Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1863-07-21
TREASON.

| making Il W;lr OF INVASION "Hicn ~ LIS A.
need and no right to wage. We are not as
sailing il, nor demanding from it anything II
.h. world save to he lett in peace. All man
| kind knows that we desire peace, but peace OF
the terms Of separate independence. On an,
other terms peace would be the peace OF sub
| iucatiou or submission; and we should hope
there are but very few Confederates in thu
world who would be willing to accept this.
| The very principle Of our whole struggle is
on our part, that these States are sovereign
and Independent. On the part Of the enemy
the principle is that these States are subordl
nate to the Federal Union, and must be re-
duccd by coercion into submission to that
Union. In short, the terms of peace offered
by the enemy consist iii an entire renuncia,
ton of our whole claim and right to indepen-
dence and sovereignty, and our return to that
| Federal domination which we have deliberate
| " thrown off. Otl terms of peace are simply
that we be let alone-that the claim of Fedc-
raj domination be withdrawn aud the war Tor
| our coercion discontinued.
| Any newspaper or politician in the Confed-
eracy, then, counsclling peace upon anything
short of our own terms-that is, short OF the
acknowledged sovereignty Of these States-ad-
vises submission pure and simple; advises
that we suffer all the toll and travail we have
undergone, all the tears and blood our chill
dren have shed in this cause, to go for nousht
that we let the earth cover it, and then for
&c, it for crer-that we acknowledge the deed
so solcmn!y done in quitting the old Union to
be 4 crime aud that we hand ourselves over
to be punished, or forgiven las the case may
bel by our justly offended Sovereigns. This
we call treason, Of the blacklist dye. at Il
moment when we are calling forth all our en-
crgies to resist potent invasion which avows
the intention to Scourgc us into submission
and plumber US to the last acre, such poisonous
counscls are calculated, and must he intended,
to dispiris our troops, to promote dHsertion,
and create sort uf base and craven spirit
that would bring lis to the feet Of our enemy,
whipped disgraccd and crying for mercy.
Unfortunately, there is in the Conicdcracy
one such miserable wretch at least. 1t is the
North Carolina Standard" We have named
it with strong rcprols,tion before, but always
with repurnuuce: because such notice may
shew To our foes that tie Couicderacy has such
sore on its body pclitie--anI because it may
also give 10 that reasonable paper more impor-
tance and no,or;ety in the C"nfeIcracy than it
IS entitled to: also, because such reprobation
nj This "S.aularr' is always sure To lie con-
strrcl and represented hy it as an attackupon
the State Of North Carolina, whose gallant
soldiers are now doing their deroir in all the
Confederate armies, for the Confederate cause
and for the sovereignty and honor of their own
great State The Raleigh AStapdard" is not
North Carolina-no more than Brownlow is
Tennessee. TO destroy it, would no more hurt
North Carolina, than the cutting out of an
ulcer would hurt living man. Such cutting
out is all that he needs 10 be restored to vigor-
Gus health.
Now read specimen of what this newspa-
per is saying and repeating day by day:
But we have no idea that we can obtain
peace upon our own terms.''
Our own terms being the independence Of
the Conlederacy no more and no less. Again,
in the same article
eve spoke Just now Of the worst Detailing
our people as the result of this war. What is
the worst? Itwould be the condition of pro-
vincial dependence on the Federal Govern
ment, each State being ruled by Il military
Governor as Tennessee is, and the emanclpa-
ton and arning Of our slaves in our midst
That would be the worst. If the war contin-
ues is it not likely that this will happen p
Judging the future by the past-and we have
no other means ofiudging-we fear it will
What then: Must we rush On to our doom?
Must the sword still wave. and the strong arm
Of physical force still exert itself, and no et-
fort be made by mental and moral means to
close the war? Why, North American saw
ages sometimes bury the tomahawk and meet
together TO smoke the pipe of peace. Are we
of the North and South-Chrstians as we
profess to be-more savage than the savages ?"
If this adiuration to smoke the pipe Of
peace were addressed to the foreign enemy, il
would be, although useless, not reasonable
Confederates; and as the unfortunate writer
declares he has no idea that We can OBJ
tain peace upon our terms, why, he re-
commcnds that we obtain it upon our cne-
mv's terms-in other words, that we submit,
yield ourselves up, rescue or no rescue, and
then sit down and placidy "smoke the pipe of
peace" \ handsome figure we should make
before the world
Denunciation is not to our taste. This
STANDARD comes to our Office day after day;
and we often forbear to take it to task for its
cowardly treason; but as the struggle with
our enemy becomes closer and more desperate,
an intestine traitor like this becomes more and
more intolerablc. lie is as mischievous as a
man who should openly preach in loud voice,
and in the midst of Gen. Lees army, mutiny
and dcsertion. There ought to be some RENE
dy for the evil--sOme arm powerful enough to
gag the criminal.
In the Confederacy, up to this time, there
has been no censorship or restriction of the
Press: and it is one of our boasts that our
people are so united and their spirit of patri-
oiism so high, as to make such proceedings
needless. Even when the power of suspend
ing the habeos corpus was in the hands of the
President, he never deemed it expcdient to use
it against the Press. But if the last Congress
had passed, as it ought to have done, and rs
its predecessors had done, the bill authorizing
such suspension. here is precisely the case in
which tile power ought to be used. AT pres
ent there is no legal authority anywhere to
| make IN example of this Standard :" and un-