Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1861-11-27

Richmond, along the SeaDoarui VIC .i:.A b,irht
Western tirtinia To New Orleans. tnTa MY
t,e securel bS completing link ofab"ut io''y m"s
betwec,, Danvie, in Virginia, anu u'ee"s ..;' 20,
| in North carolina The construction VI .',S -
| paratiyey short line would give ,s t!'''ue"
| from North to South IN the interior OIL '''S co"
crate States and give us access TO pop"'.'ol aiu
| to military resources from when we are "'"' !"
49,, ,",s,re debarred. We should increase great
" the safety and capacity Of our means for trans
nor,np men and military supplies. 1t the con.
str,ction of this road should in the Judgment Of
Congress as it is in inine be Indispensable tor the
most successful prosecution of the war; tue action
of the Government will not be restrained by the
constitutional objection which would attach 10 a
work for commercial purposes and attention Is IN
vited to the practicabty Of securing its early coh
pleton by giving the needfu aid to the company
organized for its construction and administrator
II VIC husband our means anu make )uu'cous
use of our resources it would be dilficult to INK
limit to the period during which We could conduct
a war against the adversary whom We now encoun-
ter. The very efforts which he makes to isolate
and invade US must exhaust his means, whilst they
serve to complete the circle and diversity the pro-
auctions of our industrial system The reconStruc-
ton which he seeks to effect by arms becomes dahl
more and more palpably impossible. Not only 10
the which induced US to separate still exist
in full force, but they have been strengthened, aud
whatever doubt may have fingered in the minds OF
any must have been completely dspelled by suhse.
quent events If instead of being dissolution Of
league it were indeed rebellion III which we are
engaged, We might find ample vindicatlon Tor the
COURSE we have adopted in the scenes which are now
being enacted in the United States. Our people
now look with cOnte!nptuOus astoniShment on ttose
with whom they had been so recently associated
They shrink with aversion from the bare idea OF re-
newng such connection. When they see Pres
,dent making war without the assent OF Congress;
when they behold judges threatened because they
maintain the writ Of ha6eas corpus so sacred to free
men when they see justice aud law trampled under
thearned heel of military authority. and upright men
aud innocent women dragged to distant dungeons
upon mere edict Of despot; when they find all
this tolerated and applauded by people who had
been in the full enjoyment of Freedom but few
radical incompatibili,y between such people ana
themselves. With such people We may be con-
tent to live at peace but the separation is final and
for the independence We have asserted We will &C
cept alternative.
The nature Of the hostties which they have
wased against us must he characterized rs barbarous
wherever 1t is understood They have boubarded
undefcndel villages without giving notice to women
and children to enable them to escape. and in one
instance selected the nj sht the period when they
might surprise them most etfcctual!y whilst asleep
and unsuspciouS Of danger. Arson and rapine, the
destruction Of private houses and property. and ill.,
jurieS of the most wanton character even upon nom
comhatantS, have marked their forays along our
borders and upon our territory. Although We
ought to have been admoniShed by these things,
that they were disposed to make war upon MS in the
most cruel and relentless spirit; yet We were not
prepared to see them fit out large naval expedi-
tion with the confessed purpose not only Of plum
der, but to incite servile instruction in our
midst.
II they convert their soldiers into criminal in
cendiirieS and involve US in u species OF war which
claims non-cOmbatantS, women and children rs It's
victims, they must expect to he treated rs outlaws
and enemies of mankind There are certain ri ghtS
of humanity which are entitled to respect even in
war, anu he who refuses to regard them upon all
occasions forfets his clams il captured. to he con-
sidered as military prisoner, but must expect to
be dealt with as offender against ull law human
and divine.
But not content with violating our rights, under
, the law of nations, at home, they have extended
these injuries to us within other Jurisdictions The
distinguished gentlemen whom, with your approval,
at the last session, commissioned to represent the
Confederacy at certain foreign courts, have been
Gently seized by the captain Of United States ship
of war. on board British steamer on their voyage
from the neutral Spanish port Of Havana to Eng
land. They have thus claimed general jurisdic-
.
ship, sailing under its countrys flag, violated the
rights Of embassy, Cor the most part held sacred
even amongst barbarians, by seizing ministers
whist under the protection and dominion Of a neu
trail nation. These gentlemen were AS much under
the jurisdiction Of the British government upon
that ship and beneath its flag as If they had been
on its soil, and the right Of the United States to
have seized them in the streets Of London was aS
good as their RICH; to apprehend them where they
s.tn A. r.
zens even of the United States they could not havo
been arrested on British ship, or on British soil.
unless under the express provisions of treaty, and
according to the forms therein provided for the ex
tradition of criminals.
But rights the most sacred seem to have lost all
respect in their eyes. When Mr. Faulkner, former
minister Of the United States, commissioned before
the secession Of Virginia, his native State returned
in good faith to Washington to settle his accounts
and fulfill all the obligations into which he had EN-
tered, he was peridiously arrested and mprsonc;:
in New York, where he now is. The unsuspccting
confidence with which he reported to his Govern
was abused, and his desire to fdihll his trust
| to them was used to his injury.
! In conducting this war, We havo sought no aid
and proposed no alliances offensive and-defensive
abroad We have asked for recognized place in
the great family Of nations, but in dong so we have
demanded nothing for which did not offer fair
equivalent. The advantages of intercourse are nu'
tual amongst nations and in seeking to establish
diplomatic relations, We were only endeavoring 10
place that intercourse under the regulation Of public
| law. Perhaps we had the right if we had chosen
to exercise it. to ask to know whether the principle
that "blockades to be binding, must be etiectuaI,
SO solemnly announced by the great Powers of Eu
rope at Paris, is to be generally enforced or applied
only to particular parties.
When the Confederate States at your last session
became party to the declaration reatfirning this
principle of international law, which has been re-
cognzcd so long by publicsts and Governments
We certainly supposed that it was to be universally
enforced. The customary law of nations is made
up of their practice rather than their declarations
and if such declarations are only to be enforced r
particular instances at the pleasure Of those wht
make them, then the commerce OF the world, so fal
from being placed under the regulation of genera
law, will become subject to the caprice of those wht
execute or suspend it at will such IS to be tn,
course Of nations in regard to this law it is plair
that it will thus become rule for the weak and no
for the strong
Feeling that such views must be taken by tn,