Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1860-08-01
A free press and free speech are both,

something which Americans Of AL sec
tons Of the couatry uphold in theory,
and most generally win fight for, in prae-
tee. There sra, borera, msDT Ame.i-
cans-4o their Shame be Il reoorded-Eho
regard freedom Of speeeh or the press, as
incompatible With opposition 10 some pet
idea of theirs. We hare had innumerebIe
examples of 1bis kind throughout the
South, within fen years past We had
an example Of it here in :5e-tbe time Of
the mob-aud we had one, striking one.
This spring, in the appeal of the Wheeling
Uni04 for another mob. But now the boot
Il shifting little, az ne have noticed
elseEbere. Massachusetts claims the hon
or Of a family mob. One branch o. the
Democratic party calls meeting and
the other branch takes possession Of the
meeting and carry on high. Such pro
ceeding Of course e1cites the intense in
dignation of the BreeEin,idgs people there
the same Bseckinridgites thai wouldn't
let the DougIaa romiDee for Vice Prssi-
dent, speak down in bis OEn State of
Georgia, the other day. TIE Boston Port,
the chief BseckiaridEe organ, is strong IN
its denunciet;on- /: has much TO say
about freedom Of speech and the wonder
ful mesnnesE and bsseness Of those peo-
pie Who essay t6pgt it down. We Ike 10
hear loudmouthed, of6ce-hOldiDg, custom
house journal like the Pest talking so. 1t
il good sign. 1t is a sign that "ProYi-
dence takes cage of bis moral GniYer5e," as
Tristan Burgess once said in answer 10
John Randolph. and that this world is
based on a system Of eompensations. Saul,
you know, held the clothes of those who
stoned Stephen, and he had q hard time Of
It by and by, when he came to advocating
the same heresies. And SO il is with these
Democratic organs Of both branches
They had their good time of 1t in 1856
Like old DiTes, they had their good times
then, and the poor Lazarii, the Republ;-
cans, waited at the outer gates and took
pot luck. But now the thing is changed
Sin hell" they might as we'll be there ac-
cOrdiug to their own accouats1 some Of
tbe organs are aIifting mp their eyes" and
seeing the Republicans aftr on, in the act
Of reclining in A6yaL0m1 bosom, they are
frenzied with passion and torments. and
would like 10 have Moses and all the
prophets sent TO preach harmony and
joiut-stock-iSm in the doubtful States. But
this they can't get done-not so much be-
cause our Abraham won't do 1t, as be-
cause the gulf that yawns between them
is of their own digging and deepening.
We doubt il any one was to come from
the dead-say General jackson, for in
Gtauce-whether it would be any more
aTailing than it would have been for a
special interference on behalf of old Dives
Eve brothers that he felt SO uneasy about
But these last few remarks are dizres-
sionS from what we started out to say
We were on the subject of free speech. A
very dear thing It is TO you when you can't
get to exercise it, but not half SO precious
when you are trying to choke down some
body else, ns in the case of the Massachu-
sets Democrats mentioned above. The
Boston Post, as we said, is indignant be-
yond all expression, aud thinks if it has
come to this, that American citizens-es-
pecially DemOcrats-haven't the right to
express themselves any more on the poll
tics Of the day, why that these American
States, separately and collectively, had
better all turn in and make an assignment
to the Pope or the Austrian Emperor, and
be in name what they are coming to be in
practice despotism. For instance, the
Po't,'in the height of its anger, calls upon
Candid men to reflect upon the acts of
these Lowell aggressors md say If it must
not be miserable cause which requires
snch baseness on the part of its advocates7
1t Is cowardly tyranny-the lowest pass
OF meAnness-for men to intrude them
selves where they are not invited, and
then, by numerical force, violate all de-
cency.
Considering ourselves, Mr. Post, among
those "candid men" addressed by you, we
say certainly it must be miserable cause
which requires such baseuess on the part
of its advocates. And we say further
with you, that "it is cowardly tyranny"
and will say anything else you like that is
decent, in just condemnation of such
practices as those which were put on you
Breckenridge people by your brother
DougIasiteS. But while we say all this,
we say that you are getting the whirlwind,
the seeds of whichuy you so bouunfulIy
sowed in 1856. You are now conspicuous
examples of even handed justice. "That
which a man sows, shall he reap" the
scripture sayeth. Aud when we had a
mob here, when they had one in Clark
county, and when that poor Irish stone-
cutter was tarred and feathered and rode
on rail down in South Gnrnlina- aud liz