The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-09-11

known in the catalogue Of depravity, from
treason to larceny, has been committed in
attempting to drive them into Secession
How can these men be sustained by any
one, with hands dripping in blood-not only
with the blood Of Northern but of Southern
citizens; and why Because Northern
candidate was elected, who had four years to
serve, whose election they connived at
They will hazard whole eternity, SO far as
temporal existence is concerned, to crafty
present personal pique and feed mean am
bition. Whoever sustains them, ! will not.
Whoever cries peace, will net. Whoever
cries compromise with them, will not
(Great cheering.) am for peace, but am
for making peace with the loyal citizens of
the South--the loyal citizens of Kentucky,
and of Missouri too, who have sent that mod.
ern Nebuchadnezzar, Cfaiborn f. jackson,
to grass. (Great laughter) They ask in
repetition can you coerce State l say no !;
you cannot. You might as well coerce the
sun to shine or the stars to twinkle. Can
you coerce neighborhood to be honest p
No; but you may punish its criminals. No
one can justify armed rebellion in opposition
to the Union and the Constitution of bis
country. But Mr. Lincoln, it is said, for
sooth, has violated the Constitution in con-
Quoting his Administration Very well /;
there is day of reckoning to cone with him
and his advisers. But it is one thing to vic
hate the Constitution in defense OF your
country, and quite another to violate it in
endeavoring to subvert it. When my Dem
ocratic or Republican friends, cor any other
man," are disposed to call the President to
account, and arp not his defender, mere
ly beg, when they get through with him,
they will merely inquire whether Mr.. Jeffer.
son Davis & Co. have gone strictly accord
ing to the Constitution of the United States
Cheers and laughter.] have the impress
sion that instigating pretended government
within the boundaries of the United States
that stealing the treasure of our Govern
ment, its ships-betraying its commands
firing upon its fortifcations-o organizing pi-
racy upon the high seas, and long list Of
other acts-I have the impression, say,
that these are slight infringements upon the
Constitution, and may require examination.
Laughter). But want to have my Con-
stitution friends come along with me, and
when they get the Administration all regu-
lated and on the Constitution track, to look
at this matter little; for it seems to me that
it requires attention. l know not whether
Mr.. Lincoln has observed the constitution
indeed, for all the purposes Of resisting the
rebellion, care not. 1t is due to him to say
however, that he has seemed to be in good
faith, attempting to put down the rebellion
He has not done all things as would have
done them, because would have multiplied
his men by about four, and where he has
struck one blow would have struck doz-
en-. daughter and cheering.) Therefore
do not agree with him in that respect When
the day comes we can have settlement with
him, for he is to be held, with all other Off
GERS, to a strict account. But would not
do even that, under the smoke of an enemy's
guns. Let us see first, that the rebellion is
put down. And when that is done, am
ready to see how it has been done. do not
propose to yield this Union, or any part of
it to the so-called Confederate Government
that has been made up in the Southern
States. 1t is no government land there is
nothing in the shape Of government under
it, over it, in it, or around it. diagonally, hor-
izontally, or perpendicularly. Like the boys
training, it is all officers. Uaughter.) 1t is
made up thus: You shall be President of
the Congress, and will be President of the
Confederacy; you shall be Minister of For
eign Affairs, and will be Secretary of the
Treasury. (Laughter.) Doubtless, very
well satisfactory enough. If they had kept
it to themselves, no one would have objected
to their strutting in their stolen plumage.-
But is time for the people of the United
States to put their hand upon it in earnest,
and to maintain the Government of the Con-
stitution.
The habeas corpus-a hard kind Of name
for writ, but one which lawyer or q
Dutchman finds little difficulty in pronounc-
ing-it is said that the habeas corpus has
been suspended and abused. Well, think
it because some have written so much about
it, while they knew SO little. 1t simply
means to have the body. A prisoner is al.
legged to be improperly imprisoned; and, in
order that the case may be inquired into, a
petition is presented to Judge, and then
the Judge allows the writ, and the prisoner is
brought up, and the person who holds him
is bound to make return. fthe prisoner
is illegally detained, the Judge orders him to
be discharged; ifrightfally imprisoned, he
remands him. That is all there is about it.
1t is simply civil writ. But there is au
old maxim, as old as Julius Caesar would
have BEEN, had he lived, inter drma silent
leges, that is, the laws are silent in the midst
Of arms. Here is the question: An individ-
ual is imprisoned here; some friend gets a
habeas corpus, and he is brought up, and
the case is inquired into. And whoever in
terferes with, or obstructs that writ, is guilty
Of . great moral and legal wrong, and incurs
heavy penalty. In time of war il is diff
ferent matter. Here it is found that a man