Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1863-07-24
The Richmond Enquirer.

favor Of despotism and against liberty. Ihat paper
holds that all power ought to be vested IN 'ne
President and it declares that
"All laws ought to be silent except military law
We regard all Judges and Courts, State and Con-
federate all Congresses and Legislatures as n~'-
sance save in so far they help US to strengthen
the hands of the commander-in chief OF this Con
federacy. y There is 10 interest or institution
in the country worth mentioning now, eXcep: the
army The government Of the Contederacy is the
government of the army; aid no citizen has any
rights which can interfere with or impede its ell
cheney"
The meaning of which is that the Courts must
be silent unless they will record the edicts OF the
commander-in chief; that they have no right to ex-
pound the laws or interpret Constitutions; that
the habeas corpus, which protects personal liberty
even in kingly governments, is nuisance, anu
must not be allowed; and that civil iberty-the
right of free speech, of free PRESS and to be Sc
cure, under the law, in our property and persons
must give place to the will of one man, What
would this be but despotism? Who is ready for 1t?
The people of North Carolina have never bowed
their necks under the yoke of any man. and by the
help of God they never will Martial law, which
means the absence of law, and military law, which
military power, will never be tolerated by our peo-
pie With the Richmond Examiner we hold that
"No power in this country can put in force mar
tial law but General of an army, and his power to
do so is limited by his lines. As to arbitrary gov
ernment-that is not what the people have made
here. If arbitrary power should be inaugurated by
the action of clique, it is revolution, and the death
of the Confederacy. How many would uphold it
longer? The people are fighting for their consti-
tutons, laws liberties. They will never under
stand the logic of surrendering them that they may
keep them When they are gone, no matter how,
all is gone"
The Enquirer of the goth instant contains an
tcle in reply to one of ours in favor ofpesce hon.
orable terms, which we propose briefly to notice.
The Enquirer, as was to have been expected,
garbles the article referred to- and distorts it to
make it mean that we in favor of reconstructing
the old government The only reference to recon-
struction in the article intended to show that
that paper had proposed reconstruction in the event
of the failure of the Pennsylvania campaign.
But the Enquirer says, "if this newspaper 1.-THE
Standard did, indeed, represent, as we know it
does not, the opinion OF its State, then the State
ought to go out Of the COntsderGey and make sub
mission upon its Ot0n account" In reply to this we
circulation is constantly increasing. We do not as
sumo to speak for or represent any one; but we
have no hesitation in declaring that the article
the subject of peace so violently assailed by the
Enquirer embodies the sentiments of at least two
thirds of the people of North Carolina We stake
oursef upon it Every public man stands or falls
to the people. Let the Enquirer observe the de-
velopments of public opinion in this State, and see
whether we are sustained or not
But If our people despondent as to the future,
and if they would be glad to have peace on honor
able terms, and if they believe that negotiations
and fighting should go on at the same time-for
that is the gist of our artice-"hen the State ought
to go out Of the Contcisracy and make submission
upon its oun account" Suppose this State, thus
invited to go out, had not gone in, where would
the Confederacy have been to-day? Where would
the cotton States have been? Where would Vir-
gnia have been? Overrun and trampled down.
| Richmond would have been long since in the hands
| of the enemy, and the States south of US would
have been occupied at every point and their people
crushed into the earth. North Carolina troops
saved Richmond when assailed by Mcclellan they
won the battle of Charlottesville and during the
recent movement on Pennsylvania they defended
Richmond under Gen. Hill. Our people and troops
have done more for Virginia and the cotton States
than they have done for themselves. They hege
poured out their blood and their treasure to protect
others, while their own territory has been ravaged
by the enemy. And now, because they do not act
in such way as to please the Richmond Enquirer
in all respects they are invited to take themselves
out of the ConfederacyI They UiU do so, If they
choose, in their oon good time They will not be
| hurried nor retarded by their enemies.
| The Enquirer regrets that the President has no
power to suppress the Standard We tell that
paper that even if the Congress should again sus-
pend the habeas corpus the President would have
no such power for the Bill of Rights of this State
declares, that the freedom of the press is one Of
the great bulwarks of liberty, and therefore, ought
neUer to be restrained" No matter what the press
does in this country it is responsible only to public
opinion so far as public affairs are concerned, and
to private individuals whom it may wrong, in dam
ages Our "local Judges" with their "crude opin-
ions," would sustain the above provision of our
Bill of Rights at all hazards; and worthy Gov
ernor would sustain the Courts. We do not fear
the President 1t is true, he has the physical force
at his command to suppress the Standard; but if
he attempts it he will be met with physical force,
and revolution in this State will be the result.
But the Enquirer, admitting that the President
has no such power calls for mob law to destroy our
establishment. 1t says, "to destroy the Standard
would no more hurt North Carolina than the cut
ting out of an ulcer would hurt living man." And
again, "there ought to be some remedy for the evil
and then it asks, significantly, why the Raleigh
Standard suffered to exist ?" We have uniformly
opposed mob law, and shall oppose it under all cir
cumstances, except in selfdefence. I'VE shall not
begin it, but woe unto those who do We are
strong in the confidence of the people of Raleigh of
Wake County, and of North Carolina; and if fin
ger should be raised against our office by the cow