Hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1843-1845, 1844-10-17

rWe are in great need Of money.
We mus! have it to secure our winters
stock of paper. Will Delinquent. sub.
scribers help US! Let them answer
without delay.
+. w. Dorr, and his Claims to
sympathy.
We receive hardly a single exchange.
which does not contain paragraph in rela-
ton to the imprisonment of Thos. w. Dorr.
This whole subject, originally ugitated for
purposes purely local. has widened in its
scope Of influence, until news prints at the
mouth Of the Mississippi, no less than those
seventeen hundred miles towards its head
waters, have caught the echo Of the Boston
Post and the New York Plebeian and ring
out their anathemas upon Algerine outrage,
without knowing anything of the whole
history. except the naked fact that the man,
whom they would canonize as a martyr,
is q tenant Of the Rhode Island States Pris-
on.
He is doubtless honestly regarded by
many, as a victim Of vindctive power, held
in duress in defiance of the forms of law.
while the persons who have fed the public
mind with this falsehood, conceal the truth
and multiply the calumny for the most scr.
did ends.
Thomas w. Dorr is confined for crimes
which would be defined as Treason, by any
government in Christendom. We do moi
deny that the Charter Government Of tn.
State, had outlived its time. We know
that it psrtook Of the rigid spirit of an age
when letters clanked upon the struggling
impulses Of civil and religious freedom. Blu,
tainted as it was with the harshness of big
otry, no instrument of its kind was ever
moro thoroughly imbued with the pure spir.
it Of democracy; and for one hundred and
eighty.:wo years, it was the basis of gov
eminent, which gave perfect protection to
''life liberty and property"
Thos. w. Dorr was the leader Of the par
ty, that attempted to overturn and subvert
tho government, resting upon this ancient
grant of privilege.
Commencing with appeals to the low
jealousies of the disaffected, he and his CO.
adjutors wrought upon the passions Of the
populace, until reused to the proper point
for cooperation and support. Writs total.
ly unauthorized, and without the pretence
of legality. were issued. calling upon the
people to elect Delegates to Convention,
for the construction Of new Constitution.
The body convenes: an instrument is draft.
ed and submitted to the same voters who
had chosen the delegates, and accepted
All this while the friends of the supremacy
Of law. kept themselves aloof from the pro
ceedings Of the disorganisers and the legal
authorities Of the State, abstained from in.
reference. Precepts are now sent out by
these lawless instigators Of sedtion, for an
election Of State and Legislative officers,
under the provisions of this spurious Con
stitution. Dorr was chosen Governor; the
co ordinate branches are assembled in ses
sion. At this point legal measures stopped
and treason began. The constituted author
tiles then took the first step towards quell
ing this ncipient rebellion; the Executive
published a proclamation, commanding the
dissolution Of the illegal assemblage. which
was unheeded. But in this and ev cry 9th er
exercise Of authority during the struggle
between mobocracy and law the Chief Mag.
istrate was sustained by an immense major
ity of the citizens. Party lines we're for.
gotten in this absorbing strife between the
spirit osorder and disorder. The next move.
ment in the progressive march of anarchy.
was to take possession Of the State arms and
archives. Orders were sent out by Dorr in
his usurped capacity of chief magistrate, for
levy Of troops, which were promptly obey
ed by his supporters. In this alarming
stage OF movements, the government with
an energy indispensable to the exigency,
concentrated forces in Providence, to pro-
tect the public property, the Arsenal was
garrsoned: but in the meantime the insur.
gents were pushing their measures for forci-
BILE possession. Ordnance were planted in
. commanding position to effect breach in
the defences which protected the arms and
ammunition, and the match applied by
Dorr hims elf; fortunately for human life the
powder did not catch. The mob, dishcart.
ened by the abortive attempt TO discharge
the pieces and alarmed by the overwhelm.
ing odds against them, gradually dispersed;
out not until Dorr himself, urged by his
friends and fastened by some not unfounded
m'sg'vings as to his own position, had be.
taken himself to fight. The storm which
lsi.ed for short space after these events.
again gathered. A reinforcement from n.
York and another gathering of his own dis
banded adherents at home, again threaten.
ed the public Tranquil llity. Dorr Joined his
forces. Ascot Hill, near the Connecticut
f:rs was the rendezvous, the slender milit.