Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1864-06-01
'N;ort5-:Garalina stanhar1
REMARKS OF MR.. GRIssOM,
or GRANVILLE, =


81. REMARKS OF MR.. GRIssOM,
-ss or GRANVILLE, 80.
Upoa the adoption of the Majority Revolutions
in relation to Tubeas Corpus. in House Of
Commons, Wednesday, Nay %, 1864.
Mr. Grissom sail, that we were engaged in
great struggle for natondl independence, cioa res
dom, aad constitutional liberty:
TO this struggle for these principles the great re-
sources of the country and the people, beth as to
blood and treasure, have been devoted with unsn.
imity and enthusiasm hitherto unparalleled in the,
history of the world
The Inauguration Of this great contest originated
not in opposition the part of the people, to the
government and Constitution of the old Union, for
they were attached to both but because their con-
stitHtiona rights we're invaded BY section having
control of the administration Of public affairs.
It is contest then for freedom as well as inde-
psnGence With this declared view of the charac-
ter Of the contest our people raised the flag Of ma
tional independence and our armies went to battle
for its defence and triumph. The history of the
ACKNOWLEDGMENT of nations may be searched through
sll time in vain for parallel case, in which pop
ular sentiment sustained, with SO much unanlmlty,
the proposed separation. Every rank and class
and condition in life, with every shade OF partizan
views and political opinions, acquesced IN the move
inent and sustained the cause Such was the unan'
unity of public sentiment that North Carolina re-
suned her sovereignty in open Convention with
out dissenting voice, and the people with one
accord set to work to make good this solemn de-
claration. The laborer quit the plough, the me-
chanic his workshop, tho merchant his counting
ROOM the student his academy, the editor his sane
tum the old man gave up with fearful but patriotic
cheerfulness his last boy, whom he cherished as his
only comfort and support, aid the widowed mother
released from her fond embrace one ay one her
sons, until she stood like the lifeless trunk Of the
tree Of the forest, leaaess aud lin bless Such
the ardor, the unanimity and enthusiasm, with
which North Caroliniaps rushed to the conflict for
national independence ard civil freedom. long be-
fore coascription unnecessary so far as she IS con-
cernea, was thought Of or resorted to- Such was
the patriotism and public spirit of her citizens and
their devotion to these grest principles, that from
every town and district and neighbOrhood in the
State, soldiers Ike EARNED men from the teeth Of
Cadmus" sprang forth with so much rapdity that
in few months North Carolina had raised, equip
ed and rendered seventy odd regiments to the Con
federacy. Of the bearing of these troops in all
their positions it would be act of supererogation
to speak Their quiet and orderly conduct in camp,
and their gallantry and daring in the field have
wrung from popular sentiment the just need Of
praise. They have rallied around the standard Of
their country with more than Spartan courage
ucy nave tHVuTeu pflvAtUIS anu SuiltTl WILL
out complaint met danger and death without fslter-
ing, and snatched victory from the jaws OF defeat
without invid;ous triumph. They have been pa
tent in suffering, defiant in danger, modest in vic
tory. They have stood like wall of bayonets and
of fire around the beeagured capital of the Confed
seracy and driven back the cruel invaders discoul
lifted. Death has held no carnival and spread TO
feast towhich North Carolinians have not been nvi
ted guests. They have crowded its path as if
no hsonu focfsr ,,ir,h Th.trh >,,a
bleach and their blood enrlches every battle field
from Bethel to those now pending.
In the great struggle now pending, whatever may
be thought Of others, 1T MAJ be asked with propre
ty, wherein has North Carolina ever failed to do
her duty? Units very inauguration it is true North
Carolina hesitated about leaving the Union for then
existing causes she was anxious to avert this
difficulty without bloodsbed upon honorable terms
guaranteeing her constitutional rights She thought
it could be done. She was slow to plunge the
country into the horrors of what she knew would
be such desoatng war, as would spread pail over
the wnoie land and bring mourning into every fam
y-rendering hundreds ofthousands Of hearth stones
desolate-flling the land with MANNED and disabled
with widows and orphans and squalid poverty
crowding her poorhouses and alEshouses-
ing hundreds Of thousands Of lives and hundreds Of
millions OF treasure until at least she had exhaust.
I'd all honorable Efforts to- obtain her constitutional
FiRuIS ny OtbeT meauS. Dut when sue HnKeO ner
destiny With her sister Southern States from that
time till now she has done her duty and her whole
duty. Let history past and present speak. Let
justice he done and no North Carolinlan will be
ashamed. But Notwithstanding all this there are
those even in high places who seem studous in
heapng insult and injury upon her. Why is it 50
Wha. gre the causess Why is she degraded and
outraged in so maay wayss In what action of her
people her authorities there just cause for sus
pecting her fidelity the part OF the friends of the
administration Is it because she complains of her
neglect that her loyalty is impeached and her fai,
name traduced by those whom, in the innocence o.
her confidence, she has trusted and honored and
whose pride and pleasure it should be to cherish
protect and defend hery" Can it be treason fol
NORTH Carolinisns to claim that she is peer among
her Southern sisters? Is it no cause, that bel
treasure has been SO freely expended in the com
mon defence and the blood of her braves so freely
shed to enrich the soil Of other States, that sht
should be considered worthy of equal honor? Car
it be considered unreasonable in North CaroIinians
to insist that they have men of capacity intelli.
gence and patriotism sufficient to fill the various
Offices in the military departments of their OWE
State, to administer to the sick and wounded anc
dying in the hospitals and in the fields, and TO leat
their own soldiers to battle and to vlctory2 Mus
integrity, ability and loyalty forever be mportet
from other States2 Will not one hundred thou
ing and writhing with wounds, or still and cold II
death, satisfy the administration and Congress a
Richmond that North Carolina is true, and coavinc,
them that there is no necessity for legislating OF
her account by the passage of such extreme ans
dangerous measures to civil liberty as the suspen
sion Of the writ OF habecs eorpusS
Can it be considered unreasonable for law Low
ing and law abiding people to insist that the grea
landmarks of freedom aud Constitutional right, th,
palladium Of civil liberty and the preserving charu
of popular government shall be ignored by tho
public servants and that the majesty Of her law
shall not be insulted BY every official who happens
to be-
fS Dressed in little brief authority"
There arc circumstances amounting almost t.
certainty, that the suspension of the wr! of habea
corpus intended by its originstors sud authors
more especially to punish, mortify and degrade
North Carolina. 1t has been more than intimated BY
one WHO'S supposed something at least of ths