The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1862-11-01

| Inc ScOecnmauB OonmtlOn OF ortnO'
dOxy -" Orthodoxy Is my dOxy; all
others are heterOdOx Says the San Joa>
quin Republican, answers well for the
Republican idea Of treason, making it a
vagrant offence, dependent upon popular
sentiment and public exigcncies. Scna.
tor Wade declared in his place in the Sen
ate, that " any man who would quote the
constitution Of the United States at this
time il n traitor" General CasSius N.
Clay recently announced in . public
speech that ANY man, north, south,
east or west, who did not stand by Abra-
ham Lincoln and his proclamation, was
traitor" Attorney General Pixley, in an
official opinion, defines treason to be
refusal to give currency to green
backs" All these are high authority in
the Government, which has the power to
enforce it's d0gmsy5 Urea We have other
definitions as varied and as numerous as
the factions and isms Of which the ruling
party is composed. To question the
equality Of the negro is treason to vote
against the Black Republican ticket is
treason; and we are told a man wn>
threatened with Alcat-az, few DAYS
'sjoor FOR srsaAiE9 v ----z---A-'.
character Of the itiHerant lecturer, Starr
King. The mode ans measure Of punish
ment is also vagrant power, without n
local habitation or a name in the written
constitutions and laws of the country.
We fIear Of men being arrested for taking
treason. The only kinds of treason
known to the written laws are overt aud
cOvert-thc act or the plotting A friend
suggests that you could as we'll talk muir.
der, arson or rape as to talk treason. Ar
rested how-by what form Of writ :?
Nothing that has ever before been heard
Of or known in criminal Jurisprudence.
A military officer sends civil marshal
or cons able not legally under his control,
with Geographic communication from
one of the Presidents clerkS--a cabinet
minister, invested by law with neither
civil nor military authority-to seize and
convey to Government fort, an intlivid.
ual charged with all imaginary offence,
which in itself is moral absurditv. All
that the public know Of the matter is,
that the thing is done-the prisoner Suf.
lcrs-but for what offence, Or by what
authority, or under what rule, regu alton
or general direction, is all u matter of
speculation.
We have sincere desire to obey the
laws and honor all in authority over Us,
and a special aversion to Alcalraz. A
constrained residence there would neither
involving the Government in an unnrces.
sary expenditure for our support. which
we would be unwilling t. impose upon it
at the present time. What We want tn
know is, chow TO enjoy and how to
avoid" as the lecturer says. IL our ru-
ers will give US an authoritative defina-
ton Of treason now, and then issue q bul-
etin from day to day, as circumstances
may require changes, together with the
precise mode aud measure of punishment,
we will, for the sake OF our own safety
and the public peace, try to conform or
if We fail in that, We shall at least know
what the consequences are. Our nece>si-
ties require that We should write-upor
our daily labor depends our daily dread
hence our personal interest in knowing
what we may write-to put it upon no
higAer ground. An English poet once
said
Enough for the rabbe to know of their lords,
!. what the dim light Of taxation affords"
This would do very welI-ior every
man will soon have as much experience
in that line as will command his constant
attention-if it were not that ignorance
endangers our personal safety. We may
be committing treason all unconscious OF
any offence, and what may be the highest
evidence Of patriotism to-day may be
treason tomorrow. For instance for
saying that emancipation was to be made
one of the subjects Of the war, II few
months since, we were denounc, d as a
traitor ; If we should question the policy
OF emancipation now, We would be sure
to be accused of treason. The practice
Of the ancient tyrant Of posting his de.
crees where the people could NOT read
them, that he might have pretenSe for
punishment, in which he delighted, has,
until quite recently, been regarded as an
unworthy devise; but perhaps Nero
thought it was the best way to preserve
the Union, and in that view he was va
doubleday UNSUITABLE. Then there were
those "chivs not one of whom had
ever had the advantage of common
school education-who compelled I" the
government" at Runnymedr, to sign the
following pledge:
"No freeman shall he arrested. or i'm
prisoned, or diSSitsed (of property ),or out
lawed, or banished, or in any way injured,
Ror will NO Pass sentence upon hlm, nor
/ send trial npon him, unless by the legal
Judgment of his peers, or by the law Of
! the land"
This was six hundred years ago, and
the men who obtained this pledge were
so ignorant that they could not read it,
and had to employ a monk (sone say n
Yankee schoolmaster), to write it out for
them. Such was the ignorance and Su-
perstition of the English :eople, that three
hundred wears subsequently they behrad-