The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1866-01-17
ANOTHER LOYAL NEWSPAPER IN.
TROUBIE

ANOTHER aLOYALn NEWSPAPER IN
TROUBLE.
No more trite saying was ever uttered than
in the couplet:
"No thief e'er felt the halter draw
With good opinion Of the law
Wee the law breakers Of the land to meet
In grand convention for an expression of
their sentiments on their own morality they
would undoubtedly declare themselves the
most moral and upright class of people in
the world, and with equal modesty would
pronounce alllaws that impeded their wrong
doing tyrannical, unjust and oppressive.
We clio not care to be understood as in any
manner rejecting upon the moral honesty of
our editorial brethren, or any class of people
In this part of the country; but nevertheless
we are constrained to compare some people
to those mentioned above in their moral rea-
soning
Let US see: A certain class OF journals, al
ways making great pretensions to loyalty,
will persist in opposing the loyalpurposes Of
the government. We say the "loyal" pur-
poses of the government because, by we'll
established principle of law, government
cannot be disloyal And if government is
always loyal, those who oppose that govern
ment, or its policy or purposes, must be dis
loyal. Therefore those newspaper editors
who persist in opposing the policy of the
government of the United States which is
now the supreme power in the land-must be
disloyal, their pretensions to thecountry not
withstanding
Now if an adherence to the policy of the
government be the test of loyalty, the gov
eminent, and its agents, who are supposed to
be in sympathy with it, are, of course, the
best judges of the loyalty of the people be-
cause Of their greater ability to determine
the approximation of the people to the STAN
dard. To illustrate: The editor of the Fay
etteville Nens-a journal which, upon its
own showing, is one of the most loyal in the
| country, considered that his professions of
fealty to the government should entitle him
! to a latitude of criticism and censure more
extended than his scope of praise The con-
sequence was his arrest by the government
| authorities and subsequent bridling. The
| editor Of the Charlotte Times entertained
similar motions /; and he has not yet discov-
cred the full measure of punishment that
| awaits him for his temerity. And the list is
just now extended by the addition of the
publisher of the Goldsboro' Neaes. All these
| papers, on thir own pretensions, were loyal;
but by opposing the policy Of the govern
ment incurred its displeasure and brought
trouble upon their own heads.
1t is very clear that the standard of loyal
ty established by each of these journals was
satisfactory to itself. Undoubtedly each of
| the editors referred to considers himself in
jured by the course of the government to-
wards him. 1t may not be amiss for us to
add that, although we have never sympathiz-
ed with the course pursued by these journals
neither has the arrest oftheir editors accord
ed with our views of propriety. We look up
on their hostility to the government as alto
| gether too insignificant to attract the notice
of the governmental is the government
would have been manifesting more dignity in
declining to notice attacks from such puerile
sources. But be this as it may-it is, after
all, merely matter of opiniOn-the govern
ment has its standard of loyalty Offenders
against that loyalty consider the standard al
together unjust and wrong. We give them
all credit for honesty OF purpose. We don't
think they are morally dishonest men. They
will not lie, or steal, or commit perjury will
fully, nor cheat in horse trade, nor do any
thing else contrary to human or Divine law
if they knowit But they will persist in
being wiser than the government. Therefore
they will persist in opposing the government
Consequently they will persist in being dis
loyal to the government
When Governor Worth said, few days
ago, that he did not believe there was dis
loyal man in the State he evidently looked
upon the State government of which he wa.
| fho ufof.x
the land. He discoveredno symptoms of op
position to that government, therefore hi
concluded that the whole people were loyal
But he forgot that at the very moment al
which he wrote one of the editors referred tt
above was in custody at his capitol On 6
charge d1sloyalry to the superior power, the
government of the United States He forgot
that several gentlemen of the State-widely
known in political circles-had not yet been
purged of what the superior power denomi
mates treason. These gentlemen think they
ought be pardoned for that, in their eyes
constructive crime, and be permitted to in
dulge henceforth in continual repetition Of
such light and trifing alterations of mind
They retain the very principles they always
entertained, and considered it a hardship
that the government will not pardon them
| IcStoTc luStlu W DOSltlOuS WucTt Uuey Cdl
more infuentially disseminate those princi-
piles. Undoubtedly these gentlemen are hon.
est. But it strikes us their estimate of the
character of the laws they have offended is
somewhat analogous to that of the thief's in
the trite couplet quoted above.
Now it is noticeable fact-to return tc
the newspapers-tha each one that has got
ten itself into trouble opposed the election Of
Mr.. Holden last fall, pretending that his
competitor was more loyal than the candi
date put forward under the favoritism of the
government They STILL and all their class
consider themselves patterns of loyalty. And
yet, one after another, they are invited up to
the captains Office to settle some score of dis
loyal utterance. This is all very well; but
it occurs to US that the people will soon Learn
that loyalty consists simply in fealty to the
government: and that as, we may not have
our governmental relations restored until oul
loyalty is approved, opposition to the gov
eminent will not pay very we'll Wilmington
Herald.
The Ohio politicians are becoming quite
excited on the question of successor fol
Senator Sherman. That gentleman desires
to be his own successor, but he finds pow
erful rival in General Schenck, The Cincin