Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1861-10-16
The Cloven Foot of Party.

1ne laSC ASneVllle NeoS, announcing W HaA"NAA -
Thomas ESQ.,, as candidate for Congress in the
10th District says:
''Under old party divisions, Col Thomas was
Democrat, of the jackson school. He is an ardent
and devoted Southern man, and attempted last win
ter to get bill through the Legislature to purchase
and prepare for the conflict which he then saw,
and warned the Senate was inevitable. The bill
was defeated BY the watch and wait gentry, and
we are now suffering the consequences of their want
of foresight"
Our readers in the 10th District will perceive from
the above that the Neacs is responsible for the at
tempt to revive party spirit in their midst. That
paper compliments Mr. Thomas for his effort to get
bill through the Legislature last winter to pur-
chase arms and asserts that the bill defeated by
the old Union men, This is not true. The Legis.
ature, at its winter session. passed bill authoriz-
ing the Governor to call out thirty thousand uotun-
teers, if he should deem such call necessary; and it
also appropriated three hundred thousand dollars for
the purchase of arms and munitions Of war, and d.
rected the Governor to make the purchase. What
more could Mr.. Thomas have asked at the winter
session? If the Neus doubts this statement We
would ask its attention to the laws this subject
ratified in January and February, 1861, and publish
ed by the State printer.
The Governor expended only S35, 900 Of the $780,
900 above appropriated and reported the fact to the
extra session in May. If the volunteers were not
called out and the whole of the $780, 900 not
expended for arms, the fault does not lie at the door
Of the old Union men.
We now state-what has not heretofore been
stated-that in January, 1860, soon after the John
Brown raid, we urged Gov. Ellis well personally
as in the columns of the Standard, to convene the
Legislature, and recommend to that body an appro-
pration of million Of dollars to put the State in
Gposture Of defence The Governor declined to take
our advice. Our object to prese,ue the peace By
preparing for aoar; and also if war must come, to
be ready for it. This is what one of the "watch
and wait gentry did, long before Mr.. Thomas ex-
ered himself as the Ns,os states, to purchase arms
and prepare for the conflict" The truth is, Mr.
Thomas foresaw the conflict no more than others
did, but he did all he could to destroy the
old government and bring on the conflict We
award him all the credit or this score which is
claimed for him by the Neaos Why did not this
watchful sentinel, Mr. Thomas, urge Gov. Ellis to
expend the whole of the $500, 900 at once, when he
might have purchased arms at one fourth the price
which the State is paying for them now?
If Mr.. Thomas is damaged in the estimation of the
good people Of the 10th District by this exposure he
must blame the News for it, which has made, in the
above extract, most wanton and unjust attack on
the old Union men. Indeed we must a6d that we
are greatly obliged to the Neus for not having de.
nounced the old Union men as "submssionists VI
and "traitors." But what objection has the Neus
to the reelection of Mr. Davidson to Congress- We
will tell you, good reader-it is party That is all
The Ne'cs is for the country, and would like to see
the country defended, but party faction must be
preserved and perpetuated at all hazards.
Mr.. Thomas, it seems, wants little of every
thing. He is a member of the State Senate, and a
member of the Convention and now he wants to 60
to Congress. Is he equal to all three of these posi-
tons? Besides, it is rumored that he is raising
company of Indians to defend the country. Can he
occupy at the same time seat in the Legislature,
seat in the Convention, seat in Congress, and com
mand the Indians on the battlefield? We protest
against this piling of Offices man. Is the 10th
District so poor in talent that it has but one man
fill every important Office? Surely not.