The dollar weekly bulletin. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1862-1864, 1863-07-23

y m 90, living togsther 10 broth eriy love, int
p insensate beings, savagely bent on the des
truction of themselves and of each other
and leaving but smouldering ruin of con-
flagration and of blood in the place of ou
once blessed U nion. endeavor sometimes
as have no doubt you do, to close my ear
q to the SQUADS, and my eyes to the sights o
woe, and to ask myself whether all this cal
be-to inquire which is true, whether tn,
. past happiness and prosperity of my country
| are but the flattering vision of happy sleep
or its present misery and desolation haply
the delusion of some disturbed dream. One
or the other seems incredible and impossi-
BILE; but, alasl the stern truth cannot thus be
dispelled from our minds. Can you forget
ought 1 especially be expected to forget
those not remote days in the history of oul
country, when its greatness and glory shed
the reflection at least Of their rays upon all
our lives, and thus enabled us to read the
lessons of the Fathers. and Of their Constitu-
tion in the light of their principles and their
deeds? Then war was conducted only
against the foreign enemy, and not in the
spirit and purpose Of prosecuting non-com-
batanL populations, nor of burning unde-
Tended towns or private dwellings, and vast
ing the fields of the husbaudmen, or the
workshops of the artisan, but of subduing
armed hosts in the field. Then the Con-
gress of the United States was the great
Council of the whole Union and of all its
parts. Then. the Executive Administration
looked with imparti, Il eye over the whole
domain of the Union, anxious to promote
the Interests and consult the honor and just
pride of all the States, seeing no power be-
yond the law, and devoutly obedient to the
commands of the Constitution. How is all
this changed! And why? Have we not
been told. in this very place, not two weeks
ago, by the voice of an authoritative exposi-
tor; do we not all know that the cause Of
our calamties in the vicious Intern eddling
OF too many of the citizens of the Northern
States with the constitutional rights of the
Southern States, cooperating with the dis
contents of the people of those States? Do
we not know that the disregard Of the Con-
stitution, and of the security it affords to the
rights of States and of individuals, has been
the cause of the calamity which our coun-
try is called to undergo? And now, war!
in its direst shape-war such as it N axes the
blood run cold to read Of in the history of
other nations and of other times-war. on
the scale of million of men in arms-war,
horrid as that of barberic ages, RACES in
several States of the Union, as its more i'm
mediate field, and casts the lurid shadow of
its death and lamentatiop ath wart the whole
expanse, and into every nook and corner OF
our vast domain. Nor is that all; for in
those of the States which are exempt from
the actual ravsges of war; in which the roar
of cannon. and the rattle of musketrv, and
the groans of the dying, are heard bnt as a
faint echo of terror from other lands, even
here in the loyal States, the mailed hand of
military usurpation strikes down the liber-
ties of the people, and its foot trampes
desecrated Constitution. [Applause.l Aye,
in this land of free thought, free speech and
free writiug-iu this Republic of free suf-
frage, with liberty of thought and express
sion as the very essence of republican insti-
here, in these free States, it
is made criminal for citizen soldier, like
gallant Edgerly, of New Hampshire, to vote
according to his own conscience; or, like
th at noble martyr of free speech, Vallandig-
ham, to discuss public affairs in Ohio lap
plausel; aye, even here, the temporary
agents of the sovereign people, the transi- |
tory administrators of the Government tell !
US that 10 time of war the mere arbitrary
will of the President takes the place of the
Constitution, and the President himself an |
to US that it is reasonable to speak !
or to write otherwise than as he may pre-
scribe; nav, that it is reasonable even to be
silent, though we be struck dumb by the
S hook of the calamities with which evil
Inconsistency Bnd corruption have
overwhelmed our country! lApplause.] /
will not say this without referring to the
upon which L rely. In his letter
Of June IL, 1868, addressed to Erastus
Corning, and other citizens of the State of
New York, the res ident makes use of the |
70 flowing extraordinary language:
"Indeed arrests by process of courts, and
arrests 10 cases of rebellion, do not proceed
altogether upon the same basis. The for
mer is directed at the small percentage of
ordinary and continuous perpetration OF
crime, while the latter is directed at sudden
aud extensive uprising against the Govern
ment, which, at most, will succeed or fail
in no great length of time. In the latter
case, arrests are made, not so much for
what has been done, as for what probably
would be done. daughter and applause J
The latter is more for the preventive aud
less for the vindicitive than the former
In such cases the purpose of mon are much
m ore easily understood than in cases of or
dinary crime. The man who stands by and
says nothing when the peril of his Govern
ment is discussed can not be misunderstood.
Laughter II not bindered, he is sure to
neip tue enemy; mucu u1Ore u no "'ain no
mbiguousy-taks for his country with
'buts' aud IFS aud ands."
1t is seen by this letter at least that there
is no longer dou bt as to where the response
bility for those unconstitutional acts Of the
last two years, perpetrated by subordinate
officers of the Federal Government, both
civil and military properly attaches; but
who. I ask. has clothed the President with
power to dictate to any one Of US when we
must or when we may speak. or be silent
upon any subject, and especially in relation
to the conduct of any public servant? By
what right does he presume to precrihe
formula of language for your lips or mine!
L. on l.