The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1861-05-17
Expressio n OF Tire a on bio
Sent m On ts.

Tho Bath Times. (democratic,) furnishes
q leading article on Monday in reply to tho
question Have men right to preach,
endorse or sympathyze with treason in time
of war;" winding up as follows:
at is quite timo this matter was under
stood. II is quito time 1t were considered as
greyious an oiiense to sin against q general
public sentiment in FREE as well as IN
SLAVE State. 1t is quite time, when We are
raising, arming and paying men to leave
their homes and all they hold dear to defend
their country, that those men should feel
that the enemies of their country are not to
sow the seeds Of rebellion with IMMUNITY in
their absence, around the very hearthstones
which they have temporarily deserted. The
South is in armed resistance to the Constitu-
ton and Laws and Constitutional authors
ties of the land, and for q man to oppose
their mad career, and to say one word in
favor of united country and its glorious
old flag, is to invite sure and violent death.
At the North ii is not so. Men are banded
to save, not to destroy the country; to up
hold and not TO subyert the Constitution
to enforce and not to resist laws,-and in
this struggle we insist upon 1t we can afford
to have none whose sympathies are not with
us. II men wish to aid the South in her
treason let them 60 South and fight like
men not sneak around in the North, scat
tering the dragons teeth of rebellion, and
at tho same time claiming the protection OF
o public whose every sentiment they are
constantly disrespecting. Ordinarily VIC know
and admit, that the utmost liberation should
be shown to the opinions, the language and
the acts Of men, but always with this quail.
fication. that neither acts nor cords should
ever be INDUCED beyond what is safe for the
fundamental principles Of good government.
While men claim loyalty to q common au-
thority, and differ only in relation to the
ways in which that authority can be best
exercised, or that loyalty DO best manifested,
no evil can result from the utmost latitude OF
expression or action; but when the differ
ences take hold Of the very foundations OF
society, and men arc plotting to rasc tho
fair temple of Liberty level with the earth /,
then wo insist upon II il written law will
not afford the proper protection to popular
rights and to popular freedom, unwritten
law-the people-the true soyereigns-the
only la,o-gipers have some justification for
protecting themselves. II men justify aud
sympsthize with rebellion, or disregard
the law, they have no right to complain it
the forms of law are disregardcd and new
enactments are improviscd in the measure OF
justice meted out to them. When men claim
the right, as an exercise Of free speech, to
utter treason or 10 justify the acts Of armed
traitors, we are to confront them, and boldly
deny such right. They have no right to utter
a reasonable word; and IL they persist in
doing so, they but dare public sentiment
which is now suffering perhaps because OF its
past oyer-forbearance.
We would not be misunderstood. We SO
for law and order. We 60 for squeiehing
rebellion everywhere. Butwhen ,ce cease to
respect law, and openly endorse treason, and
sympathize with rebels, we shall hare no
right TO claim the protection Of id,c, or to
expect any but tho treatment due to rebel.
II we place ourselves in sympathy with
rebels, we shall expect loyal citizens to re-
gard us as q rebel, to watch us as rebel, to
treat us as q rebel, and ,re persist in our
REASONABLE course, perhaps 10 hang us like a
rebel. In times like the present no man is
safe in rcbelling against the highest law OF
the land, or in manifesting sympathy for
those who do thus rebel. There is no safety
but in loyalty-therc should be none, and
from the core of our Utmost heart we rejoice
that the people Of the free States have rcsol:
we'd that treason shall have no foothold
among them, that traitors shall meet the
traitors reward, and that tho glorious
country erected by our fathers shall survive
and flourish though oil its enemies swing
higher than Hannah"