Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-06-01
From the Richmond Wing. May "a.
PurItanIsm m IIs works.

The late proceedings in the United States IN
the case of Yallandigham. and the more recent
decision of the Cabinet ut Washington, aBnulling
the provision Of the con~scription Jaw, which al
lows any citizen TO purchase exemption by the
pay meni OF $500, attest how rapidly and steadily
the Government ia that country IS settling down
into absolute deSpOtism. Theoretically that
Government i composed Of three co ordinate de-
plrfmentS-Executivc. Legislative and Judicial.
| The arrest, trial aid conviction uf Mr.. Nallan-
dieham without civil process or legal tribunal,
without sheriff. Judge or jury. are the suppression
Of the Judicial government, aud is elimination
from the system Of Government. while the mill
fcation Of a las of Congress 10y Executive fat Is
the annihilation OF the legislative branch.
Nothing then exists but what remains in oil
autocrac,es. an administration in which are con-
centraied all the prerogatives and powers of
Governm nj, aud tiat Admin istration must neces-
sarily be absolute. since its authority is undivided
and cannot be appealed from
Same wears aga u was predicted of the great
republic by one of it, own orators, that the his
torisn would one day record rs its epItaph. that II
lost its own liberties in the insane and impossible
ATTEMPT to secure the liberty Of he negro. The
prophecy has had an Unexpectedly early fulfill
ment. IL is fortunate tor us that we were able TO
escape before the crash came ana to save from
the wreck the ark of liberty. But for them moth
ing is left of all that they once most gloried in
! gloried in without understanding or knowing how
to preserve. Nopeople ever babbled more about
liberty nor set mp so many affairs for its worship.
nor chanted so many anthems in its praise-but
few people have ever really known so little of
what true civil liberty consisted in. or how il was
to be guarded and maintained Its defenses they
mistook for restrictions. its muniments for limi-
tations, and in breaking down they opened the
food gates to license. inangurated the sovereign
ty of the mob, and place themselves nj the mercy
of delnagogues, who, rs in all past history, seized
the opportunity thus afforded TO usurp and con
solidate in deSpoiiSm the powers which had been
originally distributed among many repositories,
and exercised by separate and Independent func-
tlonaries. r as15 u
Thus il has come about that the central power
at Washington now swans supreme over The cor
porations. municipalities. State Governments,
aud The Julicial and Legislative Departments Of
the Federal Government IL is monarch Of all,
and the b ,stiles yswn for any one who dares
question its right.
Puritanism spawned the brood Of evil from
which these disasters have come Ii originated
and kept up the slavery controversy; il invented
the measures of unequal legislation by which the
South WAS heeced 70 enrich the North; IL set
ahoat every species of misrepresentation and
! SANDER concerning Us. and eugendered the sec
/ tional hatred that made US two people in feeling
long before we became so in fact IL at last ef-
fected the diyulsion OF the country and forced the
collision Of arms that now almost literally shakes
the hemisIhe As the result Of all this, il has
cost the people Of the United States their liberty,
by substituting a despotism for a constitutional
republic; il has cost them the good opinion ofthe
world by exposing the unsubstantial character OF
their borrowed greatness and the depravity and
rottenness Of their social sysiem: Il has cost them
the commerce and intercourse OF the South.
which were the streams whose golden sands sup
piled them with riches and s~plendor; il has cost
them a Union which vas to them at least benh-
cent and glorious; ard. lastly. il has cost them
innumerable lives Of kindred and friends lost in
gloriously and in vain. many thousand homes
made desolate. and an incalculable expenditure
of treasure so dear TO them.
SO much for Puritauism.