The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1862-01-22
SPEECH OF THE
HON. WILLIAM A. GRAHAM,
OF ORANGE,

HON. WILLIAM A. GRAHAM.
OF ORANGE,
In the Convention of North Carolina, Dec 9TH, 1861,
on the Ordinance concerning the Test Oath and
Sedition.
[Concluded.l
Mr.. President, to say af this measure that
it is absurd and calculated to bring ridicule
on our legislation. and that it is unnecessary.
and will be wholly Intellectual, if necessary,
inasmuch as forced oath is well understood
to be no oath in the sight Of man or his Ma
ker. is but to characterize its more obvious
features. | am fully persuaded that abroad,
if not at home, it will be regarded as the Off.
spring Of fear. II will be argued, and the
hypothesis cannot be resisted, that a proceed
ing so universal, SO unusual, so searching, so
destructive of personal freedom and danger
Gus TO public liberty, would not be resorted
10 except in State where public sentiment
was suppressed by the high hand of force,
and sense Of danger bad driven the gov
ernment to despotism. In that aspect no
measure could give greater encouragement
to the enemy, and no libel could more deep
ly wound the sensiblllies Of the people Of
the State, or do them more gross injustice.
They have looked upon the pending contest
as foreign war. of nation against nation,
waged upon the frontiers by national armies.
But you propose By this ordinance, to de-
clare il civil and social war, in which no
mar is TO be trusted, in which the secrets of
the right hand may be concealed from the
left, until you have cleared out the con-
1.
a forced oath. Il is not enough that S5 900
men, portions Of them from every county in
the State, are in the field, exposing their lives
to the arms Of the enemy, and TO the pesti.
lence of camp and garrison, and that almost
every family has its representative there; ;
that they have submitted cheerfuly to the
burdens Of taxation, and the priyations Incl
dent 10 destruction Of commerce, and have
over and above this voluntarily and cheer
fully contributed Of their labor, their sub
stance and the very comforts Of their homes,
to give aid to your soldiers and vigor to their
efforts; that there is not cloud Of disloyal-
ty to be seen in all the horizon as big as
mans hand but that the whole people, il
NAV be with lrifling exceptions, are pressing
forward with a noble unanimity to the estab-
lishment of our national independence. All
this will not suffice. Every man must be
purged as by fire. And all for whatf The
report of the committee informs US. 1t is
ITO rid the country Of traitors at heart"
who are supposed 10 be few in number, and
will be discovered when tested by this oath.
Such doctrine, Mr.. President, is the very
bigo,ry of despotism. Who constituted US
the searchers Of hearss What government
ever undertook 10 deal with any thing as
crimes, except the overt acts Of its people.
bur the most unmitigated tyranniess There
are doubtless republicans in principle resid
ing under every monarchy IN Europe, and
there may be monarchists in the States Of
America, bur 50 long as they demean them
selves as peaceable citizens, 90 not levy war
against the State or the Confederate States,
nor adhere to our enemies giving them aid
and comfort, they pass without molestatIun,
and are under the protection of the Consti-
tuition and theiaws. II there be, as the CON-
mlttee presumes, traitors among Us, they are
not Of nv acquaintance, nor, 50 far as ! am
aware, Of nv section. But Whereyer they
are. treason is an oiiense we'll known TO, and
defined by law, and like other crimes, is to
be dealt with according to Law. And il is
quite remarkable. that while the committee
inveigh with yehemence against the despo-
tism now pracliced by the Lincoln govern.
ment in Maryland, they should bring for
ward measure equally abhorrent to freedom
in North Carolina. Sir. II such measure
prevails and Is acquiesced in, il Is Of little
moment what may be the issue Of the present
great conflict in the battlefield. We shall
in the end be in any event slaves, and pre-
sent the sad spectacle Of State throwing a.
way its liberties in struggle to preserve
them, in angry imitation OF the contagious
example Of an enemy who threw away theirs,
20 give vlgor TO their efforts for our subju-
CATION. protes, against il, as gross a.
buse, amounting in effect TO a usurpation Of
power--as a dangerous device by which q
faction may at any time perveri the govern
ment and transmute il into an oligarchy. &
protest against il 10 the name OF religious
freedom and domestic quiet--in the name oil
that civil liberty whichis our birihright and !