The Greensborough patriot [May 7, 1861]

              ■
a
*k
n
•
VOL. XXIIL GREENSBOROUGH, N. G, MAY 7, 1861. NO. 1,138.
(t\t (Bmnsbarongjj patriot.
PUBLISHED SEMI-WEEKLY, BY
SHKKWOOT) & L O NO,
EDITORS AND PROPRIETORS.
TERMS: *2.0* A YEAR, IX ADVANCE.
collectively and not individually. An Union
of the States, containing such ingredients,
seemed to provide lor its own destruction.—
The use of force against a State would look
more like a declaration of war than an in-fliction
of punishment; and would probably
be considered by the party attacked as disso-i
lution of all previous compacts by which it
I might be bound."
RATES OF ADVERTISING IN THE PATRIOT. 'General Hamilton, speaking or. the same subiect, said : "Bat how can tois force beex-
0» dollar per square IgteM week »dimi£.. / d h gu collective^ ? It is ito-five
cents fur every week thereafter, LWIHB I.IM.> OB
Lias making a square. Deductions made in favor of
standing matter as follows:
3 MONTHS. 6 MONTHS. 1 TEAK
One square, $C 50 5-0 50 &S 00
Two siuares, ? 00 10 00 14 00
Three « 1000 1500 20 00
Governor Ellis'* Message.
To the Honorable, the General Assembly of
North Carolina.
The safety and welfare of the State, in
my judgment, demanded that you should bo
convened at this unusual period.
At the time of your adjournment, six of
the States had, in the most solemn manner
known to our institutions, withdrawn them-selves
from the Federal Union and establish-ed
a Confederate Government, able and de-termined
to main', .in it"? independence.
Whatever difference cf opinion may bave
existed as to the wi&Jom of the successive
steps taken by those State 1, it wf* generally
conceded in North Carolina that tney could
not rightfully be constrained by force to re-main
in the Union.
You wco greatly divided in opinion as to
the right of a State to secede from the Union,
and also as to the expediency of exercising
the right at that time, admitting it to exist;
but all admitted that if conciliatory measures
should fail to restore the scc3ding States to
the Union, thev should be pormiued to with-1
draw in peace. Probably not one of your |
number ever believed that the Federal Oov- \
ern *ent would ever be guilty of the wick-edness
of drawing the sword without having
first tendered the olive branch.
The right now asserted by the constituted
authorities of that government, to use a mil- j
itary force for the purpose ofcoercing a State
to remain in the Union against its will, finds
no warrant in the Constitution, and still less
in the principles on which all our Republi-can
ins•itutions ?-e bavd.
Ours is a Government of the popular will,
and not of force. In its Consuuceion the
consent of the governed was substituted for
the rule of the s.vord—the former being re-garded
as the "vital principle of republics,"
and the latier as " the immediate parent of
despotism." As our fathers !oved Iberty and
hated tyranny, they selected that power of
government which conserves iho one, and re-jected
that which, sooner or later, never fails
to produce the other.
Upon this principle our State Government!
were formed—each a compleie and sovereign
republic within itself j and in associating
themselves in a Federal UniCii they ilid not
surrender it, for such would have been a sur-render
of their right of self-government.—
This theory of our Government precludes the
idea of an authority vesfd in the federal
head to coerce, by force of arms, a St ito act-ing
in its sovereign capacity.
More explicit evidence of the intent of the
framers of the Constitution is furnished by
tho journals and proceedings cf the Conven-tion.
This evidetice cannot bo kept too prom-inently
in view, as it illustrates the character
of our Confederacy, and furnishes a safe
guide for the performance of public duly.
Two distinct propositions were made in tlie
Convention to confer upon the Federal Gov-ernment
power to C03rce a StUe.
Tho first was a proposition to confer upon
the .National Legialature the power "tocsll
forth the force of the Union against any mem-ber
of the Union failing to perform its duty un-der
the articles thereof."
The second was in thcpe word* : " If any
State or any body of men in any State shall op-pose
or prevent the carrying into execution such
acts or treaties, the Federal Executive shall bt
authorize i to call forth the power •/ the Confed-erate
States, or as much threof as may be neces-sary
to e.nfurec and compel an obedience to such
acts or an observance of such treaties.'
