Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1865-01-13

diers will be crying in vain for bread. We must
not shut eyes upon the dark future but prepare
to meet its dreadful realities With earnest hearts
let US seek the great remedy for our national evils
peace!
Mr.. Speaker, there is another question of vast
importance connected with the policy Of fight
ing out the toar, to which l have already briefly
alluded, but it deserves q more extended consider
alton. 1t this war continues much longer our hoer-
ties will be gone Every one must see that with
rapid strides military necessity has advanced to
centralized power and military despotisu The three
great principles Of civil liberty, "the right OF per-
sonal security, of personal liberty and of private
property" are almost disregarded. The country
i has just been sstounded with proposition for a
complete despotism, to put all men under the con-
troll of the Executive and let him detail them TO
! special serOiee This would destroy the liberty Of
the press and these glorious batteries which have
always been the terror of tyrant would be used to
batter down the bulwarks of civil liberty which they
have SO long and SO nobly defended. 1t is proPo-
sed to detail legislators and why hat like the
4 Rump Parliament they may sanction the usurpa-
tons oftyranny. The Judges must be detailed and
thus become the plant tools Of power and like JEFF
freys win an Immortality of infamy. Preachers
must be detailed preach the tenets suited to the
political Sanhedrm, and if they depart from the
faith, their high commissions from Almighty God
will be revoked and they sent to the front to assist
in sending sinners to hell Professors and school
teachers must be detailed that they may teach in
their hornbooks the doctrine of peacea6le secession
In biography they must teach that our great chief is
the equal of Washington-that man who in the esti-
nation of the civilized world was "the first in war,
the first in peace, and the first in the hearts of his
countrymen"
/ In finance they must eucidate the new theory,
that the best way to sustain national credit is to
tax heavily and then discredt the national currency.
In history they must show the striking similarity
| tuuaa Sharmap1c frin holn in
gia and Napoeons celebrated retreat from Moscow.
In political economy they must be able to work out
| the difficult problem-how nation can maintain
a long and wasting war and at the same time put
in the military service two-thirds of the laborng
| population of the country. The poor teachers will
have very difficult task their teachings will be
! contrary to all human reason and experience, and
at variance with the laws of nature and of God
Mr.. Speaker upon this subject of the public lib
erty, history is full of solemn lessons and fearful
| warnings. 1t teaches that the night does not
! more surely follow the day, than that despotism
moves in the footsteps of continued war. The long
! extended Pelopennesian war was the downfall of
Grecan liberty. The desolations of the plague the
famine and the sword humbled the pride and glory
of Athens; and stern, conquerng Sparta yielded
to corruption. The eloquence of Demosthenes could
not revive in the degenerate Greek the spirit of his
ancestors, and he became the willing slave of the
Macedonian conquerer, and bowed his neck to the
cruel yoke of Roman bondage. The civil wars of
Marius and Sylla and of the Triumvirates destroyed
Roman liberty, and the countrymen of Brutus and
Cato rejoiced when the splendid tyranny of Angus:
tus rescued them from the prescriptions of anarchy
The patriots Of the Long Parliament were as high
toned and as chivalrous men as ever lived in any
land or any age, and they had Just and noble
cause; but long continued war Frustrated English
liberty and placed usurper upon the throne, and
after twenty years of suffering and blood the whole
country was wild with joy when even prohigate
vngabOnd and royal debauchee sat in peace and
security upon the throne of his ancestors. War
and revolution carried the infurlated people OF
France from under the mild and equitable govern
ment Of Louis XVI through the horrors of the
Reign of Terror, the commissions of the Consulate,
and the splendid and bloody Empire of the first
Napoleon, and at last they were subjugated at the
feet of the Allied Powers of Europe, and the imbe
cile Bourbon again became their master. France
never be land of liberty, for it is the land Of
blood and revoluton-of the bastie and concier-
gerie-of massacre and the guillotne. Must we
learn no wisdom from the errors, crimes and mis-
fortunes of the past? Must we re-enact the dark
tragedies of historyS Must this beautiful land OF
ours, consecrated to liberty by the blood Of our
fathers, become the home of despotism, and tn Is
furnish to tyrsns another mournful example of the
incapacity of man for self government? We must
stop this war if we would preserve the glorious
light of American liberty which has SO long blessed
US and cheeTed the heart Of oppressed and
suffering man IN every land. The peace men
may be traitors in the estimation of the "powers
that be" but they not disloyal to liberty and
humanity-to God and their country.
Mr. Speaker, have hastily and imperfectly re-
ferred to some of our dangers and difficulties in
fighting out this war speedily and successfully
will now consider the magnitude Of the task which
this policy proposes to accomplish. E..
We commenced this revolution with sisteThood
of thirteen States, and still have the represen
tstives Of that number in national councils
If we are determined to fight out this war and
have every thing in our own way, we can never
consent, with proper dignity and self respect thai
any of these beautiful sisters shall be dragged at the
triumphal chariot wheels of insolent conqueror
We must exhibit the high chivalry of the knights
f Grant of romance and surmount every difficulty
count no Odds and shrink from no danger in the
accomplishment of our purpose. How stands the
case? Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee are now
in the hands of the enemy. Arkansas and Louis
lana almost gone; half Of the sacred soil of the
Old Dominion is now desecrated by the footstep:
of the invader, and proud army is beeaguering
capital. The Northman has passed through ths
heart of the Empire State and now pitches his tent
within the gates of her richest and most beautiful
| city. The foe have strongholds in most OF the
other States. Texas alone is free from immediate
danger. If this war is to be fought out then these
States must all be redemeed by the blood Of theil
children. The old men and the boys must wiz
back the places which the brsyest army of the
| world were unable successfully to defend Without
a navy we must clear tie Mississippi and its tTibu
taries of hostile gunboats; we must retake and
rebuild the forts that guard gates to the sea- anC
we must destroy the proud Armada that now
prowls along our coast threatening with constant
peril. The prospect is a gloomy one, but still
hope that the wisdom of statesmen, joined will
the Valor of our soldiers, may save tho country
from ruin. e.
What hopes do the war men hold out to an anxious
and suffsring country? They say fight on litt
while longer and the North will break down. Breal
down in what respect? Their currency! Thi
can afford US but little hope, our own currenc.
is now twenty times as much deprecated as theirs
But say they the North will have to fill her arme
by CONSUMPTION, and this will produce a revolution
will never admit that the North loves liberty NOR