Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1864-04-06
For the Standard.
Gov. vance,s wilkesborough speech.

ple and impartial in its presentation or the ISSUES
before the country. Iconfess am disappointed.
The Governor sets out by saying that ne wiii 90
what is eyery rare in politician-tell the truth.
This was fine promise. How was 1t kept! put
in the next breath he admits that IN MS past
be had talked soft nonsense to the dear peoPis'
w;thont which he would not have been "such
successful sutton for political favors." 1t might be
uncbaritable to say, that the Governor feared the
eople would suppose he had come before them
with new dish Of soft nonsense, and that 1t was
important to convince them that he had ceased TO
deal in that article He invited them to the well OF
truth. but it must be confessed that if he put no
soft nonsense" in the bucket, he so muddle1 the
water as to render it unpaatable even to his ad.
mirers.
But let us see if the Governor has "told the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth
If we are to expect this "rare" virtue in any one at
time like this. surely we may expect it in dov
ernor He is the head, or patriarch OF the family.
If he speaks Of or for the condition and welfare OF
the family, he must do so candidy and justly. He
must not misstate facts, or misrepresent any por-
ton of the family 1t is his duty especially to Tex
ecute Justice and maintain truth" The Governor
who plays the partizan at the expense OF q portion
of his own friends or presents issues that DO not
exist or produces erroneous impressions as to the
feelings and designs of his own State, with the
view Of sustaining his own political views must not
expect to be treated otherwise than as politician
whose regard for candor and fair dealing is SO rare
as to have provoked his special censure:
The Governor assumes that the result if not the
object, of State Convention is to secede from the
Confederacy What is his reason for this assump-
ton? Has he private or secret information that
this is so? If he has, it was his duty to say so.
Or does he make the charge the basis OF evidence
known to- all? If so, whore is the evidence! NO
cubic meeting, no public man, so far as know,
has advocated Convention with any such view.
The Governor knew this. Wherefore, then, this
assumption, but to prejudice his hearers IN advance
against the friends of a Convention Having, as
he supposes done this he proceeds to describe the
condition of the State in the event of secession. He
says Gen. Lee would occupy the State, and that his
troops would show US no mercy; in other words,
he admits-he, the Governor of the State admits
that If the State should secede she has an un-
doubted right to do under our present form OF gov
ernment lie would sit down taInely, fold his arms,
and allow the State to be coerced! Under the cir
cumstances, coming as it does from him, this admls
sion amounts to,a threat Now, nobody proposes
to seeede-and no one knew this better than Gov.
Yance-but to admit or'Io say, that State may be
coerced and dragooned by the common agent, no
sovereign capacity is to ignore the very cause Tor
which we are fighting, and to sanction the Lincoln
doctrine. We seeded in 1861, not because We
wanted q new government, but because MI. Lincoln
proposed to the States south of u.s. and called
on US to aid him in so doing. Our State was op-
posed as we'll to secession as to coercion Both
were wrong. But the second wrong could not
remedy the evil, and so we fought against It, We
are lighting against it now. The doctrine that the
federal government or the Confederate government
must be maintained by forco against the States that
foA hose In trim
1t is nothing more and nothing less. Sorry am
| to see the Governor of Southern State an
noupcing it as against his oaon State. What
would. Virgipians say, if Gov. Smith should ad-
nit that il any event the Confederate govern
ment would be justified in coercing Virginia
What would Georgia sayt Gov Brown has already
answered in his late able and noble message, when
he claims for any Confederate State the right to de-
termine her own destiny in ner own way. He no
more proposes to secede than North Carolina does !;
yet judging from his career as State rights man,
and from the whole tone Of bis message, be has
never thought Of admitting that Georgia might, in
any event, be coerced This humiliation was re-
served for North Carolina.
By the way, Mr.. Editor, ] am more than pleased
with Gov. Browns message 1t is refreshing in
these times, when there is 50 much talk, and SO lit
tie action In support of civil liberty and the rights
of the States, to read such document We cor.
daily concur with our correspondent in approving
Gov. Browns message. We differ with him as to
the causes of the war, but we agree with him in
every word he says in that part of his message in
the Standard of to day. Indeed, we have constant.
ly held and incucsted in the Standard the views
so forcibly presented by Gov. Brown.-EDIroR
But the Governor says it is "wrong" to hold q
Convention. 1t would be wrong to hold it if the
object was to embarrass or injure the Southern
cause. But such is not the object In the language
of Mr.. Reade, in the Senate, Its enemies say il
means mischief; its friends say it does not sup.
pose ITS friends ought to know the BEST" So sup
pose: But Gov. Vance is not as charitable as Mr..
Reade is. He sees nothing but secession and coer.
cion, and civil war in the proposition. He thinks
It dangerous on that account because he knows the
object OF 1t better than its friends Go and then he
thinks it wrong" any way. tits wrong" then
to consult the people. 1t is wrong" even to per
init the people to say, ct the polls, whether they
will have Convention or not 1t is "sorong" Il
trust the people! And this from Gov Vance. Tits
from one who was once considered champion Of
popular rights. If the people cannot be trusted liz
this crisis who can? If the people ought not to be
trusted, who ought? Is the Governor wiser than
the people who elected him? Is the advice of those
Destructive leaders who are now constantly prais
ing him, and shaping his policy, and snaligning his
oid friends to be taken in preference to the advice
Of the people! The people say they want Con
ventlon, to see if something cannot be done to Sc
cure an honorable peace; the Destructive leaders
says no, fer Convention would take the State out
OF the Confederacy; the people say not so, but We
want Convention to save the Confederacy and to
save the State: and Gov. Vance, turning his back
on the great mass of those who elected him, re-
echoes the objections of the Destructves, and tells
the people 1t would be wrong" for them to hold q
convention for any purpose. And he goes further
and declares that the delegates would swear to sup
port the Confederate Constitution, and that mas
much as that Constitution provides that no State
shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confedera
ton" and as the President shall have power by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate t.
make treaties, the "moment one of your delegates
makes proposition or proffersa treaty of any kind
to the enemies of his country he is traitor by thu
law and has faresworn himself" This would bs
iorcbe if it were true, but unfortunately for tn.
Governor there is no truth in any part of the pro
position. Members of Conventions do not take
oathS tn Snnnork x,I,;,