All the members who spoke upon these
propositions spoke against them, and all, in-cluding
their movers, voted against them.
The sentiments thon expressed by the
iwo leading minds of the Convention, repre-senting
the two opposing classes ot political
opinions which divided it, leave nothing to
doubt as to the true interpretation of its ac-tion.
Mr. Madison observed, "that the more ho
reflected on the use of force, the more he
doubted the practicability, the justice and
the efficiency of it, when applied to peoplo
possible. It amounts to a v>ar between the
! parties. Foreign powers also will not be
idle spectators. They will interpose. The
confusion will increase and a dissolution of
tho Union will ensue.'' Again, illustrating, j
by an historical example, the consequences
of an exercise of such a power by aConfeder-'
ated Government, he said : 'Its decrees were
signals of war.?
The Declaration of Independence had dis-tinctly
declared :
" That wherever any form of government
becomes destructive of these ends, (the se-!
curity of their rights.) it is tho right of the
people to alter or to abolish it, and to insti-tute
a new government, laying its toundation
on such principles and organizing its powers
in such form as to them shell seem most like- '
ly.to effect their safety end happiness." And
to have given to the Federal Government
power to compel the organized communities
oFStates to remain under the Government I
against their will, would have been to give to j
it a power which the Declaration of Inde- j
pendence'bad declared conld not be possessed i
by any Government whatever. Hence we
are not surprised to find that the proposal to
confer such a power had no advocate in the
Convention.
After a Government had been organized j
one of the earliest, as it was undoubtedly one
of the most important and delicate duties de- j
volving on Congress, was to furnish the Presi-1
dent with the powers necessary to enable him
to " take care that the laws be faithfully exe-;
cuted," and to pass such laws as might be |
necessary to " provide for calling forth the
militia to execute the laws of the Union, sup-press
insurrection and repel invasion."
Accordingly we find that as early as 1793
a law was passed for the purpose. It having
been found defective, it was superseded by j
the act of 28th of Fobuary, 1795, which, I
without addition or amendment, has remain-ed
the law on tho subject down to tho preset t
time : enacted by a Congress, which, to a :
large extent, was composed of the individ-•
UP. Is who had resisted in firming the Consti-tution,
it is the best interpreter of the general I
language used in that instrument; and from
the day of its passage down 10 the 4ih of
March, of the present year, no President has
ever construed it as g'ving him power to use \
military fore? except as a posse comitotus. or j
otherwise in aid of civil process. Ours being
a government of law and not a military des- j
potism, no other construction could be placed !
upon that act. When in 1803, the State of !
South Carolina forbade the execution of the !
Tariff law within her limits, the act of 1795 !
was in force precisely as it is to-day; but'
President Jackson knowing that the act only |
authorized tho use of tho military force in j
aid of civil process, and that there would be
no courts in South-Carolina to issae process, |
called upon Congress for additional powers, j
and tbit body enacted what has been famil-iarly
known as the "Force Bill." That act
was in my opinion violative of the Constitu-tion
but no attpmet was ever made to exer-cise
the powers conferred by it, and it expired
by its own limitation, in 1834. The political
friend3 of the present Administration, well
knowing that there was no law on the statute
bcok under which tho President could use
military force in the States from which the
Federal Judges, Marshals, and other civil of-ficers
had bem expelled, urged Congress at
its last eesiion to enact laws conferring on
him such authority. Tho Journals of that
body will show that bills for the purpose
were pressed with the utmost pertinacity,
and also that they were not enacted into
laws.
He usurped the coveted powers which Con-gress
has refused to confer on him, and whilst
Commissioners from the Confederate States
were at the seat of government urging a
peaceful settlement of all questions in dispute
and striving to avert from the country the
the calamities of civil war—whilst the people
were being deluded by daily protestations
from the President of his firm purpose to pre-serve
the peace, and we were in momentary
expectation of hearing that Fort Sumter, in
Charleston harbor, had been evacuated, a se-cret
expedition was fitted out and stealthily
dispatched to commence tho war, by an at-tempt
to throw reinforcements into that for-tification.
