Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1862-08-06
Moses A. Bledsoe, ESQ.

his competitor is grossly assailed In addition to
this, the last State Journal contains report Of his
speech at Auburn, the materials for which must
have been furnished by himself In the course of
this speech, as thus reported, he said:
"Why my fellow citizens, exclaimed Mr.. Bledsoe,
on that very day and the very hour on which the
battle Of the Seven Pines was being fought to up
hold the votes Of Mr. Holden and others for seces-
sion, Mr. Holden was in the courthouse in the city
of Raleigh, speaking scheming and plotting to
organize party upon principle of opposition to
the State and Confederate Governments, the effect
of which in my opinion was to encourage the enemy;
to paralyze the arm of the government; to hazard
the cause of Southern independence and to expose
our soldiers your sons, your brothers and your
friends to defeat and death, by the hand ofa brutal
heartless and merciless enemy"
In the course of the same speech he also said:
"If this party give aid and comfort to the enemy
Intentionally, they are traitors But Mr.. Holden
and his party claim to be loyal and true to the
Confederacy as you or l. Suppose it be admitted
that they have no intention of giving such aid and
comfort to the enemy and yet they see that the ef
feet of their course is to aid and encourage the
my, how much better are they than traitors They
think, or affect to think, that the organization of
Mr. Holdcn's party will have no such effect That
is matter about which there is difference ofopin-
ion ]; you can decide the question for yourselves"
Now, Mr.. Bledsoe-or Captain Bedsoe-for you
are fighting the enemy by cords, at safe distance
you have deliberately impeached fidelity to the
South, and that of your ellowcitizens Of Wake who
recommended Col Vance for Governor and the Con-
servativc ticket for the Legislature. What had we
done to you, to deserve such treatment? We had
not assailed you. Your name even had not appear
ed in paper, except as candidate for the Sen
ate Old personal and political associations had re-
strained our pen, so far as you were concerned
We were reluctant to assail and expose you. But
YOU ,couM have it otherwise With a heartlessness
trading politicians like yourself, you have trampled
upon every tie of friendship which formerly united
us, and charged US with being false to our native
land. If, in making that charge, you knew you
we're uttering falsehood, we pity you; if you
made it from passion or from Ignorance, we pity
YOU. But you knew better. You knew that that
meeting was composed Of persons as true to the
South as any among us. You knew that they had
sons, and brothers, and neighbors, and friends in
the war, aid that they had freely contributed of
their means to sustain the war. And yet you ar
que to prove that they are traitors! Wherefore!
Because they did not recommend go. for the Senate
They could not do that Captain They wanted
candidate who could be relied on to represent the
County, and not the offceholders, and SO they re-
commended COL Russ Besides, Captain they had
heard that you were for martial law and the black
flag; and they had for themselves, that you had
deserted the people, who had made you what you
were, and had cast your fortunes with the Clark and
Martin dynasty. They had heard also, that you
shade officer, had violated the spirit of the army
regulations by purchasing your supplies of coffee,
sugar, SALT and the like, at low government prices,
while the people were paying full prices for these
articles They felt that shade officers, like yourself
ought to OBTAIN their supplies as they did, and not
take them from the mouths of our sick and wound
ed soldiers. Did you do that, Captain? 1t is said
YOU did. And yet you claim to be as particular
friend G to the soldier! >ncas~~
But martial law-you advocated that. You did
it in meeting called by yourself, and your own
neighbors voted you down. Without cause, and
for no suficlept reason, you wanted % place your
neiphbors, and the people Of the County for ten
miles around Raleigh, under military masters! 1t
is reported that Gov. Clark and Gen. Martin were
in favor of this, and so were you. If you had had
vour way free white men would have spoken of
abuses in the with breath suppressed and
would have come into town and gone out with pass
es, like our negro slaves. You wanted no more civil
law because under it. the press and the people could
arraign officers who had abused their powers. II
you did not want to keep yourself you evidently
wanted to keep your associates in the government
ubore The people, The people differed with you.-
They told you, in voice OF thunder, that you were
the servants, and they the masters; and that they
| would have no martial law. They we're right, Cap.
tain. One of your constituents had just been to
Norfolk to visit sick son, and he-a man of char
| acter and free man-wasreqnired to take OFT his
hat At the door of the office of the military Governor.
Our people we're anxious to avoid this humiliation,
except in the last resort They did not want martial
law unless it should appear to be absolutely neces
sarv ; you wanted it when there was nd more ne,
cessty for it here, than there was on the summit o
| the Pilot mountain.
| The black flag-you advocated that. You advo.
Gated it when the war commenced, and during the
war. A soldier asked you on the streets of Raleigh,
last January il you were in favor Of the black flag
Yon told him YOU we're; and he then told you that
he had been your friend, but that he would never
vote for you again. You remember it, Captain.
The black flag means lndscrlmnate murder on
both sides. We are for civilized, not savage war
fare If the enemy should hoist the black flag, we
would meet him with the olack flag; but not before
The Confederate States struggling not only for
existence, but for a respectable and Christian exis
tence among nations The black flag, if hosted by
US except by way of retaliation would proclaim te
Europe that We were savages from choice, and moi
Christians Would they recognize us? Besides
Captain, you did not propose to hoist such nag
but you thought Others ough: to do it. You did moi
say '"come boys" but you said "go boys" Yo.
proposed to remain in your shade office, hundreds
of miles from the field of battle, while your neigh
bors and your neighbors children incurred the fear
full risk Of being slaughtered like sheep after they
had been overpOwered
When you we're appointed Quartermaster, we re
membered the remark of Walpole every public
man has his price"-but We believed you were proc
against at least ordinary temptation and that you
would MAINTAIN your political integrity. Some o
your friends feared for you for they felt sure tina
the office was designed only as bait. Alas tina
| Ifryy n