Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1862-12-03
Political ImprfsOnments.

Free government In the United States. /
once the boast and pride of the American /
citizen, is fast drifting into anarchy and .
despotism, unequailed anywhere in the /
known world. The most wanton despot- |
ism that ever swayed the sceptre of arbi /
trary power in the old world would be |
put to blush at the lawless atrocities of /
the present Administration, whose ruth |
less officers have, not only set at defiance !
the sacred injunctions of the Constitution |
but have sanctioned and blackened our
history with crimes, from which devils !
would shrink with horror; and to pass by
these sanctioned outrages which cannot be
named without blush, we have the more
direct acts of the damnable tyranny of
those masters of the people, which have
desolated innocent homes and brought
sorrow and bereavement TO the firesides of
countless unoffending families 1t would
appear, from a recent order of the Secre-
tary OF War, says the Philadelphia Erell-
my OO"'H', uldl jill luS NlCilInS OF MS
outrageous abuse of power are to be liber-
ated from the different Bastiles in which,
for months past, they have been confined
Imprisoned without a hearing, and with
out "due process of law" they are libe-
rated without trial. Mr.. Stanton, by
iberating these victims of his tyranny and
of his treason to the Constitution without
a trial, confesses to tie world that they
were imprisoned without cause, and that
he was ashamed or afraid to have their
cases legally investigated
Among these prisoners are some who
have been incarcerated for more than a
year; liz some instances, their health is
impaired for life, their business at home
ruined, and their families overwhelmed
with grief In some instances, deaths
have been caused in families from which
these prisoners have been dragged in
others, their wives and daughters have
been driven TO insanity. In two or three
cases, we are told, the victims, themselves.
have been rendered insane in consequence
of their arrest and imprisonment After
all this, the Secretary of War graciously
issues the mandate, hberating his victims
without trial; thus saying to the world :
''1 did this thing; / can undo it. / am
master of this people!'
Whether, as in the case of the recently
liberated political prisoners from Illinois
and Iowa. Mr.. Stanton requires these long
suffering victims of his damnable TYRANNY
10 take an oath that they will not hereaf
ter prosecute him, we do not know. But
however this may be, he and his co-work-
crs in this sort of iniquity and infamy
may rest assured that, as surely as there
is GoD in Heaven, the people of this
country will hold them to a strict account
for these outrages upon Liberty and the
Constitution, and that retribution will as
surely follow as pain follows the touch of
fire.
Those of this class OF traitors to the sa-
cred provisions of the Constitution, who
think to escape the wrath to come" in
this life, will find themselves sadly mis-
taken Their ''brief hour" on the STAGE
of authority is slowly but surely drawing
TO close Dethroned justice will, ere
long, be reinstated, and the due vengeance
of outraged law will overtake its vioIators.
Jeffries did not escape this vengeance ;
Stanton need not hope to escape it.