The Placer herald., 1861-12-21
[From the Mt. Holly (N. j. Herald
Reception of Col James w. Wall at Bur
lington.


thing ever before known in this city. Notwith-
standing the disappointment of large number
OF people who had assembled at Mount Holly to
come by railroad, and from the severity of q
heavy storm which made it impossible for hun
dreds OF others to leave Beverly, Bridgeboro'
Rancocas, Columbus. Johnstown. Jacksonville,
and other villages in our county, and so with
many others in Philadelphia and Bristol. and
many hundred Of our own citizens were thus
prevented from attendance, there was not less
than one thousand persons at the depot awaiting
his reception.
AS the Colonel stepped upon the PLATFORM the
dense mass greeted him in the fullness of their
| hearts 1t was no strained effort on the part of
so many who had sympathised with himself and
family. for the cheers of welcome came long,
loud. full and free. He entered Il carriage in
waiting, preceded by large Transparency bear
ing these words, "James w. WoU, the defender
of the Constitution. Uelcome Home," with the
American flag. The carr &c was encircled by a
large number Of men bearing iorch-lghts, follow
ed by a band OF music and one hundred torches in
a procession of over three hundred men,
AS the procession moved along, Main street was
filled with men, women and children, with al
most continued cheering until arriving at his res
idencc. Here he was received by thirty-four lit
tie girls, embematic Of the thirty-tour States,
dressed in white bearing flowers in prolusion,
! forming two lines from the carriage to the door
OF his house. As the Colonel reached his door,
our Burlington Cornet Band poured forth its
notes of Sweet Home" After long cheers had
subsidized, he thus addressed the public:
| My heart is full to nght-so full that ! can
scarce give adequate expression ty the deep emo
tions that crowd upon me- as | look out upon
| this heartfelt demonstration. What Il striking
contrast to the melancholy scene, hardly a fort
night ago, when | was dragged ruthlessly from
these steps. torn mercilcssly from the clinging
embraces of the dear ones at home. and consign-
| ed to the tender mercies Of the brutal military
despotism that rules within the gloomy walls of
the American Bastile. This enthusiastic recep-
ton. my friends: these shouts Of welcom; these
bright and happy faces; these beautiful flowers
strewn in my pathway by such fair hands; the
cheering light Of those taring torches all unite
to convince me how lovingly you bear me in
your hearts. Such reception is the more CRATE
full to me because it wears double slSniicancy.
1t assures me. in the first place, that you, my
neighbors and friends. among whom | have gone
i'll and out for so many years. deeply sympathse
with me i'll the wrongs and outrages to which l
have been subjected. In the second place it is
manifestation strong as Holy Writ that
you believe | am wholly innocent of any charg-
es OF disloyalty or any imputations upon my
fair fame as a constitution-loving citizen. Char
ges. did | say? Why. my friends would you be-
! leye it? from Tire h0ur that tcas tohea tram my
home. ArOugh he long and tedi0us days Of my
Imprisonment, up 10 iris j0AfM momeW aodc@
i0ok oUt. once mOre as q t.ee"}ata 0Uer these MT
mer0"s hindiy g/adsonl tifces, Hotc "pt",nea to
greet and cAeer He. hare not been able to Ie0rn
tchat those chdrges are! IhGUe M Udjn dentGHd-
| ed Of the G0GerAne&t the N0t're 0t the chGrg-
| cS. and ciaiMcd the c0nStitUtiOHa| pr{rHege Ct
being intolWed IF he mature aud c0Hse 0t the
accusatioa. GAd to be c0AfTOnied toih the act
71esS 0gdinSt me. But up TO this hour the grave
| coiii not have been more silent. Great Heaven,
| is it pis>blU that such things can be under
Constitution whose boast ii has been that it
for the protection OF the nalienablc rights OF
men agans; all oppression. If this boast has
been in vain then it has ''but name to live-an
| outer seeming, to beguile and dcceive-a Sodom
| apple, Il hectic flush, painting the cheek upon
which it preys' The liberty claim under that
Constitution is not the liberty Of Licentiousness
it is the liberty united with law. liberty sus
tanned by law, liberty regulated by law; aud that
kind Of liberty is guaranteed to every man, high
| or low, proud or humble, rich or poor. under all
| Xi9encicS. whether in peace or war, ard whether
that war is foreign, or the State be in the fearful
throes OF civil strife. If the obligations we en-
! ter into to part with Il portion OF our absolute
rights when we assume the bonds OF civil society,
| be not complied with, the State must enforce her
| remedies against the citizen only by law. In
this Republic no citizen can be deprived OF his
life his liberty or his property without due pro-
cess of law" He may be made to part with all
| three by the power Of the State, but that power
| must see to it, that in its exercise it does not
| ovcrstep the limits in which it is appointed to
move. If if does it becomes despotic, and then
among men who know their rights. resistance
follows as naturally as light succeeds TO darkness
| If by Il single mandate OF any Cabinet officer, in
a State loyal to the Union as this has been, and
when the courts of law are open, you or | may be
| torn from our homes without cause shown, and
consigned to the gloomy walls Of Government
| fortress the same mandate, only altered in its
| phraseology, may cOnsgn us Immediately to the
hands of the eXecutioner, to deprive us of our
properties coniscating them to the State The
right to have our lives secure against interference
flnpt sd n a u1o
ant ed in the same clause that prot 4cts our lib
| erty and our property.
Do you know. my friends, how old these priv
ileges are? They can trace theirs lineage back
| to the days of the mlledclad Barons; and these
feet have stood reverently upon the lawns OF
Runnymede, where those privileges were born
more than six hundred years ago. They were eX-
torted by the rebelliOus Barons, then and there
from the tyrant John, and uttered in glowing Ian
guage that has come down to us through the
ears as the sweelcst note that ever came from the
clarion of Freedom. Listen to its music, strong
and sweet as it sounded in the solemn midnight,
centuries ago. "No freemen shall be seized or
inprison ed or deseized 0utiaced or an any
wau destroyed. nor acW zoe go upon him or send
mpon him e2cept 6y Mejudgment of his peers or
bu the lars of the Iapd.' Our fathers caught
the inspiring strain and it was prolonged in those
sonerous tones sounding forth from our glorious
Constitution: ".No person shall be deprdoed Of
lite, liberty or property, ,c'thoW d"e Proces 81
law." Cherish my friends these great rights
thus guaranteed to you in your Constitution; nev-
surrender then; never allow them to be compro-
missed or gainsaid, for they constitute the Key
stone to the Arch of Freedom Once destroyed,
and the sun of liberty is extinguished in your
skv. and the dark and horrid night of Despotsm
viii wrap you in its gloomy embrace forever.
We call that government free. which not only
shelters its subjects from the injustice of the
!, many, but the tyrany of the one or the few: few:
We, as people, are free because from an = ancient
time there came laws written as with the ling gr OF
the Highest-free, BECAUSE to us, in this day, it