Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1862-09-10

Within five weeks of the date OF lts passage one
hundred and forty seven of our best trained and VIC
torions regiments would have been disbanded and
scattered to their homes And this during tho very
darkest DAYS in the HISTORY OF the war. Fort DON
nelson and Nashville had fallen; Gen. Hallsck with
an overwhelming and victorious army, followed by
vast feet of iron clad boats pressing into the
very heart of the South; the great and magnificent
IL equipped army of Mcclellan, was in the act Of
springing, as tiger, upon Richmond, and to make
his success doubly sure, was waiting for this very
thing of disbanding our regiments; Roanoke Island
and Newbern with all their dependencies on our
coast were in possession of the enemy as was much
Of South Carolina and Georga-ust imagine the re-
sultl- The Confederate government having failed
to provide in time for this terrible emergency utter
ruin was at the door and must BE- averted the law
was passed, and the country saved 1t fell har-
dest upon the patriotic soldiers in the field-they
had already served twelve months, most OF them
without fuTloughs, and they had looked forward and
counted the DAYS slowly revolving as they seemed
to the time when they should see home and all that
was dear to them. Sorey they disappointed, but
how did they behave? Resist the law, as with arms
in their hands and doubling It's consttutionalty they
could have done? No, indeed; they swallowed down
their bitter sorrow they dismissed all hopes of see
ing their homes and families, grasped their muskets
and set again their resoute faces toward the fash
ing of the guns. God bless them for it! An exhi-
btion of purer patriotism has not been seen on the
continent and our government can never sufficiently
appreciate it.
remember, with a thrill of pride, the conduct of
the gallant men l so lately was honored by COM
handing They too, were discontented, and spoke
loudly and bitterly against the harshness of the law
called them together and simply laid before them
the necessities of their country, and appealed to
their patriotism to sustain it; made them no prom
ises, held out no hopes; l even told them that
| though they were promised furloughs by the law,
49, hat hora
before them but fighting and suffering. They qui-
city dispersed to their quarters, and IN four hours
the regiment was reorgan!zed for the war! This
will answer for history of our whole army.
If they who went out first and have suffered and
bled from the beginning, could thus submit oh 7!
Cannot those who have so far reposed in peace in
their protected homes give the remainder of their
| time to their country? Our brave regiments have
had their ranks thinned by death and disease will
you not all go cheerfully to their help? They have
struggled for you and now you needed to Strug
gle with them. Let the law be executed impartialy
upon all, rich and poor, high and low.
Any proposition for the further increase of our
army should, and under our present prosperous cir
cumstances might safely be treated with more de-
liberation, and that method sought out which would
| be mos: acceptable to the people Then let those
of US who remain at home bend every energy to the
task of clothing and feeding defenders in the
field and providing for their wives and children -
They should constitute our first care. All the
fruits of the earth should be saved most carefully,
retrenchment and reform should begin in our house
holds and extend to everything public and private.
Now is the time for imitation of that heroic self
denial by which our mothers of the first revolution
rendered their names worthy of a bright place in
history and doubt not shall see, We have seen
examples in North Carolina that will put boast
ed manhood to shame.
Fellow citizens there are also other dangers which
ba-at ich frnp no fnn
Bloody revolutions have necessarily q chaotic ten
dency. Yielding ourselves up gradually to martial
law-accustoming ourselves by slow degrees to sub
NIT to the exercise of arbitrary power in our militia
ry leaders, and looking with less and less concern
upon the disordered morals which state of war al
ways must produce, we may endanger both civil
liberty and the framework of society. The time
honored principle in the charter of our liberties,
that the military should be subordinate to the civil
authorities" should still be honored and maintained
1t should never be departed from except in Of
most obvious and uudeaiable public necessity, when
the safety of the State would otherwise be impcr-
lied. 1t was won through centuries of strife by
our English, and rebaptizcd in the blood Of our
American ancestors. Exorbitsnt grants Of power,
to any man or set of men, are dangerous in the ex
treme The generations of the earth have seen but
one Washington, and the sun may pursue his great
journey among the stars for many centuries before
his counterpart is seen among the sons of men,
The Judge, the Magistrate and the Sheriff should
travel regularly the path of their accustomed du-
ties, and all respect and obedience yielded them
custom for which the good name of North Carolina
has become proverbial. Let all the complicated
machinery of the law with the numberless auxilia-
ry organizations of society be kept in unremitting
action. Beware OF infringementS thereon under the
plea Of necessity none has ever been found so
plausible and specious by which to rob the people
of their liberties 1t is the complacent excuse of
the despot the world over. The people must keep
watch at this post. Their officers responsible
to them, and must be held to strict account. So
far as am concerned, next to the preservation OF
the State itself, shall regard it my sacred, para
mount duty to protect the citizen in the enjoyment
of all his rights and liberties.
Most assuredly nothing can be done by our rulers
unless we give them cordial aud hearty support.
beg it at your hands, felow-citizens, in the great
task which you have set before me, as shall rem
der it most cheerfully to those by whom it is ex-
! pected of me. Without it, shall be utterly pow
| eress. Yet that slavish subservency to those in
power, which Injuries both gver and recipient is to
| be avoided and despised l shall need true friends
manly friends who will both warn and censure, as
we'll as praise when it Is due, and with such shall
find my labors lightened and the path Of duty less
| difficult.
We have every reason to believe that the great
heart of the people of North Carolina is deeply de-
| voted to this struggle. None in the Confederacy
nave maze greater SacrlnceS 10 MAINTAIN IL, ana,
am convinced their patriotism will not fail. Our
intrepid and heroic soldiers in sister States
though praised with grudging spirit and often
overlooked or quite slandered, have yet borne oul
standards with undying glory in the front of every
deadly charge, and death has spread no feast tc
which they have not sat down by hundreds. The
spirit of our glorious women has exceeded, if posi-
ble the gallantry of soldiers in the field. Gag
laws, test oaths, and sedition ordinances, have
thank God, been. uncalled for; and mob violence
that dangerous offspring of revolution, has beer
equally depressed by the conservatism of people
things let all good citizens exert themselves.
Feow-citizens, the future depends on ourselves
The skies are radiant with the signs of promise i
we do but hold faithful to the great work we have
undertaken. Our victorious Generals are every
where driving our enemies before them, and the