The Placer herald., 1863-08-29
THE DEMOCRACY OF SANTA CLARA TO
THE DEMOCRACY OF THE STATE.

ty officers. This selection, it is presumed
will be made calmly and dispassionately
after deliberate survey Of the political fielt
before you. Bindly to choose is worse
than to be slavishly Indifferent; and as We
know that Indifference is no part of the ma
ture of freemen, we invoke your serious con
sderation of the grave Issues involved.
A little while ago, and it was thought
that the burdens imposed upon us by the
Administration in power, and the outrage'
attempted by it, could not be heavier oil
greater. While the nobest and best of oul
citizens had gone out to the battlefield and
had died in defence of our Constitution, we
witnessed the Administration at home vio-
lating that sacred instrument with remorse-
less hand. While he had poured out our
millions to save the Union, we saw Govern
ment officials and government contractors
embezzling the funds in the national treasury
Performing upon our part our whole duty to
Government, we witnessed the widest, most
profligate and imbecile conduct in those
whom we had entrusted with power. We
were ready and are still ready to devote all
we have and all we are to the maintenance
of our Government. 1t is our boast that at
no time in our lives have we been derelict in
our duty to it; and we had hoped that when
this fratrcdal and ruinous war should be
closed, that we could again return to that
peaceful condition always found under the
rule of the old Democratic Party. But we
have been mistaken. The Administration,
with ruthless hand, have torn down all bar
riers between civil liberty and despotism.-
to yhnr tod G
of power, have driven us to the verge of
ruin. 1t is time that we should awake. 1t
is time that we should look to ourselves, that
we lose not by our supineness, the priceless
boons inherited from our fathers. While we
exact from those in arms against our Gov
ernment submission to its sway, let US also
demand that those in power shall obey its
laws. Such constant and persistent usurpa-
tions of power, and violations of constitu-
tional authority by the present Administra-
ton, must alarm the most Indifferent. 1t is
to be feared that all we love, and all we ad
mire in our Government, will be destroyed
by this corrupt and imbecile Administration.
We have seen all those rights and privileges,
which we hold most dear, wrested from us,
one by one, under the plea of military ne
cessty. We have seen the great palladium
of personal liberty-the habeaS corpuS-sus-
pended by the arbitrary decree the Presi-
dent. We have seen loyal citizens arrested
in peacatul districts and incarcerated, in
military prisons without accusation or trial.
Some Of the abest and most patriotic states
men of the land have been banished from
their country for no other crime than the
exercise of free speech. The press, which
should always be free, so that the acts and
conduct of pubic officials can be known by
the people, has been suppressed. The right
been denied to the people. The right el
trial by jury, has been taken from us, and in
its place military tribunals, unknown to the
laws, have been established in loyal districts
The honestly earned property of loyal citi
zens has been taken to public uses without
just compensation. In violation of the Con
sttution, an emancipation policy has been
adopted, which will destroy the free white
laborer of the North without benefit to the
negro of the South One would suppose
that this unnatural and unconstitutional eff
fort to degrade the white man to the level of
the negro would be the last Of the ourages
the Administration would attempt to perpe.
trate upon free American citizens. But the
crownng outrage of all is yet to be related.
There remains for the Pacific coast an evil
far greater than any hitherto inflicted upon
US. We aliude to the determination of the
Administration to expe from the public
lands of California, those hardy and honest
miners, who have produced so much of the
material wealth of the Nation. For four
teen years past, under the guidance and in
accordance with the policy Of the Demon
cratic Party. any citizen of the nation has
enjoyed the right of entry upon public lands
for mining purposes, without license or tax
During this period millions of money have
been added to the circulating medium of the
world. and remunerative employment fur
nshed to thousands of worthy men and good
citizens. While the Democratic party has
steadfastly guarded the miners in the pos
session of their claims, the Republican and
Abolition party have made repeated efforts
to impose heavy taxes upon them, and te
sell or lease the mineral lands. We have
always held that the great wealth produced
from the mines was worth more to the ma
ton than the value of the lands; and tina
those fields and opportunities of labor fur
nished to the Industrious citizen, were grea
national blessings. Influenced by Ties
s views, we have, so far, successfully resiste
all attempts to rob the miner Of this mean
, Of support; and though we may not be sue
cessful, it is the unalterable purpose of tn
Democratic Party to adhere to this polio
for all time to come.
The Administration, with the same reck
less disregard of private rights which has S
often characterized its acts, has struck th
most terrible blow at the public good upo
this coast, which its ingenuity could COZ
ceive. Withfu knowledge Of the minin
interests of California, and of the polio
observed in respect thereto, the Presiden
without authority of law or foundation {
right, ordered the expulsion from the Aims
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