Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1864-09-21
/" Restraining the Jadges."

hostralnin8 me JadSeSs"
Inc Richmond Sentinel the special organ Of the
administration, concludes long article on Tho
Future Of tbs Struggle, a. follows: g..
We bsve abundant resources whence to recruit
our ranks but We must profit by them. Ths posi-"
tcn Of the struggle, and the efforts Of the enemy,
require that We, too should add to our armies. 10
DO this, our laws must be wise and must be wisely
and faithfully executed The State Legishtures
must unite with Congress, and the war Office in
Richmond must combine with the Generals in the
Held, to break up the subtsrfuges and quibbes and
technicaties and to break down the Shelters under
which 80 many tens Of thousands are now evadlBg
their duty in the field And look a. the numbers
who are turned loose by our judges, OH mere tech
ncalitlss OF tho law, or even Of the Oonatitdtion,
which ID never to be technically construed, 1t
cannot be the purpose of the law to exempt from
military service without substantial reason
When the reason fails, the exemption 10 An Unequal:
lty, and, therefore, IN injustice The demands 81
necessity combine with those Of justice in calling
upon our authorities of the various departments OF
government, to remove all defects which experience
has demonstrated in the laws and regulations, so
that the whole power Of the country may be made
available to its defence Aud if there is no other
way Of restraining the judges isns dis5anding our
a,nies, Congress will find 1t expsdieas to suspend
'hc habsas corpus. These are times Of public
danger when wise and bold measures are necessary.
Liberty must not be made its own destroyer.
It We will employ our various resources ~ we
should 100 can mGsntdsn this the lsetipss Of
gen.rati0n If We feel its strain and pressure, our
enemies, too, are weakened and sickened, and will
sssai US with constantly enfeebling efforts. Their
army is smaller than before since the first
scenes Of the war, and they cannot maintain it even
during the last cs.ipaign--far more than their re-
cruts and drafted men will make coed. Their
present exutation besrays their weakness. We are
in no danger, if we do our duty-if our legislators
and other officers are wse and our people brave and
united. The sea is rough, but our bark is stsunch,
and will ou,rde the pillows, and glide safely into
port. Let US ask Heaven for prosperous winds and
Currents, that the voyage may be snort"
more undeserved reflection was never made
than that in the above article on the judges Of our
country. "1hs Judges" are chsrgea-not few
of them, but all-with disposition 70 disbaod our
armies and thus place US at the mercy Of CIR enc
miesl The last imminent of personal libe, ty ard
Of individual right is to be swept away and if this
can be done in no other way the writ Of habsas cor
pus must again be suspended and all power placed
in the hands of one man. Do We indeed live in q
free country, or have the days Of the Stewards 70
turned! But it seems to DO useless to protest.
Remonstrance is vain. If we plead for the exist.
of law, and for respect for the Judges, we are
told that "libsrty must not b made its own dc
stroyer," when those who mako this reply would
take the very step, of all others to destroy liberty
by putting out the light Of our Courts and paralyz
ing the arms Of our Judges, There can be no hber
" without law; and there .an be no we'll defined
or settled law without Judges to expound it,
Whittier are we tsrding,- or rather, where are We
now?