Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1865-03-07


protect either life property, and its soldiersi
who have left the front without discipline con-
troll often unite with others protesting to be i1H
service and wearing the dress Of the soldier, pass
ing over the country in numerous bands, robbiDgE
our citizens and destroying their property. El
While the old men and boys of this State, leaye
ing important home-intereSts to suffer- have beer
obliged to take up to resist the enemy, thot
| sands Of young ableboded men OF this ana otheE
| States between eighteen and forty five years q I
age are protected by Confederate authority, on az
| count of their wealth or other influence from sell
vice in the field and under pretext of some nomk
nal employment for the government, are allowed %
remain out of the reach of danger, and devote mes
Of their time to their speculationS or other Inc
| vdual pursuits. Xxi
Our financial affairs have been unfortunate
! administered, that currency IS worth very IL |
tie in the market and our public faith has been 80
| frequently and wilfully yolFed, that 1t VIII let
| with great officially that can re-inSplre Off Il
| people with confidence in the pledges of the gof-l
| ernment 1t is announced the future policy Pt |
eae financial department to issue no more treasury
NOES, and to receive nothing else IT, payment 81 4
public dues till the quantity is reduced to heal ~
| circulation. This would be beneficial to the b u
| erslJf the nOtas. AZ the armies to be ~
ldRed, hUTeSer5 x Ucss sTJ.5-TTzz.s
OF dollars per annum, the announcement leaves no
doHbt that it is to be done in a great measure by
seiziag property and paying for it in certificates
or bonds which will not pass currency or in pay
! ruent of taxes This would be little better than
| lcEaLzed robbery, and il pract ed long by any
! government will drive the people TO revolution
! the only means left of throwing off intolerable
| burdens.
BY its CfIort to grasp absolute power, the policy
Of the Confederate administration is SO repugnant
! to the feelings and spirit of free people, that it
has driven our men to despair, to delinquency and
| drsertOn, till the President has informed the conn
try in his Macon speech, that twO.thirds of those
who compose armies absent, most of them
| without leave. IL this be true, it shows a lament
| able want OF PATRIOTISM and courage on the part of
the people, unwiSe and injudicious policy on
tie part Of the administration, which imperilS the
! very existence OF the CorfederaCy and calls for
! prompt and energetic action on the part Of the
people to compel change of policy, which, if
| longer persisted in, must end IN utter ruin.
Ii planter who has hundred faithful, trust.
worthy hands upon his farm should employ
overscer to manage it, and should visit it at a crit
iaal period of the crop and find that two-thirds of
his hands are, and for a considerable time have been
absent aud that the crop is being lost on that
count; lie would doubtless decide that the policy
OF the vas runous to his interest, and dis
miss him without hesitation. The people of this
Couic.cracy have employed agent to conduct for
them n wsr for the deareS: rights of freemen and
have placed at his command subject to the
StraintS thrown around him by the constitutional
charter aud the great principles of personal Eber-
ty which lie the foundation Of free government,
hundreds of thousands of gallant, self sacrificing
citizen soldiers ever took up aims in righ eous
cause. lie has adopted policy which has ignored
personal liberty ard the ri ht Of citizen soldiers to
g into the fed in organic atoms and uadcr officers
af thCir'ovn choice. who have their respect and
confidence. The result has been as our agent tells
Us, hat twO-th!rdS of these soldiers absent the
larger portion without leave, at time WREN their
absence eudangcrs oar existence as people What
;hcn is the duty Of me people Of these States? The
answer Is plain They should compel their agept
- change his policy which t:c.s free citizen sol
Gic!S .sn.ing toy IIncrtl s'ii>, aud 20 oS<TTe
the great principles for which we took up arms, or
they should resume the military powers with watch
they have clothed him, and place them in other
haidS where they Will be used as well Tor the pro-
lection of the rights and liberties of the citizen
for the achievement OF Neutrality-suspicious. of thu Con-
fedcracy. Without this change of policy the ar
ies cannot be recruited to the necessary number,
and both liberty and independence are last 30
gether
t This ruincuS policy of the administration finds
no Justification in the constitution of The country.
, From the organization of the government of the
United States to the disruption of the Union, the
uniform practice was call upon the States when
; more troops than the regular army needed to
furnish them organized ready for service. This
they could readily do, all the machinery of the
State government could be brought to bear ~ bring
then out Instead Of enrolling officers of tie
trial government imported among them whom they
know not and who were not in sympathy with
them all the militia eli and civil officers of the
! counties, who their neighbOTs and friends, and
whom they are accustomed to respect and obey,
e could be charged with the duty Of aiding in the or
gpn'zttion. Not only so, but they were permitted
TO be under officers Of their own neighbCrHoOdS
, usually elected by them, aud 20 go with their own
neighbOrS and relatives their associates aud COM
f radeS in This not only the practical and
successful mode but it the constitutional one.
That instrument declares that Congress shall have
! power to provide for organizing, aTming, Ind dis
[ ciplning the militia, and for governing such part
of chem may DC employed in the service of the
Confederate states r'Serving to the States respec
lively The appointment of the officers, and the
tlorIty Of training the militia according to the dis
| cipiiue prescribed 10y Congress.
, Pending the consideration of this paragraph in
5 the Convention which formed the Constitution of
the United States, Sir. Madison moved to amend it
1 by inserting after the words deserving to the
States respectively the appointment of the officers"
r the words under the rank of genera officers"
The amendnent il adopted would have left the
States appoint all officers under the rank of Gen
era and the federal government TO appoint the Gen
' erals But Jealous the States Of the power
r and patronage which this would have given 10 the
federal cXoCutv2 that they rejected 1t by ihe vote
of all the States except two; and reserved to the
+ States the appointment of all the officers to
mand the militia when employed in the service of
the Confederate States the Constitution has solved
that doubt. II says
, A we'll regulated militia being necessary to the
security of free State, the right Of the people to
a bear arms shall not be iufrngcd" Hencot is plain
that the word militia and the word people the
, same, apply to the persons, and used as
synonymous terms. 1t Is clear, therefore, that the
, States have carefully Reserved the appointment of
the officers to command their arms bearing people,
r when employed in the service of the Confederate
s | States
If the President has adhered to this mode of rails
: ing troops as Mr.. Madison who prominen Mt
: mrmbcr Of the Convention which famed the Consti-
lu,ion did in the Of 1912, his patronage in the
army would haze been snail, If on the other hand
= the Constitutional mode laid aside, and conscrip-
: ton adopted in lieu of it, giving him the appoint
neut of all the officers his patronage was IMMENSE
: 1t it said about six hundred regiments, or enough
Of organized troops to make that humber have boon
received into Confederate service from all the States
y Each regiment has ten companies, and each compa-
ny four commissioned officers or forty company off,
to each regiment, making twenty-four Thousand