To high criminality in involving
the country in civil war, was added base per-fidy
in exciting the hopes and expectations I timely and important aid rendered me by
to be dashed at the moment of fruition. ! the Governors of Virginia and Sonth-Caroh-
Having thus commenced the war, the j na towards pacing oi:r fortifications on the
President, on pretence that the act of 1795 ] sea coast in a defencible condition. I cheer-confers
on him power to do so, issued aProc- i fully reciprocated thit; favor to the extent of
lamation calling on tho States to rurnish sev-! my ability by sending to the Governor of
enty-five thousand men for carrying it on, and : Virginia a portion of the arms in our posses-thc
Secretary of War officially informed me j lien and which could eonviently be spared,
that North-Carolina was expected to furnish j The Northern Government is now concen-
I two Regiments to aid the North in subjugat- trating a large force in the District of Co-
1 ing her sister States—we might with propri- lumbia, ostensibly to protecf the peat of Gov-
! ety say of some of them her daughters—of: ernmeat, but such a force cannot bo allowed
j the South. 1 promptly replied to that func- to remain within the limits of Maryland and
tionary that " 1 regard a levy of troops for on the borders of Virginia, without seriously
tho purpose of subjugating the States of the ! endangering tholibert;esof the poople of those
South as in violation of the Laws of the eoun- States. If they bo cooouered and overrun,
try, and to this war upon the liberties of a
free people, you can ge: no troops from
North-Carolina.
The outburst of indignation with which tho
Proclamation of the President has been re-ceived
by all the citizens of tho Slate, con-vinces
me that I did not mistake tho people
whose Chief Magistrate I am. The alacrity
with which they have sprung to arms, out-
Stripping the slow forms of law and enabling
me to assemble an army from the plough and
the workshop in less time that it has required
to convene the General Assembly is proof
that long years of peace and order have only
made more dear to them their rights and lib-erties
and have not in the least impaired their
readiness and their ability to defend them.
Utder the advice of the Council of State I
have established at the seat of Government a
Camp of Instruction, to which I have ordered
such troops as are ready for servico and are
not needed for the protection of the seaboard.
A usurper who had already seized the
sword without authority of law and was us-ing
it against his own countrymen, could
not with safety to the State be allowed to es-tablish
himself in the strongholds and forti-fied
places within our limits. I, therefore,
in discharge of a plain obligation devolving
on me as Governor of the State, and in virtue
cf the powers veslod in me as Governor and
Captain General and Commander in Chief of
the militia, lost no time in taking possession,
in the name of the State, of the Forts, Arsc-hey
North Carolina will become tho next prey to
the invaders. Policy then, as well as sympa-thy
and feeiingof brotherhood,engendered by
a common interest, requires us to exert our
energies in tho defense of Maryland and Vir-ginia.
Every battle fought there will be a
battle fought in behalf of North Carolina, and
there our troops should be speedily sent.
Thero can be no doubt that the peoplo of
our State are now fully united as to the poli-cy
to be pursued with reference to the future
Northern Government. It is a settled con-viction
of tho public mind that the time has
arrived when we must separate Iron t'»e peo-ple
of that section oftb a country. They hs^o
promised to partition our property and the
earnings of our people among tiieir mercenary
suldieitj after our subjugation shall In "o been
effected. Even those among them wno pro-fessed
to be our friends are now most zealous
in this wicked crusade against us. All fra-ternity
of feeling is losi between us and them.
Thero must be a separation at onc« and
forever.
With the view, thei afore, of the secession
of North Carolina f;on the Northern Gov-ernment
and her Union with tho Confed-erate
States, at as earlv a period as practica-ble,
1 would respectfully recommend that a
Convention of the people be called with full
and final powers. The powers of the Con-vention
should be full, because the sove/oign-ty
of the people must bo frequently resorted
to during the war; and it, ther< 'ore becomes
Dais and other property of the Federal Gov- j necessary .that it should be ten? lorarlly re-ernment
within the State, and they are now posed in the Convention. The action o( the
held under my orders by adequate garrisons.
