, 1862-12-13

paniel S. piokinson.s Pogition.

The following is an extract from the late
speech of Daniel S. Dickinson, at the
Cooper Institute New York:
Governments make constitutions and
laws-constitutions and laws do not make
Governments. Constitutions and laws are
to be observed in all its civil polity, and in
ordinary exigencies even in war; but among
the first rights and privileges, and highest
and holiest duties and obligations of the
Government, is the preservation of its own
existence. Constitution, law, freedom of
speech, liberty Of the press, usurpatiOn,
tyranny, ETC., are words easily prated, and
even parrots can be taught them.
But men should know that the instincts
of a Government, as we'll as an Individual,
when assaulted, are sef-defense The
father and protector of a dependent family
who sho1ld fail to employ all lis energies
when assisted by a murderer or bandit, and
instead thereof proceeded to reoite from a
law book, would, if slain, rank with sui
cides in the sight of God and man and
Chief Magistrate who should fail to protect
his Government against foreign or domestic
foes, armed or unarmed whether avowed
or silent, whether welding openly the i'm
plements of death OF insidiously acting as
the advocate and apologist of rebellion
would himself be guilty of treason, and
would deserve impeachment, conviction and
execution. Those who volunteer as expo
nents or oracles of constitutions and laws,
should at least understand the subject they
are discussing-should know that in times
of peril to the nation, martial law inheres
in the very essence and existence of every
Government as a great necessity, and may
be and should be asserted when requisite
for the preservation Of its life ard being.
A war of rebellion is a fearful and alarm
ing reality, and is neither to be run away
from nor quieted by reciting boarding
school homilies. 1t demands and should
receive every element of power which
slumbers in the bosom of the nation. When
Lord Wellington upon an exigency pro-
claimed martial law, on beiug asked what
it was, replied that it was the discretion of
the commanding General. Military law is
the law for the government of the military
forces of a nation. Martial law is more
rigorous still, wider in its application, and
is defined by Smith, an early an eminent
writer in his English Republic" and by
others who have compiled its best defni-
tions. The President has no such power
as a civil magistrate in the ordinary admin
istrf ton of the Government, but, in time
of conspiracy, rebellion and war, as Com
mander-in- Chief, when in his Judgment the
public safety demands it, he possesses, and
may and should exert, if necessary, as
much power as the autocrat of all the Rus
sias, for the purpose Of preserving from de-
struction the Government confded to him,
Seymour to the contrary Notwithstanding.
1t is a power dangerous and liable to
abuse; should always be exercised with
caution, and only in times of danger but
in such period it is the Governments sal
vatiOn and rock Of defense. The course of
the President in arresting spies and the
apologists of rebelliOn-in suppressing
reasonable presses-in suspending the ha-
beas corpus, and in laying his hand upon
the aiders and comfOrters, and abettOrs of
treason and conspiracy, entities him to the
admiration and thanks of every good citi-
zen. Let assasins whet their knives-let
spies and traitors, and pimps, and inform
ers seOwl and gibber and whisper discon-
tent because the freedom of speech" is
abridged let conspiracy and treason plot
at their ls{crnal CONFERENCE.-The politicians
scheme and elongate and contract their gum
elastic platforms to suit emergencies, and
when all this has been done, the action of
the President in these measures, though
probably not free from mistakes and errors,
will be approved by honest men and in the
sight Of Heaven, and will, when rebellion
shall only be remembered for the blood it
has shed and the wrongs it has perpetra-
ted, ''stand the test of talents and Of time"
Loyal men find the rule no inconvenience.
That the disloyal should condemn it and
hate it, as they fear it, is natural for
No rouge e'er felt the halter draw
With good opinion of the law.
I stand to-day where I stood when Sum-
ter fell, determined to see my country's
flag vindicated, to see the supremacy of the
Constitution established and upheld, to see
the sovereign law acknowledged, to see re-
bellion crushed, to act with those, and those
only, who would go all lengths to break it
down, to act against all who who would be
its defenders or apologists, to act with those
who, in pursuing rebellion would stop only
at the outpOsts of civilization and Christi
anity in efforts to destroy it; to employ
every means, moral and material, known
to man, to cut it up and to cut it down in
the most effectual manner, and also at the
earliest moment. l devoted seven of the
best years of my life in efforts for the set
tlement Of this accursed question peace
ably, that it might be taken out of the po-
litical field, Ncrth and South, and be let
alone to work out its own peculiar problem,
under the mysterious dispensation of a
guiding and benefcent Providence. Now
that it is unnecessarily made the pretext
for a wicked and causeless rebellion by the
Southern people, 1 care not how soon see
its end. hold the war power broad enough
to cover the whole question, and l confess,
in time when our Government is trem-
bling in the balance before the world,
like to see it exercised, when it is well, and
boldly, and thoroughly done. Let those
who take up the sword perish by the sword
is my doctrine, and let those who raise a
rebellious army against the Constitution
take just such aid and comfort as martial
law and the war power, in their utmost rig
or meet out to them, whether it be hemp,
or steel, or lead, or a confscation of prop
erty. l would have preferred practical and
real acts in the premises as occasion de-
manded, under martial law as such, to the
ories or paper prOclamations, for hold the
war power abundant and legislation unne-
cessary; but, the President having deter
mined upon a proclamation. I would have