refused? that in their first oppor
tunity of battle they rushed to the 'front.' seemed de-
sirous of taking the whole fight upon their own
shoulders lost their first and second in command.
and were almost annh,ated? Did not the presi-
dent of her seeding convention conclude his ad-
dress of acknowledgment with the slaughterbreath-
ing words of that Titan of Revolutionary fame Dan
H. l,-a al, 1ora
not that many of the leading men Of uthCarolina
are descendants of Frenchmen? that France is the
game-cock of the world? that France worshipS
glory and that South Carolina is rather was, the
France of the Thirty Three
Oh my countrymen, whittier are you drifting
whittier are you being driven? Let one, who never
was party man. never filled and never sought to
fill any office by popular election, who from the
loop-holes of his retreat looks out with philanthropy
and patriotism upon the dark surgng waters, coun-
sci MODERATION. In times like the present, when
impetuous feeling, which should be subordinate, is
dominant, when men are forsaking the line of safe
precedents when they are leaving the old landmarks
and reading the political signboards backwards.
moderation, forbearance delay, may save not only
those who exercise them, but their friends aso.-
When a company of Indians travel one always keeps
SOBER to watch the safety of those who indulge
in the tire-water. The time may come when me-
diator moderator in other words an adviser and
friend may be needed in balancing, compromising
and conciliating between the border and cotton
States. North Carolina, occupying a sort of mid,
die, and, therefore temperate ground between them,
may be we'll qualified for this Office, for frequently
in physics in morals truth and safety are to be
sought for in the centre of two extremes. The des
tiny of these two parties Of the South may be
pended her, and there is generally least motion,
excitement and danger at the point Of suspension.
Be this it may, let North Carolina bide her time,
take fair advantage of the current of events Let
her be independent for she has many of the elements
ofindependence and even of nationality. East West
North and South seem to be epitomized in her, for
she can make most Of their products Even her
people seem to be cross of their blood and CON-
bine many Of the best characteristics Of each Why
should such people be in hurry to commit their
destiny to the decision Of an hour? All our states
men who have apprehended this our day Of trial,
have forecast gloomy future, and had dark visions
not only of a severed South and North but even Of
altered State boundaries Who can tell now what
these alterations may be? War is an ignis fdtuuS
The sword often reverses the wishes and arrange
ments of cabinets and councils. There may he sew
eral Southern Confederaces, or number of States
calling themselves nations in ancient Greece and
modern Germany. Should North Carolina
choose Sides 1t might hereafter appear that her
choice worked counter to her anites her interests
and her honor Suppose, for instance, that she
should lash her Ship of State to that of South Caro-
newly discovered and UNEMPLOYED ocean, after hav-
iEg thrown her old crew, chart and compass
board, and the latter though gallant bark, should
be found unable to contend with the winds and
waves and breakers, what could keep the two from
going down together? Even granting SouthCaro-
lima prosperous voyage, suppose there should be
a confederacy north of u.s. wooing and attracting us
TO it. don't you perceive that we should be pulled
two different ways at the time. and cOnSe-
quently in danger Of being pulled in two at least
made motioness and powerless for the attraction Of
two equal and opposite forces must produce bisec-
ton or stagnaIion-in either case, death.
Now, what would infer from these premises is,
l. That though South-Carolina may be very
good follower, she must be very poor leader and
counsellor
2. That North Carolina can afford to bde her
time. Never did she appear dear and worthy to
us as at present; calm, collected, slowly and surely
mastering her resources of mind, of morals age and
of manhood too to be the arbtress of her sisters
fate But it thus with modest merit it takes
the fiery ordeal of adversely to bring it out As
Gen. Scott wisely said of his policy, at one period of
the Mexican war; "a mastery inactivity" an armed
neutrality should be the wisdom of North Carolina.
Let the murky heavens clear a little; let us not
strike in the dark. Those who raise the whirlwind
cannot direct the storm. Revolution always dc.
YOURS her own children. Those who begin revolu-
tons seldom end them. All violent excitements al
ways burn up or burn out those who are governed
10y them. The direction of revolutions after the
acting of the first and second acts of incipient fury
falls into the management of such people as the
North-Carolinians l. e., the moderate. Twas SO
in England twas in France, it has been eUer So
That it is better for us to contend for rights
in the Union than out of it.
4. That we need to have and request the advice Of
men Of matured judgment, approved craftsmanship
and tried fidelity-of such men as Swain, Ruffin
Badger Graham, land we hope that they will receive
this intination as the first of many calls, which we
hope will be made, to address through the press
either collectively severaly their fellow citizens
this momentous subject) The first named has
numerous graduated pupils all through the South
that of revered father and political sage. The Sc
cond has a judgment, legal acumen, an integrity