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


the exclusion Of all others-it presents the most
favorable opportunity to their enemies to desPon
them by gradual, insidous, and almost lmPercepu,
BILE degrees of their most cherished rights ana
privileges.
in the present war with their whole heart and SOUL
They are bending all their energies to the defeat
and emulsion from our soil Of the mercenary IN
vadcr, This is eminOnty right and proper, anu IS
lust what might have Lcen expected OF the people
of North Carolina The Yankees must be whipt-
driven from our borders-and the political indepen-
dence of the Confederate States surely established
A successful issue to the war, as desirable as 1t
undoubtedly is is far from being the sum total OF
everything that is of value to the people OF North
Carolina We have a State Constitution, the char
ter of our liberties and privileges, and OF all that
we most value as frecmen. The preservation intact
of the rights conferred upon, and immunties Sc
cured to the citizens by that instrument are OF par
amount importance to our people While would
have our citizens continue their eXertons and relax
no effort in behalf of the common cause OF Southern
independence would have them 70 watch with a
Jealous eye any, the silly Eest beginning, OF the
encroachmcntS of deSpotiSm. / know that they
have the ability themselves the utternost
in the prosecution Of the war; and al the same time
to protect their liberties against any and all attacks
from the friends Of deSpotsm. SeEpreServation
imperativey demands this at the hands OF the good
people Of North-CarOlina
|
only enemy that is induStriousy at work forging
the manacleS which they vainly expect to rvet upon
our people. We have an enemy in our midst, who,
unless dealt with in time, will prove far more dan
gerous to liberties, than the invaders This
war will have been fought in van-thiS revolution
accomplished to no puTpose-if The people OF North
Carolina continue 10 sit still and allow the enemies
of "Sclf government" to rob them piece by piece
of those same liberties and privileges for the preser-
Walton Of which they have separated from the
Yankee States and are now fighting the Yankee
nation.
The enemy to which refer is that miserable fac
ton of old party hacks-that contemplate minor
ity Of a once decent party-those "destructlvcs
and "mrrkers" who have the control and posses
sion Of the State government, aided by portion
a small portion thank God-Of the military COM
mandcrS in the State
The object Of this communication is to make
public-to call the attention Of the peOple-to one
of those inSidiouS attacks upon their rights and
liberties of which these "wOuld-be reSpOts" have
recently been guilty The 1lth section of our De-
claration of Rights provides, that warrants for the
seizure Of any person, whose offence is not particu
larry described and supported by evidence "Gre
dangerous TO liberty, and ought not 10 b granted"
The 18th section provides that mo free man ought
to bc taken, imprisoned or deprived Of his liberty
or property but by TIE law Of the land" Again,
the 18th section provides that every freeman
strained Of his liberty entitled a remedy to in
qurc into the lawfuHcSS thereof and that such
remedy ought not to &c denied or detIyed' The
18th section saws that the military should he kept
under strrt subOrdinatiOn tn, and gorerned By the
civil power" These provisions form most impOr-
tant part Of the Constitution of the State. They
are the guarantees OF freedom to our citizens.
The Governor Of North Carolina sworn to sup.
port the foregoing sections Of the Declaration of
Rights in common with the rest Of the ConStitu-
tiUn OF the State. HoO has he performed this SOL
ema obiigation? answer. by impriSoaiEg in COM
iaHS free citizen Of this heretofore free State
from tie 20M or Norember TO the 2oth Of Deem
Jer 1851 Of his o'cn ,ciW anil accord Joitlout any
lcdrraht hnUiHg Issued for his arrest isithOut
hariHy er'r informed the prisoner cf :he offence
mith Uhich he ,n0s charged, and nhhOHt he himcelt
(the Gorernor being in possession Of ANY erideRcc
to support ANY criminal charge against him and
by encouraging, dbettinJ conRising AZ and endors-
ing The UHTarrdatCt acts Of a military commander
IN approaching tie cicR by the military po,rer.
This a serious charge and it gives the writer no
pleasure to Toe compelled by Of duty to his
iellow-citIzens to publish to the world such IA
grant outrage perpetrated and encouraged by the
chief executive officer of the State, in utter con-
tempt Of the Constitution the laws Of the State
and Of his Official obligations; and were not the
writer impressed with the belief that this outrage
is but the beginning Of series Of flagtiOus abuses
Of power, tending to the complete overthrow of all
personal liberty, he would cover this offence with
the mantle of charity, and be silent.
Now to the facts On the morning Of the I'd
day of November last detachment Of soldiers act
ing under the orders Of that distingHisked dId en-
ineRt Georgia la,eyer, Col. Robt McMillan-the
presiding genius the military post of Washing
ton, after riding through a drcnchng rain-storm
for sixty miles on the previous night arrived at the
humble dwelling Of Henry Ambrose, in Washing
ton county, and in pursuance Of orders from their
Wystrious departmental commander arrested said
o,A hat o ~
of Plymouth, and lodged him in Jail. The next day
they carried him to the town OF Washington, and
delivered him to their chiodtric superior in person,
and by that dignitary was carried to the common
Jail Of Beaufort county and imp isoned with the
highly honorable declaration to the jaior, that he
this Majesty intended trying the prisoner for trca-
son, and did not intend that any lawyer or lawyers
should have any thing to do with the case. There
Ambrose remained incarcerated rs feon until the
2Sth Of November, entirely ignorant of the Of
his arrest and Of the charges against him, except
what he could infer from the jaIlor's reporting to
him the declaration aforesaid of this modern Ly-
curguS. Mr.. Ambrose is poor man and an gno-
one, but he is natiUe of the heretofore free
State of NorthCarona, and the air of freedom
which he had breathed from his BIRTH had so far
lightened his understanding, to induce the belief
that though poor and ignorant he entitled to
those rights of freeman, trial by his peers and
the benefit of learned counsel, and he was suspi-
|, ciOus that laws which had protected him from his
birth, slightly differed from those apparently en-
tertaned by his learned captor he therefore, through
the medium of his friends, procured the services OF
North Carolina lawyer to try and ascertain the
charges preferred against him, and to effect his lib
Grafton. His counsel having made two Intellectual
attempts to obtain for him writ of hdbeds corpus,
on the evening of the 9th of November, prepared
another petition for the writ to be presented to
Judge Heath, who expected in that town on
the next day. The chiraLric Colonel aforesaid suS
pecting some such movement goes to the jallor and
asks if any proceedings were being taken with the
view of obtaining writ of habsas corpus for AM
brose? He was replied to atfirmatvely, when, 10
and behold! between the sun of that day and the
next this immaculate military gentleman, remem-
bers he has an order a reek old to send Ambrose
to Gov. Clark at Raleigh-and when Judge Heath
arrives in MaShinntnn which he did the next daY