The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-02-21
.ak,s,E GREAT
SPEECH OF Ex.a0v, WeIeu,

|
SPEECH OF Ex-a0v. WRIGHT
OF INDIANA,
Oe'vsred a oiisaT ,1 ;s,sa iowa, Fesru.r,
Reported for the Hswk-Ryel
The Governor, after referring to Tho no,,.,,
situation Of the Country, and stating H.. ~
object was, not to trace out the causes os ". WIS
present unhappy war, but to point out ~ ~:
fellow-citizens Of Iowa. gathered there a. ~. us
duty of every loyal man at this crisis rsf.,. Ns
to the fact that many are now crying for ps.os
Twelve months ago, said the Governor, w.
did not talk in this way. You said then ~
rebellion ought to be crushed-you said th.e
that the whole power Of the country sborIs
be put forth to subdue it. But now Won Nv
"Let them 60! let them 60. Let this war st0r
Let us have q compromise, We are tired :.
this war;" But stop my friend, this viii NJ.
do. When this war began, when an ass.nI.
was made upon the flag of this Union. sve,,
patriots heart was touched. Every loyal ma,
throughout the nation was struck when F..
Sumter was struck. Every loyal democra,
felt that the honor Of this nation had been ON,
ragged, and that vengence should fall unon
those who were engaged in the traitorous
work. 5000 HEEg -s
But why this change! Why do We bea, a,
men going all about the country holding peac.
meetings, and declaring that We must hay.
peace? 1 will tell you why. tits party, party
party. These men cannot rise above the con.
siderations Of party. They do not seem Ali.
to throw OF the shackles of party. They put
party above principle, above loyalty to tbei,
country, and some Of these men talk about thu
administration and those who sustain the adj.
ministration. They say, "You may cali II,
Union party; but it SIS nothing after all except
the old black republican party;" and they say
this is nothing but party war. What do you
mean By calling this party war? Every man
IN Congress voted fer this war, but five. Two.
thirds of your Generals are democrats. Sum,
posing would ask you who are managing this
war? Who has the most power in his bands
in controlling this war! Why, Abraham
Lincoln. And who next to him! Why Fred.
erick M. Stanton, Secretary of War. And
who next to him! Why, General Haileck.-
Now here are three men; and if either of these
three men is traitor, our institutions may be
lost. And yet two out Of these three men are
Douglas democrats, dyed in the wool. And
yet you are mean enough to 60 through the
country and say it is nothing but party war.
That's SO! Hit them againl] tell you, my
friend. it wont do to call this party war.
Your President says he wants to save the
country, and you are mean enough to 20 round
and say it is party war. Well, 1 want to
ask you question. Surprising JEFF. Davis
was to come here, and stand where stand to
address You, and supposing some honest far
mer should ask him, "Mr. Davis, how have
you raised your armyi how do you keep up this
Iebellioni how do you get supplies for your
army?" You would ask him these questions
for those men are our brethren; they speak the
same language; they are the same people. We
are all tied together. Our railroads stretch
away down through their States. We are in
tsrmarried. There are not twenty men in all
this crowd who have not relatives in the South,
and the first question you would ask him would
be, "How did you get up that army? and by
what means do you keep up the rebellion!"-
What would he say? Well, I will tell you one
thing he would say, Il suffer no man to pub
lish paper in the South against my views"
Immense cheering, and cries of, that is sol
Tell me, you Democrats, did you ever read
Of . man running for Congress in the South
against the views Of the JEFF Davis govern
mentf [Cries of No! no!1 aii, =,t.
And yet you have got men who will 20 round
the country, and talk shout violating the Con.
stitution, and arresting bad men! TCheers,
and cries Of, Let them have it! a.'1sll
I have not yet heard of single man who
lived in the South, and dared to talk in favor
Of the old flag. His property would be con-
fscated, his family driven out, and himself
dragged to Southern prison, or hanged by
the mob. Cries Of, that's true! y, 80 49,
y Now would not be very nice about the Con.
stitution, If man was about to murder me, to
burn my property, to injnre my family; and
now my country is in danger, Ishonld not feel
very nice about the Constitution in dealing
with those who are in rebellion against my
government, or giving aid and comfort to its
enemies. Prolonged cheers.1 g I'll
y But you ask ''what do you want to suspend
the writ Of habsas corpus forf"u Well, will tell
you.a Thirty years ago, when Old Hickory
was our President, he said: II have right
to determine what is constitutional. 1 have .
right to manage the army and the navy. and
direct the government Of the country % I'M.
derstsnd the Constitution and the laws" and
that was good enough democracy for me. But
the President has no such right That says he
must not suspend the writ of habeas corpus
Jackson said ST will carry out the Govern.
ment Is understand it, !" and he did do it, and
I agreed to it thirty years ago, and agree to
it to day. SEQ 0ss8
1t is very likely that there may have been
improper arrests in these times o. excitement
and danger 1t is very likely that there may
have been mistakes; but what of thata But
when ought the writ to be suspended,1 You
don't want to suspend the writ in the case of
man who has committed a crime: You want
to suspend it for man who is about to com.
init crime. You want to suspend it when
you have grounds to believe that man is
going to help the rebellion, by opposing enlist
ments in the army, by giving Information to
the enemy, or by doing anything that can help
them in their work of destroying this best
government that ever existed. l want you to
look at this question as it is. You don't want
to nab man for crime he has committed in
this case; but for crime he is about to COM
NIT.
know the best men differ about the right
to suspend the wri. of habeas corpus. Some
say the President has the right and some say
Congress has the right. Well, We cannot set
tie that question here.
But then you will hear men say: "These