Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1862-01-15
Re.enIistment of Soldiers.

Within few months, the term of the twelve
months volunteers of the army will expire Thou
sands of our brave men will therefore be relieved
from the legal obligation to continue in the service
But will they retire from the field? We hopt not
We believe not Necessity may obligc some to re-
tire, but we hope thousands stand ready to step in
their places.
Our volunteers have had a hard lot traction,
bad food, comfortless lodgings night watchTgs and
disease have decimated their numbers appalingly.
The arrow of death sped from the guns of the en-
envy, has laid but few in the dust, but how fearful
has been the havoc of disease. Could thy have
gone orward and breasted the hail and fire of their
foes perhaps fewer would have fallen, and pqadven-
ture, instead of blockadng Washington, thy might
now be bombarding Philadelphia; but circumstances
have ordered otherwise, and now shall thy retire
and leave breach for the enemy to enter? Never,
no never. Most Of them now are trained men, in
ured to campife and ready for battle. Ons of them,
perhaps, is equal to two or three raw rGruts.-.
Shall they leave the field till the enemy IS driven
back? We trust not I
This subject is exciting much concen. Our
Richmond contemporaries are cogitating ulpn it and
giving utterance to their views The Dispatch
thinks it is now McClellan's policy to rait until
they return home. 1t fears tina. the bhtality OF
some of the officers and the inactivity of the army
have worn them out, and hence many Of them vii
return, but hopes not-nay it Indignantly reject
the idea that Southern volunteers will hesitate tc
reenlist in view Of the impending fate which awaits
the South if they do.
We fully sympathize with the Dispatch in its
views, and we predict that thousands of our brave
men will re-cnist to resist the invader 1t must be
done, and rely upon the patriotism a,d the self
sacrifice of our soldiers, to counter to DO it.
The views of the Richmond Eaamiiarr are, how.
ever, of different stripe. With an urvonted abb
ity, edtorally, is that paper conducted but aiid-
ed with chronic dyspepsia as it is itsnps and snals
at every thing, merely to be odd. That pafr
scouts the idea Of begging our solde, to re-enlst
1t conceives that its contemporaries ctnmit bin
der in exhorting and persuading the telve moths
men to polunteer for the war. Indeedis now SENS
to scout the volunteer system atogeaer. Mpnt-
ing its warhorse, it would have the pvernme,t to
order them to remain. 1t is mere tolyism t. ask
them to rally to the standard Of the cohtry iona.
psrte did not solicit but ordered IN to fall into
ranks and they obeyed. These arr stout words
verify from subaltern. Such senthnts car only
serve to gall and worry freeEen, not ,inspriftbem
to go forward. By the way, is tn South too, a
military despotisn? Are The frespeople of the
South under Napoleonic ruler Let OF the pvern-
ment tarn mad under the prompting Of the Eram-
sners gyrations If this be a war o the pOph, as
the Examiner insists, let it be so, all let the peo-
tple fight It out, and let them roluAeer t. do it
Appealst their patriotism will movdhem but such
hectoring and bravado win drive hem from the
field Indeed, if our brave voluntees ari backward
to re-enlst, it is, doubtless NOR tle result Of
harsh treatment from officials, whchthe Esant
liner has been forward to rebuke, than from any
want Of patriotic devotion to the interests of the
country.