Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1865-01-06
For the Standard.

| For the Standard.
81 am told thou calpst thysef king;
Know, if thou art one that the poor have rights;
And power, in all its PRIDE is less than justice"
"'TwiIt kings and tyrants, there's this difference
/ known,
Kings seek their subjects good, tyrants their
1 OUR"
I call attention to the following, from the late
message of Gov. Smith, of Virginia:
J. "At this time the pressure of the service inspires
"a very common desire to escape from it; and the
remedy by hGbsas corpus, designed for extraordina
ry acts of official tyranny individual acts OF OPP
PRESTON is daily resOrted to- to extrcate the citizen
from toe holy duty of defending his country. Law
yers of every degree hie to the feast thus spread
| before them, and Judges chambers and in court
feel constrained to apply the writ to those but little
better than moral deserters from the standard OF
their country, and at time, too, when she is strug-
Cling in death grapple with her gigantic foe But
|do the judges agree among themselves in a uniform
! application of the same principle? In North Caro-
lima exemption assumes the broadest form, while IN
Alabama a much narrower rule is adopted-and
even in Virginia some differences exist But all,
believe, concur that the judges have the right to
pronounce who are exempted from military duty by
reason of their Office notwithstanding the Legisla
ture and the Executive may entertain different
! opinion. 1t does not matter what the Legislature
may declare by law-it does not matter who the Ex
ecutiYe may deem necessary to enable him to see
the laws eXeCuteQ-l0e court
better than their coequal and co ordinate depart
ments, what is necessary to preserve the State gov
ernmentsl Against this enter my firm yet re-
spectful protest"
When first read the above, found crowding
upon me, words of the strongest denunciation; but
| proper self Prospect will induce me to use terms
more respectful than the author has any right to
claim.
He begins by saying, that there is Every COM
| mon desire to escape service"
Who are the subjects of this virulent attack p
The few base deserters in this as il every war p
Not at all-that is not what he means. For he says
the desire is not one, as deserers are rare,
but common one-"a Gerry common desire to eS-
cape" Does not every man know that this IS un-
| trueP If desire to escape service is common
among our people, then a want OF patriotism IS
commOnl To say which, of our self sacrificing and
brave people, is gross injustice. But suppose the
fact were So what right had he to be telling the
enemy of itp Did he not know that he was in
drum beat of the enemy, and that what he said
would be read by them before the ink was dry?-
That Grant would have it read at dress parade, with
an exhortation to cheer up for that the rebels
all tired Of the service and were trying, with the
aid of lawyers and judges, to avoid it? How i'm
prudent therefore, to disclose it. if true how infa
nous to alege it, if false
But where is it, that this strong desire to escape
from service exhibits itself? Is it everywhere, or
conf3ed to some sections? Or, is it worse in one
follows: "In North Carolina exemptions assume
The broadest form" &c.
OIL of course. In North Carolina every thing
that is meanest is "native there" North Carroll
mans! ye sons Of god-like men what are ye
now? Sunk so low that even Extra Billy assumes
to stick pins in you! What avails it now that
Gen Lee said, "Virginia has done well, but North
Carolina has done better?" What avas it that
President Davis, in his late passage through the
State, said at Greensboro, "your State has been
maligned," and at Salisbury, "slalder has been
uusy against her?" What avails it that she never
shirked a duty, deserted friend or feared a foeg-
What though she were perfect! how can she sur
vive the charge of baseness, made by one who
knows so well what baseneSS means, that he can
tell it instnctively? | saw serpent strike at a
lamb, aud it dedl How can North Carolina -be
more spolleSs than lamb, or any Serpcnts fang
more poisonous than Billy'si Only to have bad
her name in his mouth, though he spat it out i'm
mcdiately, would slime her over forever! Poor
North Carolina must die But dying she may ex-
claim, ct tn brute! Ny sons have defended and
Al --Ia nog defending your capita4 I'D ~ their
yalor YOU are saved Let tn Brute! e. tn Brute! q!
The means by which so many lid to be en-
deavoring to escape service is the rit of hGLedS
crpus And Imust call attention to this StateSman'S
idea of that writ. He says, the writ was "desgn-
ed for extraordinary acts Of official tyranny" For
official tyranny merely, there is no redress, and
ought not to be any The ordinary official tyran-
! nv of sciZng the persons of free citizens without
regard to age SEX and without even the forms Of
| law, and confining them in dungeons forcing
them into the army, when they are not liable by
any law are trifeS trifes for which this great
! writ was never intended 20 afford any redreSs!-
The tyranny must be "ertrdOrdiaIy" before the
citizen can be heard to complain against the con-
duct Of officials True, this was not always the
case True, there a time when, for free man
TO say, 81 am Roman citizen" made any official
trembie that so much as had his hands upon him
Ii, Io1or r1fa1o sf0re
thought that the official tyranny OF unJustly de
: mandng twenty shilling tax; or, Still later, o
/ demanding trihing tax on tea, demanded redress
and even resistance to death. Trde, we were borr
of such men. But oh how degenerate. Now
official tyranny is allowed justified! And to Visi
it with even the gentle process of the court is +
avoid holy duty!" Tyranny, so odious in an.
form and'in any degree must not be spoken agains
by citizen, lawyer, judge, until it becomes s
extraordinary" as to ill the measure Of this in
satiable gornand, Extra Billy! When would eve
lie think official tyranny "extraordinary?" Whe
would ever he cry, hold, euough2 When did b
ever? A little more !-something extra! has bee
5 his gluttonouS screech from childhood And now
: he would cry, lay on strike harder!-bes
down tear l-crush h!-manglel And would hi
to the feast of human torture, until he would Ii
down and belch up blood like Cyclops! An
even then, doubt whether tyranny would reac
his standard of extraordinary"
But such is not, and shall not be, the spirit
! this country. Liberty, Personal Liberty, is nam
so halowed, so embalmed by precious memorie
that, while time lasts, it shall last. Pyramids ma
crumble and drift in the waste of sandS-mountair
, may wear away by the winds of time-and Tin
itself grow weak with ago-but man, the spirit
man, fresh from God, will be free Free, if it ca
be, in civilization, prosperity and peace; but if
must be, in wild woods, in the wilderness, in mou
r tains, in caves, anywhere, somewhere -
r "If I'm designed you lording's slave,
By natures law designed,
4 Why was an independent wish
Fer planted in m5 mind!
If not, why am | subject to
O His cruelty and scorns
Or why has man the will and power
O To make his fellow mourn f"-