Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1862-08-21

women eagerly, and with devilish de-
light, perform the work Of spies and in
formers upon each other To say that
such gigantic system Of mutual espion.
age docs not degrade character is simply
to say that eyes.dropping and tale. bear.
ing are not low and mean occnpations.-
Under its influence nothing is known Of a
mans real character or disposition. Ua.
bitual watchuIness upon the one side
arouses habituOl hypocrisy upon the 9TH
er, and it is only when the petty saint Of
Boston expands into thel gigantic vii ain
Of New Orleans or San Francisco, that
you can tel how vast benefit you derive
from his emigration. The wickedness
looked little here because we saw but lit.
tie of it. The enumerous pressure Of
universal listening and peeping had driy-
en- it deep into the innermost fbers Of
our society. So pressed it produced
smelling committees. Iteleets Hiss leg
islatures. 1t brings such men as Deacon
Palmer to associate, out Of fear, whith
such men as Washburn, whom they re.
ceive in their cellars and di miss though
their ck.doors. Nobody will deny the
fact or its application here, who is not
prepared to deny the existence Of the Rev.
Mr.. Kallock or his church member Mr.
Hayes, who peeped after him, and black
mailed him and then exposed him 1t is
Mr.. Hayes turn to-day, it may he Mr..
Kallock's turn to do that dirty work for
Mr. Hayes tomorrow. 1t is Mr.. Wash.
burns turn now, it may be the Goldons
turn by and by But be the turn whose
it may, the system Of barbarous age
and people applied to he control Of civ
ilized mankind awakens the fercest re.
sentiment. Men have put up with the
savageSt task masters. They have endur
ed the bloodieat tyrants without resist
ance for many years.
They have submitted to the Kings Of
| Prusia--to the Czars-to the House Of
Austla-and even to the Turks. But a
Government Of meddling philanthropists
| they connot bear. 1t resembles the Gov
ernment of vermin more than any human
despotism. Individually, vile and obi
Gus, but quite insignificant; when collec-
ted they are alldevouring, appalling
| loathsome to every sense, and intolerable
to the strongest body and frmest mind
| This-the Government of the RobeSpier-
rcS--the Marats-the Washburns--the
Hobarts-the llayeses-is the oppression
which makes the wise man madl 1t made
the Gordons mad when it was first ap-
piled to them, and what they uttered I'M
| der its influence was temper--not treason
| Yet was there Sc .se as well as temper, i
they preferred jeff Davis to an Aboli
ton Government. AS | understand al
Abolition Government man might en-
durc it. A man might endure the Gov
eminent Of Mr.. Phillips, for he is a gen
tleman--0r of Mr.. Garrison, for whatev
er may have been thought Of his sanity
his honesty was never questioned. But
the Abolition Government which Mey yun-
derstood, was the Inquisitorial---the cell
lar-the sink and cesSpool committee which
stood before them ordering them to put
out a flag! and | think there is no man OF
spirit with that in his mind, who would
not prefer the woltishness of a Davis tC
the pedculousness of Washburn
The Gordons have done no wrong
They do not hate their native country
though they cannot like its imbecilc Gov
ernmcnt--a Government which has every
thing given to it by a generous people
and which does nothing but waste time
make speeches and feed contractors, can
not be liked or trusted until it alters it,
course, These sentiments | undertand
them to express. l agree with them il
that; so do hundreds and thousands more
They have a right--moral as well as le
gal-to express such sentiments. The
: ought to express them; and woe to Wasl
burn who shall meddle with them, c
with any one else in this way hereafter
OPINION OF COMMISSIONER.
f The complaint is this case charges tn
S defendants with giving aid and comfol
, to the enemies of the United States" a
informal mode of describing the offense
"0dhering to tie enemies of the Unite
States, giving them aid and comfort, -
In other words, the accusation against tn
defendents is trcason--for under the Con
stitution and laws of the United State
treason consists in "levying war agains
the United States, or in adhering to it
enemies, giving them aid and comfort.
And the punishment Of this cffense i
death.
TO constitute this oifense some oveH act
either in levying war or or giving aid an,
comfort to the enemy, must be proved
1t is well settled that no words, or inten
tions even, however hostile or disloya
they may be, are sufficient, if they hav
not ripened into acts.
The laws of the United States hav,
thus far failed to make opinions, sympa
thies or intentions, or the expression o
these, however disloyal, base or hostile t
f the existing Government, an otfense cog
nizable by the Courts. Such conduct
left for its punishment to the just and in
dignant Judgment of mankind.
Our sole duty here is to administer tn
law as we find it.
In reference to the two younger Cor
dohS, it is but just to state that so far as
can perceive, no testimony whatever ha
beenfintroduced affecting them; and tn
testimony. so far as it relates to Mr.. Cor
don, SEN, is mainly to the effect that h
received letters from customer in Balti
more giving him rebel accounts OF tn
movements of the armies sooner thaI
they were published in the papers here.
In reference to the remaining defend
t ants, George and Henry Gordon, al
t though the testimony is much more full