The Illinois free trader and LaSalle County commercial advertiser. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1841-1843, 1841-10-29

such sage and profound politicians and phoso- .
pliers.
Again, ave are told that a set of men, laboring
under high degree of excitement and thirstiug
for revenge, are better capable of deyisiug means
and enactins temporary laws, than men who have
spent their lives in framing laws for the benefit of
society ard that, "becausc society make the
laws, they have the rishtto break them Notify
me is Amor Lcgum told any such thing. He was
told that mob law is and always ought to he ex-
ccra,cd." Its mob law that he repudiatcs-I had
done the same before him. \ series of measures,
adopted upon the extraordinary cXigcncy present
Ell by the Rock River aillr cool,y, adviscdly, and
with torecast--jcIibcately planned, and dcbe-
utcly executed whether JusJlliablc or not, is not
the proceedings of mob-ls not the offspring "ot
a high degree Of cycitcmcnt--;hc proceedings Of
4 set of men thirstng for revenge" And there is
difference between adopting means Of scltPro-
lection, when the laws OF the land have ceased to
perform their fuucions-had ceased to protect
to be SUPREME, and breaking and repudlating
those laws. 1t was because they were thus bro
KEN that this counter organization was thus rcsor-
ted to.
This, without noticing several other misrcpre-
scutltious brings us again to the issue. That is
sue is NOT whether the proceedings on Rock Ri
yer were at all events ius.hablc, but whether tkoy
were ju-tiiable admitting the facts to be as stat
ed. The facts may or may not be as | stated
rendered no issue upon that accept nonc--my
reasoning was based upon the facts as stated
thcm-Amor Lcgums, in hisirst communication,
agplarcd IN BE- and in his last ,ccyc based upon
different supposition Of facts; he built up an ar
gumcnt from his 9lcp premises not from NINE
which he found it easy to demoIish. twas these
premises and not Blackstone, that | called a man
of straw. 1t would he strange indeed, if reason
or can make his own premises, if he could not SO
construct them, as to dcmolish them at pleasure
But he cannot make his own premises and then,
after be has demolished them call them his adycr-
sarcs.
Amor Legum, then, denies that the laws were
suspendcd-that they were not suprcme-that the
offenders could not he brought to punishment
and then he argues that THEREFORE the proceed
ings Of the counter organization were not iustfa-
bic. Very we'll | grant it, That is one case
the case | stated is another But suppose the
laws lCsre suspended and the offenders could not
be brought to punshment--docs the same conclu-
sion that follows from one condition of facts FOL
low also from exactly the opposite condition or
do opposite premises-givc rise to opposite
conclusions If this be so, as it is, then the very
mode that Amor Legum has taken to answer nv
Because, it follows as a necessary consequence,
that it-the laws being supreme-n full effect,
and able to procedure counter organization
could not be justified, if they were not supreme
their efficacy had ceased and they could not pu-
aish-it couH be justified. This is the logic of
the maicr--anI this last being the basis upon
which my reasoning proceeded, it follows that it
was therefore correct.
But, maintain that these proceedings, upon
the facts stated are justified by the reason of men
and the laws Of God.
Protection from aggression and crimes is the
lisst law of nature, Of reason, and of God and if
men have a right 10 protect themselves, they have
right to the means of protection. Will any man
say, that if the community in which he lives is as
sailed by an organized band of robbers, deprcdat-
ors, and murdcrcrs who are stronger than-who
defy and evadc-the law, that he and his neigh
bors must submit to it, and, for fear of breaking
laws that have ceased to protect thcm-that are
not supreme, that they must INTERESTINGLY suffer
whatever lawlcss rulianS may choose to inlict, and
appeal only to a redress that they know before
hand is perfectly idle and unavaing!
The statute laws of your state give YOU right
of defending yourself whenyou are mcuaccd with
violence an extension Of the same principle gives
society right to protect itself when IL is menaced
with crime and violence. But the statute gives
you right, when you undertake to protect your
self, to do it eiIlctuaIly. The extension of the
principle to the facts, gives society the same right
Now how should they do it! As the laws would if
they could operate. How would they operate upon
the facts stated BY consiguing the criminals to
death. Socicty-thc community where they oc-
cuASd--adoptcd the same remedy.
! avn, sc. SPECTATOR