Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1861-03-20
Our Disunion Govefnof.

Cnlet Magistrate OI NOrtn-C&T0ana OetQ re the pe0-
pe is orcibe illustration of the TACT Sc FORTH and
will be, We hope y warning to all who are disposed
to seek place or reputation by deceptio, and double
dealing. Had Gov. Ellis in his messag e to the Gen.
eral Assembly boldly planted himsel upon his Sc
cession PLATFORM and out candle lily and openly
for immediate separation of NORTH Carolina from
the Union and given his reasons tn efor, his posi-
ton would have at least been entle to the respect
of those who honestly differed with him. They
would have honored him for his fir. .nlsness, and met
his positions by whatever argum ents they had at
their command. Gov Ellis did not do this, how
ever His political success hereb ofore as every
conversant with his history we'll knows, has been
the result Of intrigue and doutle-dealing, and he
confidently relied upon the same agents to carry 6is
cherished schemes of secession through during the
sitting of the General Assembly. As soon read
his message we warned the people Of the disunion
schemes of their Governor. We told them that
he desired to dissolve the Unon and that he feared
to trust the people themselves with the question
We were denounced for this by his hirelings; and
attributing the same soraid motives to us which
governed their own base actions, they endeavored
to deend the pOStl0n OF Chelr master.
We appeal to the people of North Carolina
part of the State, by the by, ignored by the Gov
ernor and his set-if every opinion expressed by
us, and every position assumed have not been veri-
fed by the record, and by the subsequent conduct
of the Governor himself We told the people then
that John W. Ellis was disunionist He tells
YOU so now, as plainly and as frankly as the in
stncts of his nature will permit him to state any
position he occupies. We said then that he would
not trust the people. Does. not the history of the
Convention bill, under the management of his i'm.
mediate, peculiar friends, prove it beyond cayil?
Did they acknowledge recognize the people at all
in their call for Convention until forced to do so
by the Union majority of the General Assembly?
He they did not In the military bill, prepared
upon his suggestion and no doubt under his watch.
full vigilance, he had the appointments Of the prin
cipal officers thus ignoring the existence Of such
class as the people The Union men amended that
bill too, and the Governors set in their wrath,
swore terribly. His accustomed agents in the at
tainments Of his ends failed hm-signally failed
him, and the failure has taught him, and all who
stood with him in the last Legislature that there
people in North Carolina, and to them belongs the
government Of their fathers.
The Governor finding that the mind of North
Carolina, at least was not sufficiently fired" to be
the willing slave in his disunion programme resort
| ed to every known appliance to sustain and fortfy
| him in the position he desired to assume Public
meetings all over the State were improvised in the
Capitol and resolutions were drawn and sent out to
be passed by immense and enthusiastic gatherings,
and returned as the expression Of public sentiment
all Of which resolutions, IA very remarkable Coin
cidence,) endorsed nearly in the same words, the
administration and message Of Gov. Ellis. Compare
the different resolutions paradcd in the columns of
his newspaper, the State Journal with the vote in
the Counties where they were said to have been
passed, and the blindest can but discover at once
their paternity, and we'll enough the influences
under which they were made public. Another
method to bolster his untenabe position was resort
ed to. In his newspaper, the State Journal of Feb
I'd appeared leader, written we presume with his
endorsed by the Legislature and the people" In
this article, which is full of perversions and mis-.
representations, and which we shall have many oc
casions to aludc to hereafter this paragraph
italics and all: "Let the fact stand forth to the
world. Erery solitary recommendation contained
in Gop. Ellis message, upon the su1ject Of our fed
eral affairs, has been endorsed by the people ana
adopted By the legislature" Such was the Gov
ernors satisfactory consolation in February, ane
such his declaration expressed in his newspaper
Is the declaration sustained by one solitary" fact
Every orc conversant with the history of the las
Assembly knows that none of his secession senti
ments nor recommendations were endorsed by tina
body. And the election on the 2Sth Of the sam'
month shows what the people thought, clearly
enough.
Gov Ellis recent speech at Wilmington, copiet
into, and received with rejoicing by the ultra journ
ais of South Carolina for its revolutionary tenden
cies, shows his true position. He said in his mes
sage in November that "the will of the peopl
once expressed will be law of action with all, AM
secure that unanimity so necessary in an emer
gency like the present" So it is quoted in hi
newspaper, the State Journal His few friends ii
Wake, resolced in their meeting of the 18th Of Fet
jority Of the people Of rthCarolina shall solemn
ly resolve that they cannot safely remain in tn
Union, it is not only their right but it is their dut
to secede and to punish such Of her citizens n
fuse submiision to her sorereign wiN" Of cours.
if that majority "sole,nly resolve" not to secede
the italics above will be equally applicable.
And to his few friends here, who desire so muc
to punish those who will not abide by the decisio
of the majority, We commend Governor Ellis for tn
| present. with the earnest request that they wi
consider and deliberate upon their duty if the Go,
ernor's programme at Wilmington is attempted
, be carried out. -...
That LETTERING really dislike to be trouble
some, but our duty to the public imperativey d
mands that should again respectfully ask for tn
publication of THAT LETTER It was alluded I