Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1864-10-05

corpus without action of Congress.
/ These high-handed proceedings have no
parallel in the historySof this war. The
Yankees have warred On our women and
children, and all good men, everywhere,
hate and loathe them for it; but this,isthe
first instance in which any public func-
tionary, civil or military, has warred on
his oscn women and children. Sherman's
brutal order expelling women and children
from Atlanta robs them only OF thalr
homes and property but here women and
children are deprived of their liberty and
subjected to "torture" without the shadow
of law or authority for the preceding
To those prominent citizens who are now
writing to US from different counties about
these outrages, we have no answer to
make. We and our friends are powerless.
Bayonets ruled in North Carolina in Au.
gust, and they rule now, and we only re-
member the healthful operations Of the
civil law as>among the, rubbish Of the past
an indistinct dream or a half forgotten
nursery tale. Our friends will remember,
however, what we predicted relative to a
reign Of terror in the event OF certain
things happening, and do us the justice to
concede that all which we prophesied and
more, has come to pass, and that much
sooner than we supposed OF predicted.
We will say no more at present, but the
following letter from a Western county
will show that we have abundant materla!
at hand to call forth the remarks we have
made. The writer is no imaginary char
lo SH.
crecy. He is gentleman Of high char
acter, and when the General Assembly
meets we trust that his voice will be rails
ed in that body in defence Of the weak
against the strong-in favor of civil law
and personal liberty against nsurpers and
tyrants. We append his letter and ask
for it careful perrsal:
CIVIL LIBERTY. GONE.
MIR. EDrroE:-Every true friend Of Civ
il Liberty, everywhere, in Europe or
America, how looks upon "the torture "
as the foulest stain on ancient Jurispru-
dence. King James II, Of England, has
obtained an immortality OF intamy tor the
use Of which he made of it during his adj
ministration in Scotland previous to his
accession to the English throne. lie IN
Aicted upon all State prisoners, or those
whom he suspected of being privy to any
conspiracy against the government, all the
horrible and exquisite tortures OF which
the rack, the boot and the thumb-screw
were capable. In England this horrid sys-
tenn never obtained the sanction OF law or
prescription. Yet during the worst days
of the Iudors and STARTS it was OCCASION
ally inflicted upon the State criminals in
the tower. The fact that it was thus used
has ever been deplored by all wise and
virtuous Englishmen, being regarded by
them AZ one of the darkest stains upon
their country's history. The glorious rev.
o!ution of 1858 rid England and Scotland
of this foul excrescenco forever. 1t is
never mentioned there now but with alb
! horrence, and no one supposed that 1t
| would ever again be revived by the An
glo-Saxon race in any part Of tile world.
But in this they were greatly mistaken.
This relic Of barbarism has again, in the
high noon of the 10Th century, been ill
troduced into Conservative and liberty
loving North Carolina, and that, too, it Is
said. by order OF Gov. Vance. 1t has not
only been introduced in North Carolina,
but it has been introduced i'll far worse
form than it ever existed in England and
or Scotland, for it has been done under
the auspices of the military authorities OF
the State. For the last three or four weeks
the militia or Home Guard have been
hunting deserters in the Counties OF For
syth, Randolph, Davidson, and perhaps
others, by order of Gov. Vance, and have,
especially in the counties of Davidson and
Randolph, been arrcsting and imprisoning
helpless women in order to ctnepI them
to give information as to the whereabouts
of their husbands, brothers, sons or sweet
hearts, who are deser1ers from the army
endeavoring to force them to do by 1o7.
tire what it is in many instances impossi'
BILE for them to do This they say they dc
by order of Gov. VANCE, who has promis
ed "to stand between them and all dam
] ages" I obtained my information from
an intelligent Justice Of the Peace, him
self engaged in the business, who assured
me that Gov. Vance had given such order
and used the precise language quoted
above. The order has been vigorously
executed, and women, it is said, who were
in that situation in which they are emit
tied to be treated with peculiar tenderness
have been arrested with others. In some
instances thirty or forty of them have beer
huddled together in an old school house
and kept guarded for several days.
Harborng deserters is undoubtedly /.
crime. but not one of those great State
crimes which the torture was used to dis
close in England and Scotland several cen
turies ago. If there is evidence to ilnpli
cate any parties in the crime Of harborin.
= deserters, let them be arrested at ono,
upon. a warrant issued by magistrate
and bound over to answer for the crim
before tie proper tribunal, or be commit
-, ted. And, above all, let the Grand Juror
do their duty. In one Of the above ma