Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1865-02-03
Correspondence of the stsndaid.l
SuILIvAS's IsIAK s. O.,


ed to the last extremity, the honor u the South
upheld, at the expense of human blood of course;
as also that independence iscertaid and assur
ed, provided we will only hold out malully, until
next summerl Just so. We were inforhe in 1861,
that foreign intervention would positively be ten
dered armed mediation was to have SFept away 1
and overcome the last vestige of opposition to our
system Of self government, lurking in TIE hearts of
our now belligereut friends-thes dreadfa yankee.
What is generally understood by. those pnekneyed
wa:chwords Liberty "FreeJiom,p YEquality"
and "SeffGovernment" Will any lilD dispute
that was to sn ,iatents and purposes lconsistent
with wisdom, free man previous to the ibaugura-
ton of this dsmonse war? Axsolder fls then a
rdTa dUiS, the passport system anSua4 excres-
ceace OF. cthe effete despotsms Of at aarchical
Europe. The Press was free. sAlnne4aoA4id aee
-deSaend-As-eeIl5ds attacks on private character;
each man, woman and child under his or her own
vine and hg tree, spoke and acted as they saw fit;
none to Check; no sword of Damocles hanging
over their heads; fear of Interior consequences,
lurking like demon of evil in their untrammeed
minds. Were we not, as citizens of the once
happy, prosperous and powerful United States,
supremely happy and blest even beyond our
merits =? This country was then garden Of
Eden ; blooming, luxuriant free, happy and
content. 1t has been said, however, and with
a considerable show Of TRUTH that it is exceedingly
hard to rule prosperous people. Led on by blind,
fanatical philanthropy, the North made war upon
our Institutions; We revenge the insult by nursing
the most Iabid, sectional prejudice; haunt our ban
ners aloft inscribed "Cotton is Kingp and patri-
otically declare that it is quite easy matter for
one Southerner to annhate with his chiValrous
fire, at the lsweSt estimate five plebean Yankees
Is it not evident that all this has it origin in igno
rance in wilful pride, in the most contemplate Of
human emotions, overweeniDg egotism, falla
cious self conceit? We have paid the inevitable
forfeit of our insensate folly in rivers of blood heca
toTbs Of slain, in tears, and sackcoth and ashes.
Is it not quite time after such an internal carnival
of woe, devastation and inefable misery to disabuse
our minds of all those horribly fendish passions,
and consent in the future to be ruled more humane
ly by the superior prOmptngs olintelgence Chris
tiauity, and mutual forbearance? We cannot exist
as free people with the Yankees, our determined
avowed and eternal enemy, unless by the most
skilful diplomacy, such has not Illuminated our
past annals. There must always exist an undying
deathleSs, irrepressible aDtagonsm between slave
and free institutions. Grant reality the inde-
pendence Of the South. Will we have Tennessee,
Kentucky, Maryland, or those twenty five counties
in Northwestern Virginia within our limits? Will
we hug the confident assurance to our hearts that
New Orleans is once more the emporium Of the
South? The North will and must, for her own
selEexistence, possess the free navigation Of the
"father of waters" Shall we recapture New
Orleans and deny them this privilege? When
We are long ways yet from the grand ultima
tm, but then we are so brave! However,
granting the independence of the South what is her
present actual territory, and what do we have p
An imperial Southern RepnhliGi ma. at sr Re-
cause we are still antagonistic to the Noria; and
must ever remain so, as long as allow our minds
to be inthralled by narrow bigotry, sectional
hate, and low purblnd ignorance. Establish the
independence of the South, and our first neceSsi-
ty as a people is a standing army Of 300, 900
men always provided we make our terms,
as this insensate has been prosecuted under
the influence Of hate, malice, mad ambition, and
sectional Iberality. II stands to reason that the
North will never wholly rel;nquish this pet scheme
of our final subugation: She will of course main
tain large standing army as contingency of her
peculiar relations towards US; and we, in the very
nature of things are forced to follow her example.
Prom whence will we recruit this army? Not by
foreign emigration we have long since declared
this to be impolitc, and it would be, perhaps, a
really dangerous condition to have 100000 drilled
foreigners continually under arms within our midst.
Not from the free colored population. They would
not be reliable in case ofemergency nor would that
mode of life suit their peculiar tendency. Wen,
them from orr native population by draft? 2 In
no other m amer could we pretend to keep stand
ing army up to the proper numbers at once relia.
BILE, polite, and efficient. We have this pros
pect immutably certain an adjunct of self
government standing army Of 100000 men, at
an annual cost of $500 900 900. Does any one dis
pute these predictions If so, let him but refer
to the annual appropriations of tho United States
Congress for the maintenance of the army in time
of profound peace And it is not sufficiently evil
dent that we have, in fact, sold glorious birth
right of freedom for paltry mess of pottsge, then
condemn your humble servant for an unmitigated
foo.or false prophet. With standing army such
as here hint at, it Is simply preposerous to assert
that we can hope for any other system Of govern
ment here than military .despotsm such as Rus
STA or Austria.
Had We been allowed peaceable secession, such
as was so confidently and sagely predicted un-
doubtedly, we would have sprung forth rival of
the North, and always equalled, if we did not uti-
matey excel her. in the grand march Of Civilization
and modern refinement. That hope, however, is
long since exploded allScy sickening, terrible
river of blood mantles the two sections asa fearful
harbinger or "reminiscences Of past woe, Of future
/ misery!.
Evidently, then, we have but the one alternative
to disabuse our minds of this long nursed fallacy,
| our infinite mmaculateness as a people and allow
| our leading men-or force them If the necessity
presents TO arrange an honorable peace with the
United States bearing ever in mind the fact howe.
| ever homating to our egotism, that the people of
the Northern States are in every respect our equals
and in no wise more to blame for preciPitating
this unholy upon this country. than ourselves.
Is it oversteppng the TRUTH to assert that the South
no longer reposes full and implicit confidence in
President Davis and his omniscient clique of ia
| rites at Richmond | notice in to-days Mercury,
an Article headed " Hurrah for jeff Davis hurrahr'
thereby treating a burlesque or bufOon, one
whom the best blood of" Dixie has been shed to
uphold in his present dangerous pre-eminence.-
We canpot drift on in this bloody whirlpool much
longer. Reverse the picture, turn the other side
and suppose that when Gen. Lee fought the battle
of Gettysburg, he had been completely victorious
and from thence continuing his triumphant march,
had planted his standard in proximity to Niagara
Falls; or on the summit of Faneuil Hall What
would have been the resutp Would we not
have been duly electrified" in stentor tones !;
would we not have proclaimed to the world in gen.
era and ourselves in particular, that we had con-
quered, subjugatsd, yea, annihilated the North !;
that henceforth and forever they were by right Of
conquest our slaves our minIons or subjugated al
lies2 And has Sherman and his cerulean hosts done
any less2 Is he not monarch of all he surveys 2"