Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1862-01-08
. rhe ou,cr, asain.t ths convention.


having at heart the good of the State and as having
labored, according to their best Judgment, to con-
duct our affairs judiciously and properly. But an
outcry has been raised especially against the Cou
yention, and an attempt is now being made, by GER
tain partizans, to render that body odious to the
people 1t is alleged, FIRST that the Convention has
transacted but little il any business of value except
the ordinance Of secession and secondly, that it
has usurped power in legislating for the State
Now, what are the facts? The Convention, at
its first session. passed among others ordinance
to establish Board of Claims, by which thousands
Of dollars have been saved to the Treasury also, an
ordinance to raise battalion of cavalry, which is
now in the field Also ordinance to tax all slaves
according to value, land is taxed also, resolu-
tod exempting our soldiers from poll tax also, an
ordinance to to soldiers the right TO vote
wherever they may be; also, an ordinance to pro-
vide money to carry the war and meet the inter-
est on the State debt. The Convention, at its
ond session, passed among others an ordinance to
complete regiment (Col Grcen's) of infantry, now
ready for the field Also resolutions of confidence
in President Davis, and pledging this State to pros
ecute the war to the last extremity also, resolu
soldiers also, ordinance appropriating one hun
dred thousand dollars to make salt for the people,
now so much needed also, an ordinance providing
for the issue of three millions of dollars in treasury
notes-a measure absolutely necessary at the time,
to pay for supplies for troops and to carry on
the government; also, ali ordinance to prevent op-
pressive speculation in the necessaries of life also
an ordinance to continue the Board of Claims by
which the accounts of all disbursng agents will he
rigidly examined and thousands of dollars thus
saved to the State also, ordinance to raise an
additional battalion regiment of troops
Now, all these ordinances and resolves, with one
exception, are Legislature in their character Who
will say they ought not to have been passed. But
for one of these, SALT instead of falling it has,
would have increased in price; but for another of
them, the fine regiment of cavalry, commanded by
Col. Spruill would not have been in existence but
for another, thirty forty thousand of our brave
soldiers would have been deprived of their right of
suffrage; but for another, there would have been
but little protection against dishonest State agents;
and, 5at for another, the meat and bread, and
clothing Of the soldiers would have been cut off the
State would have repudiatcd the interest on her
bonds, and the wheels of government would have
stopped And yet novces in politics, and partizans
who think Of nothing but Offices for themselves, say
the Convention ought not to egislate and ought not
to re-assemble on the Goth instant. -
We observe that Rev. John Alspaugh, who is
candidate for the Convention in Forsyth takes the
ground that the Convention has no power to legs-
late and that that body ought at once to dissolve
Now in the first place it is only necessary to state
to show the falacy of Mr.. Alspaughs opinion, that
the people have clothed the Convention with SUI
preme legislative, executive and judicial power
which power must be exercised for the people and
subject to their will and secondly that if Mr. Al
spaugh desires to come to the Convention for no
other purpose than to produce discord in it by at
tempting to dissolve it, he had better stay away
The Convention, when it re-assembles, will find it
necessary to make provision for supplying the places
of some twenty thousand of our volunteers, whose
terms of service will expire by the middle of the
present year. Would Mr.. Alspaugh have the Con.
vention dissolve, and leave this work unperformed?
Again, the Convention has commenced the work
of re writing and condensing the Constitution. 1t
is very important to the people that this document
should be put in such words and in such shape as
to make it plain in all its provisions to every voter
in the State and it is important also to revise and
settle it now such firm and just foundations that
the people will not be troubled again for many
years with propositions for amer dments to the in
strument or for Convention. Virginia has just
rewritten and revised her Constitution and that too
in the midst Of war, with the enemy threatening
her at almost every point; and the Convention of
South Carolina is now in session. But Mr. Al
spaugh thinks that North Carolina is too timid or
too troubled to perform this work at this time.
He must know but little of what is going on in
other States he undertakes the stability and self
possession of his own State
This outcry raised against the Convention is, for
the most part the work of persons who dislike that
body on account of its conservative character and
because il is determined as its acts will show to
protect the public treasury and keep the military in
strict subo-dination to the civil power. Specua-
tors peculators, and plunderers know that as long
as the Convention is in existence their schemes to
feather their own nests at the public expense will
be exposed and exploded, and the guilty punished,
while the honest will be protected and such as
would impose upon or neglect the soldiers, or ne
gect proper measures for the defence of the State,
also know that the Convention, acting for and in
the name of the people, will bring them to account
Hence the outcry referred to. But the State has
nothing to fear from the Convention. Its ordi-
nances and resolutions heretofore passed. afford the
best guarantee that its future action will rebound to
the good of the people It will doubt dissolve at
someperiod during the present year. but its members
are not to be deferred from the performance of their
duty by inaammatory appeals on the hastings or in
the newspapers, nor disturbed by clamors and out
cries raised by partzans and demagogues.
The CoNTRAsT-The most illustrious of Abraham
Lncolns subjects, if he were to speak and act