Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1862-06-25
THE INSoLENCE OF TRAITORS SHOULD BE
CHECKED!
REMARKS OF SENATOR HOWE, OF
WISCONSIN.

| WISCONSIN.
We have received the brief but admi
rable speech of Senator Howe, of this
State, on the Goth ult, submitted upon
the introduction of his bill to aid in re-
storing order and preserving the public
peace in the insurrectionary districts
Judge Howe first read the correspon-
dence between Commodore Farragut and
Mayor Monroe of New Orleans, in which
the latter declared that he yielded to the
power Of brute force but that he
g would not hoist the American flag, and
that there lived no man in the city whose
hand and heart would not be paralyzed at
the mere thought Of such an act He
next read the reply of the Mayor of Nor
folk to the summons of Gen Wool, re-
qciring q guarantee for the protection OF
the life, property and liberty of the citi.
zens, After readingother extracts, show
ing the insolence exhibited in the portions
of the South occupied by our armies by
the great mass of the people to Union
soldiers-the bold, defiant, naughty man
ner IN which they avow and in deeds ac t
forth their disloyalty. Senator Howe
said:
A friend who returned from Freder-
icksburg on Friday last, informs me that
she heard lady apologize for the fact
| that two small Union flags were seen hut-
tering from a building which her husband
had rented to some sutler She protested,
with mortified air, that it was her ''hus-
bands doings" she "neyer wJuld allow
it."
My friend also informed me that she
saw one Union family in fredericksburg;
| but they said they were to leave TODAY for
the North, in search of safety and protec-
ton.
From these and from many similar in
dications Of the state of society and of
public opinion which have fallen under
my notice, | am forced to this unwelcome
| conclusion; that slow and tedious as IS
| the advance of the national armies upon
the domain Of the rebellion, they have
yet outstripped in their march the stride
Of the national authority.
lour massed pattallions, your acres of
artillery, your sections of gunboats do
indeed overcome resistance, but they do
dot secure obedience ! our own soldiery
stand upon your own soil within fifty miles
of your own capital surrounded by a
scowling population-the w-citizens
but not their fellow subjects. At Fred
erieksburg, as at New Orleans, it is still
deemed chivalric to be a rebel; it IS still
thought patriotic 10 be traitor. J our
power Is felt, is acknowledged, but YOUR
bag Is derided, and, in the face of your
armed squadrons your authority spit on.
The Mayor Of a little and utterly in
significant town, lying near the junction
OF this very river with the ocean, town
the possession Of which is worth nothing
to any one, and the business Of which is
worth but Ettle-negotiates for the sur
render of his hamlet, taking from your
and his commanding general express guar
antees for the protection of the lives; lib
| critics, and properties Of his rebelIious
! brood
The Mayor Of more distant city,
grown great upon the fat OF the Republic,
informs the commander Of your fleet, be
fore which rebel army had fed, that to
surrender an American city to an Ameri-
can army is AN idle and unmeaning
ceremony; that the city IS his by the
power OF brutal force, and not by his
choice; that his occupation OF the city
does not transfer all allegiance from the
government of their choice to one which
they have deliberately repudiated. lie
ventures to compliment the personal char
acter OF the commander of your fleet,
and graciously commiserates the delusion
! which attaches him to the cause Of his
| country and of his kind. lie patheti-
cally assures the flag officer that no man
| lives IN their midst who could even think
of hoisting the national flag without
bringing paralysis upon at least one hand,
and upen his whole heart, while a cheer
! given to that old ensign which for almost
a century has been their chief glory and
their only protection is an insult to his
| . susceptible constituents, so gross and
so wanton that 1t can only be expiated by
| the blood OF the impious loyalist \ our
few but faithful friends fly from under
your very guns, TO seek safety among a
people they never saw, and only know to
| trust because they themselves are true
| Loyalty covers and treason swaggers in
| the very presence Of your advancing hosts
| Everywhere men buster and women
chatter the most malignant hostility to
your authority, while John Minor Bolts,
| whose heroic devotion to your flag, to his
own duty, and to the cause of representa-
tive Government is his only ofense, is
released from close imprisonment only to
De toId he must reside where q rebellious
government permits, and he must speak
not at all out Of his own family, ercept
on strictly prjcate business matters
Mr.. President, | do not now stop to in
qulfe why these things are. L content my
self With saying now, they should no long
er be. II we mean to have the national
authority respected il Is time we asserted
tit is not enough that we capture reb-
ell towns and defeat rebel armies We
must command and govern the rebel pop
ulation
For thirty years that deluded and be
trayed people have been industriously
taught that the nation was nothing, but
the State everything. That lesson must
be unlearned 1t is time new testament
was given TO them.
Treason against the United shall consist only
in levying against them in adhering their
miles, giving them aid and comfort
So speaks the Constitution. But the
courts say, so | am told, that the rebels
who now make war upon the United States
are domestic enemies not foreign and
adhering to them, giving them aid and
comfort Is not treason. Thus only those
rebels who wage war against the United
States are guilty of treason; and as yet
our laws have defined no other crime but
treason.
The popular understanding seems to bc
that no behavior is wrong which the laws