Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1863-01-14
The Richmond ENQUIRER.

The Richmond Enquirer.
The Enquirer says sit is only upstairs and pro
tenders aud persons and communities without claim
to solid respect who may be expected to tortafe.}
themselves with doubts as to their position. and 70
be ever jealous watch for some slight or indigni
IT," 1t then adds that the Standard "maintains
such dishonorable watch" over North-C Carolina,
and that one Of stereotyped phrases is, we |
suppose as it is North Carolina, ii is all right"
The Substitute agent" of the Enquirer has no /
doubt felt, in his own person, what it is for pre-
tenders to put airs in the presence Of the FIRST
families of Virginia" Hence his allpsion 10 such
Sou. of the fullness of the heart the
mouth speaketh."
We now say, in reply. to the Enquirer, and our
readers will sustain US in the statement that no
State has more fully confded in the administration
at Richmond than North Carolina, and no State has
been more studously or coldly neglected Hatteras
was lost for the want Of troops and competent
General. Roanoke Island, the key to the Abe
marie Sound and to Norfolk, was lost IN the same
way. Generals would not risk themselves on the
Island. A mere Colonel, without experience, was
obliged to assume the command. The Qualifications
and the troops were insufficient, and part of the
troops were COMPELLED to fight with muskets whose
locks would drop off on parade; and so the place
was lost. The crafty and unprincipled person who
then presided over the War department. shrugged
his Jewish shoulders when he heard of it, and sald
it was small matter and it is believed that Presi
dent Davis himself improved the occasion by cast
ing imputations on the courage of North Carolina
troops on the Island. A committee of the House
of Representatives unanimously, after full investi
CATION decided and declared that Judah P. Benjamin
and Gen. Huger were mainly responsible for the
disaster; but the President soon after promoted the
former to be Secretary of State, and retained the
latter in the service Newborn also lost for the
want of troops and competent General. Our sea-
coast has been seized and the country for than
fifty miles inland ravaged, for the want of troops.
All those rich regions watered by the Albemarle
and Pamlico have been overrun and are now held
as the result Of the fall of Roanoke and ie~bern.
And recently Goldsboroush was almost in the grasp
of the enemy. What saved it? 3, Not preparations
| in advance-not a disposition shown by acts to
drive back the enemy and protect our people, but
the fact that the Railroad on which Goldsborough
Richmond. Troops were poured forward it is true,
but they were not so organized and provided with
supplies and transportation as to be able to pursue
and cut off the enemy. Gen. Smith was no doubt
hampered at every step for the want of supplies and
transportation. He could fight the enemy at White
Hall and Godsborough, and he would have whipped
them more soundly than he did, if they had ad-
vanced further; but be was poweriess to pursue
them, and they returned boasting Of the effects Of
their raid to prepare for another movement on a
larger SCALE If the regiments Of State troops
which the Conservatives desired to call out had
been raised, and had been at Newbern, they would
have saved that place. They would have saved
kinston when recently attacked If they had been
at Goldsborough, they would have cooperated with
Gen. Smith, under the orders of Gov. Vance; and
provided with means of. transportation as they
would have been, they could have pursued and de-
tstroItss lie .e-,ihg ait'y fost,r. SUIT tiis
measure was defeated in the Convention by the En-
quirers friends the Destructives mainly if not en-
trey because the appointment Of the officers was
not given to them, but to the mcn composing the
regiments.
All this and more, our people have borne almost
without murmur. But insult to large majority
of people has been added TO neglect by the sys
ternatc manner in which partizans have been ap
pointed to mi'it.ry.as we'll as civil Office in this
State by the administration Political General;
and Generals from other States, have been PLACED
over our troops. Veteran officers who could dat.
their claim to promotion from the first battles il
Virginia, have been subordinated to political &c
nerals without experience, AMI to Generals selected
from other States. North Carolina at one time hat
voice in the Cabinet She has none now. He
Bragg is no favorite Of ours, but We may say witt
truth that he is able lawyer, and well fttee
for the place. But he was only moderate seces
sionist and North Carolinian. This was fatal t
T him. He was allowed to retire with many com
pliments just as. it is sought to 'caole his Stat
with fair words, whenever her people eynce their ir
o dlgnaton at the treatment they have received a
the hands of the administration. But We are nc
, disposed to dwell upon these things, and we hav
neither unreasonable nor selfish. They have show
this under all circumstances, from the beginning
. the war. They are confidng and hopeful; but whe
? they find confidence abused and hope deferred the
not only murmur, but they begin to depend upo
themselves. If Virginia had been treated as North
Carolina has been, the Enquirer would have deve
ted each Of its daily issues to protests and RI
!. monstrances, if its mouth had not been closed b
plentiful offerings Of patronage and spos. We ar
independent the Enquirer barks at such object
only as its master points out to it.
We say our people are beginning to depend upo
themselves. Hence the effort to raise the ten reg
ments. But they would not take one from Virgni,
and the ten to be raised to be rendered to tn
President, and to be commanded by Gov. Vance, i
, concert with the President, for the common deenc.
And this, the Enquirer says, is almost treason. An
because We advocate the measure, it says on
! Hhoor 10 ~, 49, H.