Year: 1863

9nst', upon motion to print the coTrespondenee


0et0een HIS EreelLency, GoU. Ktrnce and the


non Jas; d; Seddon, Secretary Of Var, in reLG-


tSon 10 the hd6eGS corpus and the claim of the


Conjederate government to eonscript militia


officers


Mr.. GrsSom said the correspondence lust read
and the history Of several startling events connected
with the subjects of which it treats admonsh US Of
purpose on the part of the Confederate admins
tratlon to disregard not only the decisions of our
courts, but also to construe for itself all questions
touching the liberty of the citizen 1t is the first
time in the history of this or any other people,
Where the great landmarks of English freedom are
regarded that the great writ of right, secured by
Magma ChGrtG, has been trampled under foot with
impunty. Surely no people, not having lost all
love OF freedom, can tamely submit to such aggres
sion as this correspondence discloses on the part of
high official functionary and his subordinates.-
Where is the necessity in this great struggle for the
maintenance of our rights to sacrifice any one of
them among ourselves especially the most sacred
the most importantP Deprive US of this great land
mark-the right of the accused to be heard and to
have meted out to him impartial JUSTICE establish
the right on the part Of any petty military tyrant
to seize any citizen upon any preteXt-to ncarcer-
ate him in a dungeon and close against him the
courts of justice, and then the last hope of liberty
is gone and naught is left to live for The bold and
unwarranted attempt to strike down our judiciary,
as developed by this correspondence, indicates a
rapid and gigantic stride towards military despo-
tiSm.


What reason can be urged for withholding its
publications.? Its sub ecL matter involves the most
sacred rights of the people and touches the sOver
eighty of the State and for this reason the people
are entitled to see it.


But few days since Confederate Colonel re-
fused to allow the Sheriff Of New Hanover to pass
his lines to execute writ of hdbeGS corpus. Sew
era instances of the rearrest by subaltern officers
g
L am informed) by the express order of the Secre-
tary of War himself have recently occurred. Such
arbitrary exercise of power by the highest civil or
military functonary in England would not be tol-
Grated to-day. 1t would shake that ancient and
powerful kingdom to the centre Wellington,
flushed with victory and crowned with laurels, re-
turning from the field of his triumph over Napo-
leon, would not have dared to exercise such power
or deny this right to the humblest soldier that fol-
lowed him from the scene of his glory. But we are
told in this correspondence that the crude opin-
ions of our local Judges not to be regarded by
the military authorities of this government, and
Gov. Vance is by innuendo reprimanded for not sup
pressing the expression Of these opinions. Who
are these local Judges, whose crude opinions are
thus to be disregarded9 They constitute the Supreme
Court of North Carolina, and have entitled them
selves to the lasting gratitude of the country, for
the manner in which they have discharged their
duties regardless Of powerful adverse influences.
Notwithstanding the assaults of oligarchs and pet
ty tyrauts, the subservient tools of power, who im
pugned their loyalty and appealed to the worst
passions of the country in assassnlke attempts to
stab their character, these Judges have stood like
a wall against the onward march of military des
potsm But for their timely intervention, and the
strong arm and stout heart of our patriotic Cover
nor, the Goddess of personal liberty before whom
the judicial ermine has always trailed with rev.
erence, with her spotess robes and golden tresses
all torn and disheveed, had ere now been polluted
by the lecherouS embrace of the clovenfooted Sa-
tyr Of despotiSm. Thank God for the integrity and
independence of our judiciary! With what meian'
choly contrast do we view the official conduct of
another Judge, holding an appointment under this
government which he held under the oLd and which
he only relinquished long after the Infamous and
high-handed proclamation of Lincoln, demanding
troops of us to subdue our Southern brethren and
coerce independent States He glided out of his
position in that government to the same in this so
gracefully that by q very slight stretch of imagi
tion we might have heard the clinking of Federal
gold IN one pocket, while Confederate Treasury
notes rustled in the other. This distinguished
functionary while this beautiful metamor2hosiS
progressing desired to apply an odious test oath 10
the lips of the patriotic fathers and mothers of our
brave boys who stood like wall of fire and of bay
onets between US and the enemies Of our country.
More recently, when asked for writ Of hd6edS cor
pus, he declined to grant it for the reason that his
mind was made up, and it would entail unnecessary
expense on tie applicant This correspondence re-
veals the purpose of the administration TO claim,
and, If possible to exercise the right to conScrpt
certain classes of State officers and thereby to
tAolish principle that might break up the State
government and blot out its sovereignty. Its ex-
ercise was prevented only by the frmneSs of Gov.
Vance in resisting these dangerous encroachments
upon State rights.


Gentlemen oppose the publication because this


NprfI1-
Carolina which, coming from high official quarters,
they fear may damage her reputation. There is
nothing new in these complaints. Many OF our
own unworthy citizens emulate each other in at
tempts to sully her welearned laurels, and TO hold
her up in an unenViable light to the gaze OF her
Confederates. A yfew desertions are magni6ed into
proofs "as strong as Holy Writ" of the existence
of a wide spread feeling of disoyalty in the State.
For the cupable conduct of onlya few of her troops,
North Carolina is held to the strictes accountability
and subjected to unqualified SANDER and abuse
singled out for especial opprobrum while the SOL
dicrs of other States, more deserving of censure,
have the mantle of charity thrown over their faults


The pages containing her history in this struggle
however, are too bright-too glorious to suffer
through the detraction of witlings and scorners--
North Carolina has sent seventyfour thousand vol
unteers and fourteen thousand conscripts to the
field Has any State done moreS Eighty eight
thousand of her sons are now barring their breasts
to the enemy, or sleep in the graves to which their
patriotism has consigned them. The bones of her best
citizens have bleached on every battlefield from
Big Bethel to Charlottesville. They have every
where broken the ranks OF the enemy and snatched
victory from the jaws of defeat They have crowd
ed the road to death as if it were the high way to
festvity and mirth. Yet all this has not saved her
from insult and injury. Why is it that in the ap-
pointment of Generals to command these troops, in
many instances, our own officers were put aside to
give place to those from other States? Why IS 1t
that in one of these appointments, Major General
was appointed, who, in an official communication
to Gen. Lee, spoke of this Legislature in terms of
dersion as the "nnenaOra6le" Legislature of North
Carolina2 2. Why are the various post appointments
among us in the Quartermaster and Commissary
departments filed by citizens Of other States to the
exclusion of ours2 Why the attempt in a measure
successful to force enrolling officers upon US from
other States, to the neglect Of our ownG And why
could there not be found in all North Carolina a