Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1861-03-27
> "a For The 6tandass
ROCKINGHAM, March l6, 1861.

ROCKINGHAM March ls, 1861.
" " Holden, Esq,
NV Dear Sr:-I notice in your paper Of the IL ;th
instant you have been plsassd 70 class ne Is .
'.Disunionst." $ 5
You will at least allow me to define my avn pc 81
ton; and for that purpose, most respectfully ak
the publication of this letter in the columns Of he
Standard.
If by the term "Disunionist," you meant ne
who has ever desired or who even hov desires to
break up the union Of the States either by lawi ul
or unlawful means and that without cause; y ~
have done me (unintentonally viii allow): he
erossest kind Of political injustice. But if by tn at
term was meant Gas feel confident it was not o, Re
who has taken his motto, that Southern eonstH "
tonal equality in its broadest sense, must be nc
recognised the condition precedent to our remai i.
ing any longer united, then am Disunionist, an
l would that we had more of them in Nortb-Caro
When the subject matter of ''secession" was frs It
preached in our midst and that too before the RI =
public of South Carolina had ''seceded, havin.
been written to by some friends upon that subject
my views were made public through the columns O.
the Fayetteville Observer, and copied into your own
paper at my request ',
In the letter referred TO- which you must recollect
land which is simply alluded to as afording evil
dence that have just cause of complaint) main
SUCH "that the power granted under the constitu-
ton being derived from the people Of the States
may be resumed by them, whensoeyer the same
shall be perverted to their injury or oppression"
taking at the time the position, that did not
think that crisis sufficiently important had then
arisen that demanded any such action on our part
In this opinion remained unchanged, until saw
the miserable "abortion resulting in an Intellectual
effort on the part of the Southern Commissioners in
the border State Convention" to obtain any, even
the smallest recognition of our rights in slave pro-
psrty.
Seeing this, and becoming satisfactorily convinced
that the fearful policy of Lincolns administration
had been correctly foreshadowed BY the "peace CON-
ference" noso stand ready to hold those disturbers
of peace quietude and domestic security rs our
fathers held the British crown-"enemes in war,
in peace, friends"
The correctness of this course gains strength and
is now impregnably fortified lin our estimation) by
the present condition of the country, superDducng
nay, demanding it The Union is now dissolved,
and that 100 without any the least probability Of its
reconstruction, and the only question for North
Carolina to decide is whether she attaches herself
to her Southern sisters whether she goes North;
in other words, whether she will join Southern
confederacy become lin the classical language of
the day. the "tail end" of middle republic.
As Southern planter, and Southern man, We
scorn, abhor and utterly repudiate anything Of the
kind What? Seek security for our rights of slare
property by joining New York, Pennsylvania, and
statement of the proposition renders itself simply
ridiculous. We would Us soon commit the lambs of
our pasture to hungry, starving, devouring wolves;
for if we have to separate We wish as much as pos
sible to avoid the leaven" Of abolitionsm for the
truth is, we have too much Of that or Of something
equally bad in our oun naidst
In the exciting canvass in Richmond through
which we have just passed, we kept back nothing
proclaimng not only tho right Of State to secede,
but also declaring that If the seeding States scould
not come back, that then We said Of them as good>
old Ruth" said to Naomi: -" "Entreat me not
from following after thee, thy people, shall be my
people, thy God my God whittier thou goest will
Co. and where thou diest and art buried, oiH die
and be buried likewise"
Allow me in conclusion to say, for it is due to
yourself and Others that should say that in speak
ing thus freely both Of the results of the "peace
conference" well as of the proposition for
middle republic, that we intend nothing the least
disrepectul either to the two prominent and deserr
edly prominent commissioners who gave it mot an
Endorsement but rather quasi approval, or to the
highly respectable gentlemen. yourself included,)
| who have and now advocate the latter
We meet, and therefore treat both propositions
propositions upon their intrinsic merits, having no
allusion to the source of their emanation We con-
fess the high, and deserredly high responsibility of
| the gentlemen who advocate what We now dissent
to- and believe that they have arrived at their
illusions from the be,t of motives; but with us an
opinion unaccompanied by reasons sustaining it is
only an opinion, and while have respect for it,
source We attach no other importance to it and the
more So when 1t relates to subject matter equally
within the grasp of the most common understanding
| Respectfully,
WE LEAK