St. Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1845-1863, 1861-11-14
fuse to obey such writ at their discretion.
and may resist. by force, any attempt of
the civil authorities to execute Il.

No citizen shall have the right to bear
arms except At the pleasure Of the Presi.
dent. who may cause the houses Of the
people to be broken open and searched, by
any body, At all hours. withsw: warrant
or pr"cess pf any kind. end ~ s5,a,. fouad
on the premises to be seized and trans
ported t" the nearest military cation.
All militia laws Of the States in contra
ven'ion Of the powers herein granted may
. he treated as null, bv the President, in
his discretion, aud all citizens found with
arms. under such law. CT otherwise. shall
T." liable TO arrest and imprisonment, with
! out warrant. at the Presidents pleasure
VI.
The President may, likewise. in his dis
crc'ion, remove all civil or municipal Off
GERS of the several States and sppoint ana
pay others, or establish military govern
ment. in their stead. Any attempt. on
the part Of any State authorizes or officers
80 superseded to discharge any duties
! "r exercise or even assert any powers i'm
posed or conferred on them by their res
, pective State laws, shall b. punishable by
| arrest and imprisonment, at the President :
discretion. in manner prescribed by thr
It'll article aforrg"ing
VII.
The Press shall be entirely free. 80 long
as it supports tho Government. Any un-
! favorable criticism. however, by any pub
lie journal upon the President, or any
! me'kbe Of the Cabinet. or upon the poll
cy Of the Administration for the time be-
ing. or the proceedings Of Congress, shall
be held and taken to he treasouahle to the
country. and the President is hereby cloth
cd with full Authority to suppress such
journal. by force. and to arres; and i'm
prison for an indefinite period, as rebels
and traitors, all persons engaged iu the
publication thereof. The provisions Of
this section shall he held particularly to
apply to all public journals, the editors or
Proprietors whereof shall BE- guilty of ad-
recatisg or suggesting pesce. in time of
var. and especially in time of civil war.
VIII.
The Postmaster General, with the au-
shortly Of the President may at any time
forbid the transmission. through the mail,
or BY private hand. of any newspaper. pc
ri"dicsl or pamphlet which he may Judge
in his discretion, to be within the penalties
Of the last foregoing section. He may,
moreover, open or cause to be opened. at
pleasure. any and all letters deposited in
any postofhce to be transmitted by mail.
lie may read and destroy. or retain pos
session of all letters at his discretion, and
may cause the arres. and Imprisonment of
all parties, who may he shown. by such
letters, to be guilty Of entertaining or sx-
pressing. to their friends or families. anv
opinions which he may judge improper to
be expressed or entertained. The provis-
ions Of this article shall be held to apply
to all kilograms likewise. and the same
may be at any time. seized accordingly.
TX.
There shall be entire freedom of opin
ion and speech, SO long as the exercise
thereof shall not contrsvcne the provisions
Of the 9Th and Sth of these articles. ANY
expression Of opinion however, CONTRA
vening, or judged by the President to ex-
ceed the limits of said provisions, shall be
regarded as an overt act of treason, and
shall expose the party to arrest anc i'm
prisonment according to the terms Of saii
articles.
Should any case whatsoever arise. not
provided for in these articles, wherein the
President may deem it necessary to exer-
ercise any powers not already granted. he
shall be the sole judge Of the existence of
such necessity, and shall have, rosscss,
aud exercise, in virtue thereof in his dis
cretion, all powers whatsoever. Especial
". be shall have the right. at any time, to
call upon, any and all persons to take ant sub
scribe any oath or oaths which the Alter
ncy-G General may devise, under penalty of
arrest and indefinite imprisonment as afore-
said. in case of refusal to swear as he may
require.
We deliberately asscr. that there is not
one single prcrogative conferred upon the
Executive ~ the provisions thus pat into
shape. which Mr. Lincoln has not claimed
and exercised. ia fact or in principle -
There IL not Que. the exercise of which
VIC arc no. now called upon substantially
70 rasify under the title Of preserving the
Union" and "G.aintaining the Govern.
meus." We ask our readers to 90 over
the provisions in question. one by one, and
detect If they can. a single one which is
either falsi6ed or exaggerated. or which
does not embody some pretension asserted
or put into practics since the 4th of March
Would any man vote. directly. for cun-
stitutidn containing such provisions, or for
their being incorporated into the Cou,ti-
tuition We already have? If u"t. how can
be consent ~ support them practically by
his couatenauce. or even hi. oil ncc! Let