New Oregon plaindealer. (New Oregon, Iowa) 1859-1866, 1862-11-28
A LETTER
FROM MIR. MAHONY TO THE PEO-
PIE OF IOWA.

~ prisoner or STATE tor nearlV tnfec mOhtns
TO the despotism which opp 'esses our unfor-
tnn.te country, am again free. mT fel!"w
citizens Of Iowa. to address you as an Ameri-
can citizen As | had anticipated and de
| c'ared to nv fellow citizens Of the Third Con-
gressional District in my Address to them
from the old capitol Prison. rs was arrested
without cause, and Imprisoned without Il
Judgement of any court. 80 have been dis
charged from prison without any trial
Our country, and We its people, fellow
citizens, have reached that state of existence
in Nations life when those among ms who
were chosen to be the guardians of eur rights
and the promoters of onr noitical well-heing
have become our despotic masters our ty-
rant rulers; suhverting the Governments
striking a vital and fatal blow at the rigl is
of the ne"ple. and shifting with deadly blight
sher rHnpiness and prosperity.
Atyour distance from this Capitol, where
power is welded with an arbitrary and mere
iIess hand. you know but little. YOU knew
nothing, indeed. of tho changes which have
takes, place in the Federal Government, ef
its subversion from the Demo cratic Republican
form given to it by the Constitution, to the al
most absolute desp,tic condition to which It
has been brought by the assumption and ex-
| ercise Of arbitrary power. We have no long.
e-, fcllow-citizcns, q Government of law. en-
anating from the ponnlar mind. but a Gov
ernmcnt in which the viii Of a few persons at
the heads Of Departments and the need and
greed Of their subordnates give direction to
pnklic affairs. The will the War De art
ment detective or ssistant Secretary is more
potential today in this our once free and
happy country. than is the voice and vote @f
The people ofany State in the Union, The
insin uation or suggestion Of one of these de-
tec'ives nearly every one Of whom graduated
from the profession Of thief, has more in.
Auence n the Government to affect the rights
and liberties of the ncop1e than would the
expression of the peoples will in one of their
Stat~ Conventions. The verbal commitment
by one these satraps Of the purest patriots
| among your political prisons, is regarded az
of more authority by the Executive Depart
mert of the Government than decision #
the snprem' judicial trik,aaf of our country.
These facts will give you some idea Of the con-
dition of the Government and how it is ad.
miniscrsd at present. OF the state of the
country consequent upon the overthrow of
onr popular political institutions. need not
speak at present, "a 70" must already expe-
rienee the effects which political deSpotism
invariably produces in Il country and people
over which it Is dominant.
1have thought it my duty, the first act I
have performed after appriz;ng my family Of
my release from the Old Capitol, to thus ad-
dress you few word. (ellow.cit:zens, du-
ty first to those among you, who. through
evil report and adversely, did not desert me
and mine; who, though stigmatized as a
traitor by the minions of an arbitrary power
which did not dare to try the issue with me-
even before Judges of their own selection. and
who depended upon the subserviency of their
judgment to the ruling powers for their posi-
ton IN efice-st'od bv Mo. nevertheless, to
the number of thousands, giving the lie to
the false charges made against my loyalty and
patriotisns, and rebukng with stlngling re.
proof the tyrants who dragged mo from
among you illegally and arbitrarily. To such
as these, and to those others OF you through.
out the State who fynpatbized with me, l
giveuy thanks, and will repay grestfully by
such service to you as can perform.
To those of my fellow citizens who presum-
cd that the accusations of personal and par
tsan enemies, and my arrcst-'hese accus a.
tions znd imprisonment without trial ty or
ders from ,he War Department-was an evi-
dsnce ofsome guilt have only to refer to
the fact that have been honorably discharg-
cd without trial, after suffering the hard
ships and outrages of Military Prison du-
ring nearly three months every day of (which
time experienced q new political martyrdom.
Nay more am as ignorant to-day as | was
on the morning of the l4th of August last,
when I was dragged from my home by mil
| itary force, of what offence was accused
have never been told why was arrested !;
why imprisoned why subjected to the out
RACES and hardships Of a Military Prison !;
why deprived ofmy constitutional rights, why
denied q trial /; why refused an interview with
Counsel. except in presence of satraps Of the
tyrants who held me in custody why letters
to aud from my wife and friends were broken
open and submitted to the gaze, inspection
a"d derision of Provost Marshals' clerks
Why all these and many other outrages were
psrpetrated upon me, fellow-citizens, and
under color Of authority, is as much unknown