Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1862-01-29
Our Masters.

PIE nave clothed the Convention with supreme
legislative, executive and judicial power" -
This is indeed giving tangible form to the claim
TO Kill and make alive" It's asserting power or
! rather powers which the people never thought of
comforting upon the Convention. 1t is an assump-
ton of the broadcast and most unlimited character
for it assumes the existence of despotiSm without
check or balance control restrain. Are the PEG.
pie prepared to see seated permanently in Raleigh
! body claiming to grasp in its hands all the
powers of the State unreStrained bv the Constitu.
ton, unchecked by the Judiciary, and welding the
| energies Of the eXecutveS
We beg Of the Convention to bc warned We
beg of its members to watch closely the moves of
ambitious managers We beg them to believe that
the people are not blind to what is going on Let
not the members of the Convention keep their eyes
closed. There must be an end to usurpation of
powers however technically claimed, and there will
be rctrlontlon for eseEy attempt even to grasp
theu--every assertion eva of despotic power, in.
dlcating as 1t does eager itching for its posses
slon.- " Wilmington Journal.
The foregoing dolorous appeal against despotism
is from quarter from which better things might
have been expected. The Editor of the Journal is
wSll-intormed, intelligent person. not easily inla.
chceu ny sensation movements and apt to estimate
things at their real value and he Aaoaes that there
is no danger that the State Convention will attempt
to exercise despoc power. 1t does not follow that
power Is despotlc because 1t is supreme nor
the members OF The Convention alter the fact that
the people, in their own name and for their own
purposes, have committed to them the exercise of
supreme power. Thus far this power has been
sparingly and wisely used The members of this
body are themselves too true to liberty and Justice,
to attempt any thing which might even SAVIOR of
desposn; and besides, they know their time is ne
cessarlly short, and that any despotc act on their
part would be quoted as precedent by others, and
thus they might in the end fall victims TO usurpa-
tons OF power which had been begun by them
selves But we beg pardon for appearing cren to
argue the question No intelligent person believes
that the Convention has usurped power, or that it
is deSpotic body
But the :t'u11.M has not only made a charge
against the Convention which he cannot, as an in
teillsent person, believe but he has taken the ber
ty OF gaIbling language from the Standard on which
to base this charge. The Editor quotes just enough
OF our language to serve his purpose, and there he
stops He stops, too, in the midst OF sentence, as
We vii! show. We said
candidate for the Convention in Forsyth, takes the
ground That the Convention has no power to egis-
late; and that that body ought to dissolve.
Now, lii tee first place il is only necessary STATE
TO show the taiacy Of NJ. AlSpaughs opinion, that
the peO.J pie have clothed the Convention with Su-
pretne legislative, executive and judicial power
which power must be exercised for the people, and
subject 10 their will"
The reader Will see that the material, and indeed
qualifying portion o! the sentence is omitted by the
Journal the Editor was not willing that his read
ers should see our declaration that the power re-
erred to "mnst be exercised for the people, and su6
jsct to their ,ciH" We declared and still declare,
that the peopls are above the Convention; but the
Joarnal would have it that VIC regard tic CoGren-
ton as the paramount power. Is it fair thus to
garble language and msstate the views of a cotem-
porary? The Journal knows it is not.
So far as the power referred to is concerned, and
which is barely alluded to i'll the article from which
the Journal made its garbed extract, We fully and
cordially concur with Gov. Graham, in his recent
speech on Test Oahs and Sediton." We concur
with him that
"If this Convention like French national AS.
sembly, to declare itself in permanent session,
/ and arrosate all the powers of government it would
give Ieater shock TO pubic sentiment and make
no more dangerous stride towards despo;sln, than
would be effected by the passage Of this The Test
OATH ordinance. 1t is true, there have been con-
fded to extensive powers, but they delegated
powers, and must be exercised not whmslcaly and
tvranncar but in conformity with those elemental
nv principles of freedom and justice on which are
founded our American system of Constitutional
government. Il these are violated it is usurpa,ion
our psrt-an abuse of power equal to usurpa-
ton, and for want Of other remedy it NAV expect
to provoke that old and primary Of resistance
on the par; CT the people. When elected to these
seats in the month Of May last, We were not under
stood to be placed above out Of the reach Of the
well known responsibilities Of the represent tive to
the constituent body"
This is, III substance the language we have uni
formy held in regard to the powers of the Conven-
| ton Mr.. A!spaush had taken the ground that the
! Convention had no power to legisate. We replied
that the Convention could if it chose to do So not on
ly legisate, but control both the judicial and execu-
tive departments of the government. Who disputes
! that? That what said, but we added that
the Convention must do every thing " for the peo-
pie, and subject to their aoiH" And then the Will
mngton Journal garblcs our language, and goes to
work to prove that We had claimed despotic power
for the Convention and the Editor. plunging
himself into the dismals, proceeds to "warn" the
Convention against ITSELF and the people against the
| Convention as despotic body and the Convention
against 1.-THE moves of ambitious managers" This
is complimentary, truly. The Convention is man.
| aqed, is it. Mr.. Journal7 Now We know of no one
more "ambitious " than the Editor of the Journal
lie is very ambitious and very managing but
we hope that, in the future, he will be more "ambi-
tious than he has heretofore shown himself to set
| forth the whole truth on public questous and to
deal Justly and fairly by his contemporaries.
| We beg leave in conclusion, to repeat what We
said in our article of the Sth instant from which
the Journal has made its garbled extract:
This outcry raised against the Convention is,
for the most part, the work of persons who dislike
that body on account of its conservati character
and because it is determined its acts will show,