1 will in due time lay before yea a state-ment
of the property thus taken into posses-sion
as reports can be prepared by tho proper
departments.
Experience havo brought to light radical
defects in the laws for the organization of
ttie miliiary forces of iho State, 1 invite your
eaiiy altention to t! e subject. It is believed
that the legislation of your late session, has
not materially iaiproved our military system;
and J have no hesitation in expiessing the
opinion that the existing laws are wholy in-adequate
to tho emergency that is upon us.
Convention should be final, becat^o of the
importance of a speedy separation from the
Northern Government, and tho well known
fact that upon this point our peoplo are as a
unit.
I cannot close this communication without
congratulating you upon tho harmony offeel-ing
and of purpose now existing among
the peoplo in every part of North Carolina.
No sooner was it seen that our liberties were
menaced by the usurper, than all parly feuds
were forgotten, and the patriotic fires that
burned in tbe bosom of our ancestors were re-kindled
in the breath of their descendants.
I forbear making suggestions in detail upon The hearts of the people everywhere are pro-this
subject, and will content myself merely \ pared fo: tho contest before PS. Let us *fer-with
remarking the that, military regulations \ vently implore Almigiity God, that united
of other countrie , especially those renowned j counsels and an harmony of purposes may
for achievements in arms, should not be lost | prevail among us, that we may be enabled to
sight of in the trying necessity by which we
are surrounded. Tho efficiency of this branch
of the public service requires, in my opinion,
a thorough revision and modification of exis-ting
legislation on the subject.
1 would respectfully recommend the rais-ing
and organization of ton regiments to
serve during the war, and that appropriate
bounties be offered to all pei oons thus enlist-ing.
Of the sum of three hundred thousand dol-lars
appropriated at your late session for
arming the State, I have expended $35,320.25
—which amount will be increased by out-standing
contracts to the further sum of $25,-
OOOcr thereabouts.
The Stato being at present provided with
arms 1 would recommend that the remainder
of this appropriation be directed to the pre-paration
of munitions of war and the manu-facture
of arms that may be hereafter
needed. The Arsenal at Fayeiteville is in
all respects a suitable location lor the prose-cution
cf such works.
Our seaboard defences ate of the utmost
importance and have engaged a large share
of the attention of this department. Specific
plans for the construction of new works and
making good our defence in that quarter
will with more propriety be laid before the
proper committees of your body.
An expenditure has been made for various
purposes, connected with the "defence of
tho State, the details and amount of which
will be communicated to you by^the proper
officers. A portion of it has been advanced
by private individuals and a portion remains
unpaid. Adequate means should bo provi-ded
to meet this expenditure and also to en-able
the State to carry on the war in defense
of its rights and liberties.
It gives me pleasure to acknowledge the
preserve the blessing of liberty that we have
inherited from out fathers.
JOHy W. ELLIS.
Nogroes Volunteering.
About fifty three negroes in Amelia coun--*!
ty have offered themslves to tho Govern-ment
for any service.
In our neighboring city of Petersburg two
hundred free negroes offered for any work
that might bo assigned to them, either to
fight under white officers, dig ditches, or any-thing
that could show their desiro to asrve
Old Virginia. In the same city, a negro
hackraan came to bis master, and insisted,
with tears in his eyes, that he should accept
alt his savings, $100, to help equip the volun-teers.—
The free negroes of Chesterfield hare
made a similar proposition. Such is the spirit
among bond and free, through the whole of
tho State. The fools and scoundrels who
calculate on a different stato of thin^s.will
60on discover their mistako.—Dispatch.
Resignation of Major Winder.—Brevet Lt.
Co!. John Winder of Maryland, an old and
distinguished artillery officer has resigned his
Eosition in the service. Major Winder is well
nown throughout this part of North Caroli-na
and his friends will rejoice to hear of his
resignation.
The last Standard says:
" We are requested by the Adjutant Gen-eral
to state that the Medical Board for the
examination of applicants for Surgeons in the
army, will assemble in this place on \ht tenth
of May, instead of the sixth, as heretofore an-nounced."
. »■ •