Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1864-06-29
FOr Tue Standard,
10 Gov. Vance a Conservative

II 0Ots v0uCo q COuSeEV8uyef
This is an important question and demands
thorough and impartial investigation, for the Gov
ernor was elected by the Conservative party and
be still claims their support while his acts and
speeches upon the grest questions Of national and
State policy which SO agitate and distract the pub
lie mind, have placed him in an opposite and most
absurd position to that party. 1t is we'll known to
the most casual observer of the history of the last
three years, that North Carolina, by avery large
majority, refused to leave the old government upon
the issue made by the secessionists, the simple
election of sectional President. And she persist.
entity held on to her position in the old Unon un-
til another and quite different issue was presented
by the commencement of actual hostllities.
The cotton States hsd seeded, and Mr. Lincoln
ignoring State sovereignty and oversteppng all the
constitutional limits Of his Office, called ont large
force with which to coerce them back into his gov
ernment, and North -Carolins still being member
of the old Union, was Of course called upon for her
proportionsble share. This was the issue upon
which North. Carolina seeded She did net be.
lieve the simple triumph of . sectional party fur
nished sufficient cause for breaking up the gov
ernment, nor was she willing to engage in bloody
and ruinous war upon mere abstraction, but when
her honor and dignity as q sovereign and indepen-
dent State was insulted she no longer hesitated.
Her citizens true to their iustrons ancestry, have
always held these in higher esteem than life ITSELF
North Carolina then seeded upon point of honor
and State sovereignty, and having taken this step
she at once united her fate to the newly. formed
Confederacy. She pledged her all of everything
except her sovereignty and the personal liberty Of
her citizens to its support and nobly has she re-
deemed the pledge. ...--'-
This, Mr.. Editor, was her position three years
ago when she seeded; this was her position when
she elevated her Chief Magistrate to the highest Of
fee in her gift, and this is her position now. But
where does Gov. Vance stand? Most certainly not
with the Conservatives, but with Abraham Lipcoln
on the secession question and with Jefferson Davis
on the questions Of consolidation and the suppress
sion of civil liberty.
In his 'Wilkesboro' speech from which he can
never extricate himself he argued at great length
that the Convention movement in the State meant
a Withdrawal of the State from the Confederacy, in
which event it would be- both the interest and duty
of the President to send an armed force into our
midst to force our citizens into TERMS notwithstan
ding there is clause in the Constitution specially
providing for the withdrawal of State at will.
Thus Gov. Vance advocates the very doctrine Mr..
Lincoln has put into active operation and which was
the sole cause of our secession
North Carolina did not consider the issue upon
which the States south of Us seceded .. sufficient
cause for separation nor would she ever have sece
ded had not Lincoln committed the overt act-sn
act of infdelity against her sovereignty as free
and independent State. And now, strange to say,
Gov Vance advocates the very same action on the
part of Mr.. Davis in case we should attempt to seek
through separate State nationality, what to all hui
man appearances we are likely to lose under the
existing compact the great boon of State rights and
personal liberty, purchased for US by our Revolu-
tionsry ancestors through 50 many years Of blood
and suffering. :.
In addition to the coercion doctrine the Clover.
nof quietly submits to oil the entertainments of the
general government upon the time honored safe
guard Of constitutional liberty, IS if they were
houses of sand to be built up and torn down at
pleasure
The President asks for . law conscribing the
Governors Of sovereign States and all their subor
dinste officers, and the placing Of the entire male
population of the country under his control, to
come and 20 at his sovereign beck, together with .
full surrender of the agricultural and mechanical
interests Of the country to his own supervision and
dictation, and Gov. Vance tamely submits, knowing
ct the same time that thousands of bushels Of wheat
must rot in the field as consequence, and that in
the present year extreme suffering If not starvation
must ensue as the legitimate result. He solicits
law a,bridsing contracts and depreciating his o~n
currency, BY forced Loans and the like. and Gov
Vance SAYS all right He demands and obtaias {
suspension of the writ Of ha6eas corpIs and cen.
centration of all power legislative and judicial ani
executive. in the hands of his own Royal Hikhness
and Gov. Vance says amen, and reminds his hearers
that the Kings name is q tower of strength. -
Whether His Excellency will approve the hst gross
attempt Of the President to ebttn his anssl salary
Of $s5 900 in gold do not kaow, but tsom eertaia
legislative action It looks as if he at least had
hsDkering after little Of tae yellow dust ALSO L
was we'll the House rebuked the Senate Of the Con
federste Sta es in this matter for they hd alread
endorsed this proposition Of he sident and oal,
the Aruness Of the former bedy prevented its pas
sage. The Senate acts hut g the register Of tn
| edicts of the Executive. q -.-
Now, Mr.. Editor, p. The Zee of all the foregoinl
improprietiss, and thu aRpspens inper fectiens o
| our supple and plant Governor, so1s persons ar
foolish enough to o,aim Cox. Vance as "simo'
pure'' Conservative # this be %, if Gov. Vanc
| is Conservative - b Jeh Davis, j p. Benjamin
W. w. Avery, Gov Bragg .Dd others, who helpe
70 destroy the old Government and are now fas
!hsstenipg the .aM one u destruction.