Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1861-11-23

I We have already two man systems OF tnrep8n
transportation from the North to South-one RON
/ Richruond along the seabeard; the other through
Western Virginia to New Orleans. third might
be secured by completing link Of about forty miles
I between Dansille, IN Virginia, and -Greensborough
i in North Carolina. The construction OF this conf
i Psratively short line would give l,s through route
! from North to South IN the int rior Of the Coned-
crate States, and give access to population and
to military resources from VIII. CHI we are now, IN
great measure debarred We should increase great
ly the safety and capacity ct Iueans for trans
porting men and military supplies If the con.
Struction Of this road should, in the Judgment OF
! Congress- as it is in mine be indispensable for the
most successful prosecution of the war, the acton
! Of the Government will not be restrained by the
constitutional objection which would attach to a
work for commercial purposes, and attention rs IN
vited the practcAbility of securing its early conf
pietion by giving the needful aid to the company
organized for its construction and administrations.
| If we husband our means and make Judlcous
| use of resources, it would be difficult to nix
| limit to the period during which We could conduct
| war against the adversary whom we now encoun-
ter. The very efforts which he makes to Isolate
and invade must exhaust his means, whilst they
to complete the circle and Diversity the pro-
auctions of our industrial system. The reconsruc-
ton which he seeks to effect by arms becomes daily
| more and more palpably impossible. Not only DO
the which induced US to separate still exist
in full force, but they have been strengthened and
whatever doubt may have fingered in the minds Of
| any must have been completely iispeled by suhse-
| quent events. If instead of bel lg dissolution OF
| a league, it were indeed rebellion IN which we are
| engaged We might find ample yndicaton for the
course have adopted in the scenes which are now
| being enacted in the United States. Our people
now look with conte:nptuous establishment on those
with whom they had been so recently associated
They shrink with aversion from the bare idea OF re-
| newing such connection. When they see Pres
| ldent making without tie assent of Congress;
when they behold judges TIN eatened because they
maintain the writ of ha6eaS corpus so sacred to Tree
| men when they justice and law trampled under
the armed heel of military authority and upright men
and innocent women dragged to distant dungeons
| upon mere edict of deSpot; when they ind all
this tolerated and appauded by a people who had
been in the full enjoyment of freedom but few
months ago. they believe that tn ere must be some
| radical incompatibllity 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 no alternative.
| The nature of the hostilities which they have
waged against u.s. must he characterized barbarouS
| wherever 1t is understood. They have bomOarded
undefended villages without giving notice TO women
and children to enable them to escape, and in one
instance selected the nj ht the period when they
might surprise them most eifectually whilst asleep
and unsuspciouS Of danger. Arson and rapine, the
destruction of private houses and property and ill.,
lures OF the most Want0n character, even upon nOH-
| combatants have marked their forays along our
| borders and upon our territory. Although We
! ought to have been adinoniShed by these things
! that they were disposed to make upon in the
most cruel and relentless spirit; yet we were not
| prepared to see them fit out large naval exPed-
tion with the confessed purpose not only Of plum
! der, but to ncite serVile instruction In our
| midst.
| II they convert their soldiers into a criminal in
cendiareS, and involve US in a species OF war which
! claims non-comhatantS, women and children, as Its
| victims they must expect to be treated as outlaws
| and enemies OF mankind. There are certain rights
| of humanity which entitled to respect even IN
| war; ana he who refuses to regard Them upon all
occasions forfeItS his caRs if captured, to be con-
| sdered a military prisoner, but must expect to
| be dealt with offender against all law human
| and divine.
| But not content with violating our rights, under
the law of nations, at home, they have extended
these injuries to 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 re-
Gently seized by the captain of United States ship
| of war, board British steamer on their voyage
! from the neutral Spanish port of Havana to Eng
! land They have thus claimed general jursdc-
| ton the gh seas, and entering British
ship, sailing under its country S fay violated the
! rights Of embassy, for the most part held sacred
even amongst barbarans, by seizing ministers
! trail nation. These gentlemen 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
good as their right to apprehend them where they
were taken. Had they been malefactors and citi-
zens of the United States, they could not have
been arrested on British ship, 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
tered, he perfdiously arrested and imprisoned
| in New York. where he now is The unsuspecting
confidence with which he reported to his Govern
ment abused, and his desire to fulfill his trust
to them was used to his injury.
In conducting this war, We have sought no aid
and proposed alliances offensive and defensive
abroad. We have asked for recognized place in
the great family Of nations but in doing we have
demanded nothing for which did not offer a fair
/ equivalent The advantages of intercourse are mu-
tual amongst nations, and in seeking to establish
diplomatic relations, 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 efectual,"
SO solemnly announced by the great Powers of Eu-
rope at Paris is to be generally enforced applied
only to particular parties
When the Confederate States at your last session
became party to the declaration reafirming this
principle of international law, which has been re-
cognzed so long by publicists 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 only TO be enforced in
particular instances at the pleasure of those who
make them then the commerce oil the world, SO far
from being placed under the regulation of general
law will become subject to the caprice of those who
execute or suspend 1T at will Ii such is to be the
course of nations in regard to thus law, it is plain
that it will thus become rule for the weak and not