Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1864-02-12

TX,
honest men, whether saint or sinner, to see
the systematic, unjusti6able and malignant effort
now being made by certain presses and persons IN
North Carolina to destroy the character and useful
ness of those, who presume to exercise the rlghuS
guaranteed to them both by the Confederate ana
State Constitutions; it would seem on unpardona-
BILE sin in the eyes of certain persons and presses 10
doubt the llibility of our public men or the wisdom
of their acts
had supposed, until recently that 1t was not
only the privilege but the duty of the public press
to scan and scrutnize the acts OF our public men Tor
the good of those they represent without the FISK
of mourning the mputatiOn either OF improper mo-
tives or treason free press and free speech is tne
palladium of our liberties they are the life blood
of freedom, and yet those who have drank
at the fountain seem anxious to blot it out and
substitute in its place despOsm more to be dread
ed than death.
appeal to those prompted by such wicked mo-
tives to know if the tide of events might not so
change as to bring them under the ban of their own
folly and madness. Little did Haaman expect to
pay the penalty of his own life under the gallows
he erected for MOrdeca, yet it was so; such char
acters are too ignorant or wicked to appreciate the
blessings of civil liberty. The public press is the
crucible within which analyze the acts ofour pub
lie servants; it is the reflex of public opinion upon
the wisdom or folly of men ndmeasures- Blot out
the freedom of the press and the effect would be
sentatiVes. Our acts are judged of by the good or
bad effects they produce on those they intended
to operate on, and how can the effect produced be
arrived at but through the influence of free press
and free speech? Bgots and knaves alone would
presume to set themselves up rs censors OF the pub
lie good without knowledge of the facts in the case
and how these facts to be arrived at but through
a free press and free speechf What is the object
of the discussions in Congress upon the various
propositions laid before it from time to time, but to
analyZe them to expose the weakness or welcomes
of the one and the wisdom of the other 2 Surely,
the most benighted and serVile partizan would not
insist that every measure introduced by its NOM
bers was conducive to the public welfare; such
view of the subject would mantle the cheek Of an
imbece with blush.
How are our public servants to know the good
or bad effects of their acts upon the public but
through the public press? Take for example the
tithng law: it has been amended and so modified as
to answer the purpose for which it was designed,
and at the same time promote the public good. Take
again, the odious twenty negro feature in the con-
script law How could the Odium attached to the
measures have reached the ears Of Congress except
through the exercise of free press and free speech
Yet there mendicants at the footstool of power
base enough to charge those who exercise these
rights with reasonable designs against the govern
ment Oh shame where is thy blush2
The servants of the people have nothing to fear
at their hands as long as they prompted to pat
rotic motives in the discharge of their duties free
press and free speech is their lamp by night and
their light by day; and desire on their part to
avoid public censure is evidence to the minds Of
those they represent that there is a conspiracy
against their interests and rights.
1t is melancholy and humiliating fact that there
presses and persons in North Carolina so blind
destitute Of principle and devoid of shame that
they would endorse any measure of Congress and
the administration, be it so absurd or wicked
they have sold themselves for less price than a
mess of pottage. Such men are not only dangerous
to liberties, but they are the worst enemies to
those they profess to represent An administration
that drink in the fulsome f1tteries from such
corrupt source, is not fit repository of the rights
of freemen.
Much has been said about the suspension of
the writ of ha6eas coTpus That it is clear Con-
sttutiona right to be exercised by Congress in time
of rebellion or invasion, when the public good re-
quires it none will doubt. To Justify the exercise
of the right it must be shown beyond the shadow
of doubt, that the public good has suffered A sup
posed necessity in the future, based upon contin-
gences that may never occur, will not Justify the
act; suspension under such circumstances, would
be as palpable violation of the Constitution as it
would be to suspend the writ when neither rebellion
nor invasion existed. We trust the Executive will
not condescend to write his name on the page of
history by the side of Abraham Lincoln, even should
Congress- in her mad folly, perpetrate the foul deed
Let us preserve rights while we are fighting for
our liberties, and it will be glorious record for our
posterity, that we have maintained the landmarks
OF Washington, Jackson, Clay, Webster, and a host
OF others who fought and bled for civil and religions
liberty LEACHBURG.