Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1862-01-15

the Goth November TO the 9th of December, {three
days after the return OF 1t Williams to the city,
aud the latter date, he started him to w ashing-
ton county, through the hands of the said Col Nc
MILAN, and on the way, he was confined by said
Mcmillan in Beaufort county Jail, from the 7th to
the 10th of December He was then carried, by
order Of Goo. Clark through the said MeHiLLan,
and imprisoned in the common jail Of Washington
county, where he remained until his counsel SIC
ceeded in efectng his discharge upon petition for
q hHbcas corpus heard before Judge Heath on the
goth of December.
Judge Heath, after hearing all the testimony,
which was produced against him, felt bound to de-
clare, and did declare to the large concourse Of in
dignant people that had assembled TO witness the
examination, shut there Is not only no satiyfac-
tory evidence Of treason, but tciH s1y there is
no evidence at all" The same erideRcs that ras
before Judge Hentb tcds before Goo Clark in tile
form Of dpidaUits, and he is not 80 ignorant as
not to have known, after he had examined these az
hdavits and particularly after consulting the great
light OF the legal profession of alien and sedton"
memory, that there were no legal grounds for the
arrest imprisonment and detention of Henry Am-
brose. | submit that it was his duty, as Governor
Of North Carolina, to have discharged Ambrose at
once, and not Oul " to have discharged him. but to
have reported TO the War Office of the Confederate
States, the Illegal, uniustilable and despotc as
sumption of power Of the military commander Of
the post at Washington, and to have insisted upon
his removal beyond the bounds Of State, whose
laws he had ruthessly violated and trampled under
foot Fmis it occurs to me, should have been the
action OF an upright Executive-of one protesting
the now established doctrine of State sovereignty
And MAINTAIN that Gov. Clark. by OBTAINING Am
broSe as prisoner, from the 18th of November to
the 10th OF December-by his refusal and neglect to
immediately discharge him, upon the knowledge
which he POSSESSED that he had been arrested with
out any process of law, and upon his reading the
aldaVits which proved crime against him, recog-
nZed, adopted and approved of the despotic assump
Clark, is responsible to an outraged public for the
exercise Of tyranncal power, expressly denied to
him and all others by the Constitution Of the State.
If he can with IMMUNITY uSurp the power to im-
prison Henry Ambrose, at his will and pleasure he
can, and human nature teaches he will uSurp the
power to treat others in the same manner-it may
be the reader of this communication. If he can at
his will, at the bare suggestion of 9TH
ers, imprison Henry Ambrose, the reader or the
writer of this article, any els, for three
weeks, in deroSation of the express constitutional
and statutory law of the land, he can keep US a
feon'S cell at least during his term Of Office
If this act goes unrcbuked; if it is not visited
with the righteous indignation Of the people, the
next usurpation may assume more gigantic proper
tons and the still greater and on until in
n they famIiariZe the minds of the people
with their deSpotic claim Of power, and come to
claim its exercise by prccedents being estab-
lished and then We may bid eternal adieu to the
last semhage of constitutional liberty The way
to crush deSpotism is 20 nip il in the bud.
ROANOKE.