Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1863-02-19

white men, | mean, like themselves.
The charge against these persons, it is
said, was that they discouraged enlist
ments" and were guilty of "disloyal
practices" We have not been told in
what these alleged crimes consist Is it
"levying war;" or giving aid and com
fort to the enemy? Is it treason? If so,
they are guilty OF the highest crime known
to the law. The fact, therefore, that they
are refused trial, and every constitu-
tional right tyranically withheld until the
private malice of some black villain was
satisfied or the usurpation Of public
thieves accom- lished, and then discharg-
ed without having extended to them the
rights secured to highwayman or COM
mon horse thief, it evidence enough that
they were guilty Of no crime, much less
these high felonies which enter into and
strike down the very elements of civiliz-
ed society. Neither will it do to say,
that these persons were discharged when
the quota of volunteers was full and the
draft taken place. If they were guilty
of ofenso worthy of punishment, the fact
that the draft had been made, or the quote
of volunteers furnished would not ex
onrate them from the Just punishment
due the crime committed. Therefore the
arrests were not made and the punish
ment inflicted because Of crime commit
led, but that some sneaking Abolition
scoundrel became fearfully suspicious that
in future something might be said that
would not accord with infamy of Wade
when he sal |, "He that prates about the
Constitution. in this hour of our coun
try's peril is a traitor" We have au-
thority for taking this view. Senator
Sherman and others of the opposition
have acknowledged that these arrests are
incxcusable, and are made in the exercise
of unwarrantcd power. This admission
accounts for the indecent haste with
which Congress passed a law to screen
the President and his legion of hired
spies and provosts from the conseque nces
of the last remedy left free people, aud
we Justly expect that the attempt will be
made by this Legislature to stlfen the
back bone of Ohio's Governor, and afford
indemnity for taking away from the citi-
zen every constitutional right and guar
antee.
The psople too, at the late elections
have condemned the Administration in
the most emphatic manner. By their
expression they mean not secession, as
the baseness of some has suggested; not a
preference of one kind of di,intergation
and dis sunion to another; not sympathy
with the bold treason of secession, sus-
tained by the pomp of war; nor the insin-
uating trcachery which makes the same
war. by dividing and aboishing States,
and thereby disintergate and dissolve the
Union. They quarrel not about which
door the thief might possibly enter the
temple of their liberty, but to prevent
him from entering at all. They claim
the right, and will maintain it, that it is
entirely consistent with the Con>t >titution
and even essential to its stability to re-
gard the Administration as distinct and
seperable from the government itself, and
canvass the proceedings of the one, with
ont the thought Of disloyal to the other
They also expressed the solemn convic.
ton that the blood which would be nee
, essary to enforce abolition proclamations
; could be spared, and means adopted tt
save the Constitution, provided for in tn,
instrument, and cause the old flag tc
waive in friendly triumph over every foo
Of American soil.
While these thoughts were growing il
, the minds Of the people, the Adminstra
J ton was attempting to enforce its arbi
trary policy by means of the bastile. |
| is true, our people were unaccuStomed tC
c hear of blank warrants, Provost Marshals
/ Bastiles and lettre de catchet except a
they recalled the dark and bloody scene
/ of tho French revolution; and even trou
= that, they were taught that when the bas
lilo fell, the world shouted with enthusi
n asm. 1t was at once the implement AM
: emblem of tyranical power.
l., They had drawn lesson from the Ike,
= of the dilapihated fortress and prison
O that was sent by the French Directory t.
= George Washington, TO tell the people o
q America, in the person Of the mobiles
T. champion of their liberties, that anothe
= link was broken of tho chain which des
G potism had forged to enslavc mankind.
s We, for two or three generations, hav
: looked upon that ponderous key and won
dered wondered that men could hav
: permitted the system which it represent
d to grow into an institution holding a rec
y oguized place in the government of Pc
10 lite and intelligent people; wondered ii "
il or our posterity could ever become SO sla
+ wish and degenerate as to allow in ou
e own country, a similar establishment
= We have protested to ourselves that n
II such thing could or should be permitted
x and that on the first symptoms of its ap
proach, such would be the spirit of lit
# orty loving people, that they would ris
?, at once and PROSTATE in the dust, nc
l only the prison. but those by whom
If was ordained. The American ba>tiles-
It for we have many, differ from the Frenc
n only that they are less comfortable. Th
= confinement is the same; in the arre'
? there is even less formality there is n
d trial ; the prisoner receives no intimatio
It OF the nature of the offense with which |
y is charged the seizure OF the individu'
? is accompanied with the examination {
d his private papers, under pretense
" seeking testimony; and his discharge, al
he pareutly as causlosS as his arrest. is mat
IS without word of explanation. III
in prisoner knows that he has been puuisl
a. ed, but he knows not for what, nor