The southern aegis. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1857-1862, 1861-10-26
Black Republican Despotism.

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A few years ago, Mr.. Seward, who is
now Lincoln's prime minister, made tour
of Europe, and paid Ills respects to the
crowned heads of France, Austria, Russia,
&c. He is now putting in practice the
lessons on government, which he learned
in those despotic Empires, and the wonder
is, not so much that he and those with
whom he is associated should exercise ar
bitrary power when they have the chance,
as that the people of the country, who
have been educated in free government,
and have so long enjoyed the blessings of
liberty, should so easily yield up their
dearest rights and become the ready vic
tins of tyranny.
One of our proudest boasts was that the
liberty of the press was here inviolable.-
1t is expressly secured by the Constitution
against any Infringement, and the federal
government have no more right to inter-
fere with the freedom of the press, than
they have to stop the circulation of air or
shut out the light of the sun. But Mr..
Seward learned in France that the press is
the most dangerous enemy of unlawful
government, and he learned there how to
control and suppress it,
Personal liberty of the citizen is by our
Constitution secured as sacred right, and
every conceivable barrier has been inter-
posed for its protection against the strong
arm of tyrannical power. Not only the
writ of habeas corpus is provided, but the
right of trial by jury in the district where
any crime is alleged to have been commit
ted, and all arrests are prohibited except
under warrant issued upon the oath of
witnesses, who must be confronted with
the party accused. But Mr.. Seward has
visited the Bastile, and the dungeons of
Austria, where political prisoners are in
carcerated at the will of the Sovereign,
and are punished without trial, on bare
suspicion or secret accusation; and now in
free America the Constitution of the Uni
ted States affords no man protection. The
fate of a hundred victims now languishing
in prison attests the fact, and there is no
man in Maryland (or woman either) no
matter how innocent, who may not be i'm
prisoned tomorrow, if he has incurred the
suspicion or displeasure of the powers that
rule us, upon simple order from the Star
Chamber at Washington. No warrant is
required for his arrest-no witnesses to
prove his guilt-no indictment-no trial
no inquiry even is allowed into the
cause of his imprisonment, but he is pun
ished like felon, in defiance of both law
and Constitution.
Before Mr.. Seward went to Europe and
learned the principles of government in
the schools of despotism, it was universally
understood here at home, that aoe, the peo-
pile, were the masters, and that the officers
of government were public servants, re-
sponsible to us for all their conduct which
we were free to discuss, and approve or
condemn as it might deserve. But he
has imported from abroad the old feudal
theories, which entirely reverse this Or
der Of things, and make US the serfs and
servants of those whom we elect to Office.
"LoYALTY" is now held to be the chief
of political virtues, and the test of every
mans patriotism. If it meant no more
than fidelity to the Constitution, and ODE
dience to the laws, there could be no OBJ
lection to the term, but Lincoln's Cabinet
and their obsequious and degraded follow
ers use it in the old feudal sense, as mean
lug the servile obedience which vassal
owes to his lord superior, or subject to
his King. No man is held to be "loyal
citizen" now, who dares to question the
conduct Of the ruling powers; and if he
ventures to doubt the wisdom or legality
of their acts, he is denounced and pun
ished as q traitor. Is there a despotism
on earth to compare with that which is
now weaving its chains around us Here
are set of men who are only public SER