The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1862-02-19
SOlicftude for Law
and Order.

Suspicious sOlicftulie for Law
and Order.
Now that the immediate national peril,
which made summary and extreme measures
necessary, has passed, and conspirators are
no longer seized and hurried OF to the gov
ernment forts by order of the secretary Of
state, certain class. of politicians and news
papers are Just waking up to the frightful
exposure ofindividual liberty by this process.
One would suppose, from the startling way
in which they sound the alarm, that they
have secret information that Mr.. Secretary
Seward is at the head Of grand conspiracy
to subvert the constitution and laws and es.
tablish Neapolitan despotism on their ruins,
of which he shalt be both the King Bomba
and the grand inquisitor. II is not german
to the merits Of the question, but It is never.
theless noticeable coincidence, that the
men who profess to be in such tremor Of
alarm for the imperilled supremacy of law
and for the rights of the citizen, are the same
men that year ago were objects of Intense
public suspicion on account Of their advocacy
of the cause Of the rebellion and their un-
concealed sympathy with the enemies of the
constitution and the Union. And their pres.
ent disposition to seek and to make occasions
of fault-Rnding and attack upon the govern
ment, gives reason for an unpleasant feeling
that their loyalty has not become Of the
solndest and most durable fiber. There is
another curious symptom in their case they
are altogether more clamorous for the pun
ishment of abolitionists than Of rebels in
arms against the government, and while they
call for the most tender and deliberate treat
ment Of the enemies of the Union, they I'M
precate summary and terrible vengeance
against the haters of slavery. There is one
Of these doubtfully loyal papers in Boston
and another in New York, whose chief am
bition seems to be to secure the arrest and
imprisonment of northern citizens conspicu-
GUS for their opposition to slavery, and who
profess to believe that Wendell Phillips and
Charles Sumner are deserving of quite as
severe punishment as jeff Davis and Beau.
regard. These men profess great sympathy
with the Union men of the border states,
but while the rebels are robbing, maltreating
and numbering these martyrs to the national
cause, the same men are crying out that the
government must neither touch the property
nor the negroes Of the rebels-in fact that
the government shall do nothing but stand
on the defensive and repel its unscrupulous
assa'lants. These men::seem to think it the
duty OF the government and people to give
the rebels every possible advantage, and te
refrain altogether from disarming an. over
powering them, unless it can be done with.
out personal harm to them, or damage to the
barbarism for which they fight.
tits true that the suspicious course o,
these men does not invalidato their object
ions to Mr.. Stewards lettres de cachet, and il
is admitted that the ordinary processes o.
law were set aside for time, when Wash.
ington was in momentary danger of falling
into the hands Of the insurgents, and the
very existence ofthe federal government was
in peril, The policy cannot be defended on
legal principles. 1t was war measure.
The only question is, was it necessary for
the time being. The shootingof Gen. Zoll,
Golfer, the dispersion Of his army and the
seizure Of their guns and baggage, in Ken
lucky the other day, was not in accordance
with the established forms of law. Gen.
Thomas did not wait to take out writs at q
magistrates Office, but went ahead with his
'guns and things" and did up the thing
summarily, without thinking of any law in
the case bnt the law Of the strongest in a
just cause These cavi,lers do not vet rec
ognize the fact that this..is..a' war-a war too
Of the most desperate and momentous char.
acter, and that legal forms and traditions
cannot be allowed to stand in the way of its
SoSSSSS'ui PAoocCutOu. Ee's
But we have yet to hear of any cause Of
personal wrong or hardship from the sum.
mary proceedings of Mr.. Seward. II there
had been such case it would not have been
allowed to sleep, but would have been served
up with all the horrors Of ingenious exagge.
ration. Some arrests were made where the
proofof treason afterwards appeared to be
insufficient, and such prisoners were soon
released. But in these cases, with scarcely
an exception, the lack was only in sufficient
evidence to convict, while the fact of guilt
hardly admitted of doubt. Indeed, those
released Under such circumstances have been
too glad to escape, to make any complaint
conscious thata more thorough investigation
would involve them beyond hope Of release
If mistakes have been made, they have been
wonderfully few and far between, and tn.
circumstances have usually been such as t.
afford at least strong suspicion Of guilt.