The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1862-01-11

Sentcd to us now and amongst ourselves,
as Characteristic of our condition, and as
decisively influential upon the future
This rebellion begins in an outrage upon
many of the clearest obligations of
Natural Religion-loyalty, love Of coun-
try, fidelity to public trusts, gratitude
for honors bes owed, truth and manhood
in the discharge of obligations voluntarily
assumed, nay eagerly sought. How
many of The leaders of this rebellion are
free from the stain on their personal
honor, of deliberately transgresslng some
or all of those natural obligations, which
no contingency under heaven can justify
any one in viola ing! We speak not of
the mere fact of treason, as defined by
human laws. What we speak of is the
perfidy, in every revolving form, which
has marked this treason, in it's birth,
in its growth, and in its present
frantic struggle /: men seeking to over
throw monuments, cemcnted by the blood
of their immediate ancestors men dis
honoring names, illustrious through many
generations ; men be.raying their friends,
their neighbors, their kindred men
seducing children to take up arms
against their parents-and then banding
them with savages to desola,e their own
homes with fire and sword. 1t is mad
ness--a fearful madness. No madness
can be greater, except the madness thai
could induce this great nation to suppose
that God allows it to let this go unpun-
ished.
Perhaps the most dangerous, as we'll
as the most universal form, in which this
characteristic perfdy has made itself
manifest, is the suddenncss with which
thousand of SPECS and mtormers have
appeared throughout the nation, the
tenacity with which they have every
where followed their degrading employ
mcnt, and the alacrity with which honors
and rewards, almost to the very highest,
have been lavishcd upon them by the
rebel government and people. In the
States which have seeded, the mass of
the loyal people, overwhelmed by force,
have quietly acquiesced. In the loyal
States, the mass of the disloyal people
wherever opportunity offercd-secm to
have given themselves up to regular
system of espionage, by means (which
the rebel authorities, civil and military,
have been kept pcrfcc ly informed of all
they desire TO know. All ranks Of
society, persons in private life and those
in every kind of public employment from
the lowest to the highest, persons of
every age and of both sexes appear to
make 1t the chief business of their lives
10 obtain secret AID dangerous Informal
tion for the benefit of the rebel authori
ties. Betraying their country, they
break with indifference every tic that
binds human beings 10 each other. The
Inundated parent doubts whether his
own disloya. child will not bctray hun
the husband may not safely contide in
bis disloyal wife and as for the obliga.
tion of civil or military oaths, OF the
honor which should bind every one in
whom truss is reposed, no loyal man i'll
America any longer believes that the
mass of sccessionists scattered through
the loyal States, recognize the validity
of these sacred bonds. 1t is, we suppose,
certain, past doub, that every important
military movement since the war began
has l'ecn betrayed to the enemy before ii
was made; and ninc-tcnths Of the evils and
miscarriagcs we have suffered have been
occasioncd by spies md inJormers in
our midst.
Such state of affairs as this cannot
be endured. The danger of il renders it
intolerable. The cnorn,ity of it justfes
any remedy its exterpa,ion may require.
And they who are innocent of such tur-
pitude themselves, instead of raising a
clamor at the use of any means by which
society seeks 20 protect itself, ought to
be thankful for any opportunity to clear
themselves from the suspicion under
which they may have fallen. And they
who are guilty, and expect to silence
public justice by clamor about irregular
proceedings against them, ought to bear
i'll mind, that people outraged past
endurance, has much shorter processes
than any that imply infallibility in cor
rupt judges, or writs out of chancery.-
1t does not appertain to us to argue and
determine nice and doub full points of
criminal law-concerning which men
who ought to be competent to decide,
are pleased TO differ and to dispute and
which the present Chief Justice of the
United States is alledged to have
decided in two exactly opposite ways
The boundaries between the civil and
military authorities, in time of war,
under the Cons itu,on and laws of the
United S!ates-may be sufficiently
obscure, to serve the turn of those who
habitually transgress both. And the
boundaries between those powers which
can be exercised, in war, by the Presi-
dent alone, and those which must be
exercised jointly by the power both Of
Congress and the President, may be
liable to grave questioning by persons,
amongst others, who are not very desir-
Gus to have their career of mischief cut
short. Spies, and other persons who
may be justly considered liable to mill
tary punishment, can look, we suppose,
with very small hope to honest civil
tribunals, for deliverance from military
authority and it is very certain that
all the prisons in The United Sta es
would not hold the tenth part of those,
who have made themselves liable to
punishment for such offenses. AS for
oHapcoo If ~ har linlo H., IL ,