The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1862-12-03
sHOnOrably Dise;lnry~J.O

''HOnOrably Diseunrg~O.S
MEssRs. EplraRs :-rhree months ago
the quiet people OF Northern Iowa were
electrified with the announcement that
prominent citizn Of Dubuque had been
torn from the bosom Of his family, at the
dead hour Of nj hit, by an armed band Of
soldiers and hurried away from home and
friends thousand miles, and then thrust
into one Of the ioathsomc bastiles Of the
republic. This was but one Of several
hundred instances.
Yesterday the telegraph announced to
the world I'D. A. Mahony has been honor
ably discharged BY mail we learn that
no charges that the prisoner or the public
have been permitted to sec, had ever been
filed against him. Yet with this fact in
the knowledge Of the administration. the
victim Of tyranny had coolly been
told by Secretary Stanton that an attempt
to employ counsel to procure his release
would be looked upon by the government
a: an oggraration Of his offence. For three
months did the prisoner and an outraged
people await the dcnoucment Of this arbi.
trary transaction. 1t came at last, in the
simple announcement 'honorably discharg.
ed" without a charge Of crime having ever
been laid against him, without a trial, with.
out even the mockery Of judicial proceed
ings in the case, and to render the affair
still more indeiensiblc, the prisoner was
required before the doors Of the bastile
would turn on its hinges, to take and sub.
scribe an oath to support the Constitution
Of the u S., "a Constitution which he had
never been charged with violating, )and with
finessc Of cruelty to bind himself by an
oath never to institute legal proceedings to
obtain redress for the wrongs he had en-.
dured at the hands of dcspotic power
Then and not till then did the prison doors
fly ajsr, and the prisoner walked forth a
free man. His business broken no and
ruined, his good name furnished MS far as
mallsnity and tyranny could tarnish it, and
allowed the privilege Of begging, or paying
if he could, his way to his distant home,
there to brood with ruined health upon the
false faith Of men who, not long since, had
split their throats with cries of Fremont
free soil, free speech, and freedom. Alas
what comment on the history Of free
government. What an insult to law; what
stain on that jurisprudence illuminated
and illustrated by the great names Of Mar
shall, of Story and fancy, hat American
citizens have been robbed of the privilege OF
the habcas corpus, and denied those simple
rights which we had supposed our sacred
Constitution had made inalicnablc and in
distructible.
The American people, without rcierenc,
| to party, have given their sons, their mon
ey, their credit, and their confidence, to tn,
administration for the purpose of enforcing
the laws and suppressing rebellion. The
united North was a unit, or at least sup
posed to be, when they were startled Will
. the announcement that the whole nation
was placed under martial law; that tn.
writ Of habeas corpus was everywhere sus
pended, and the military declared to be in
| dependent of. and superior to the civ
power, and This, too, while every depart
mcnt Of the judicial machinery was moving
in perfect harmony and working with pre-
csion, while the courts were open and jus
lice sat waiting to try, to acquit, or to con
denim. 49,. .....
Under the reign of military law, thu
| President, as commander. in. chief of the
armies, is to. day as much the autocrat OF
those states, as is Alexander Of the seris OF
his empire. By proclamation he suspends
the writ Of habeas corpus-a function Pc
culiar to congress and not to the President
"a power wrested from King John by the
barons and never since then, until now,
attempted to be exercised by the executive
Of constitutional government. By proc.
lamation he defines new crimes-trcasona-
Lle practices-a name not found in the
criminal code, and in the eloquent com.
plant Of the declaration of independence
has asserted and exercised the power OF
transporting our citizens beyond seas to be
tried for pretended offences. BY procla
nation he announces his intention on the
LIST day Of January of annulling and abro-
eating the states laws which regulate the
domestic concerns and civil polity of one
half the states Of this Union, or in the
language of the declaration, he contc.nplates
taking away their charters, abolishing tbei,
laws, and altering fundamentally the forms
Of state governments, or in other words
declares in effect that the reins Of powe
hitherto held by state governments, b,
congress, by the courts and by the presi
dent, have been, or are about to be, seizst
by the military commander in chief, ant
that the lives, and the liberties, and tn
fortunes Of thirty three millions Of Amcri
can citizens are dependant on his wi
alone. Acts Of usurpation less dis:ruc,iv
OF the rights Of free men than these, brough
the head of Charles the LIST to the block
and cost Louis the 18th his throne, hi
r kingdom, his liberty, and finally his life.
Let another single Presidential edict G
forth, proclaiming the present state (
things perpetual, and this administrator
r will rival in folly and wickedness its iliu.
trious examples. 1t may seek by exercise
Of power to silence the criticisms Of thos
who love TO cherish rccolcc,irns of tn
Constitution, and who make loualfu 10 la