, 1863-05-29
!Gbifago Qribn11f.
FRIDAY, MAY 20, 1868.
rBEASON IN ILLINOIS.

FRIDAY; MAY 20, 1868.
TREAsoN IN ILLINOIS.
THE cyidcnces Of the existence, in this
State Of affiliated societies, the common
purpose OF which is an armed resistance
to the Federal and State authorities, in their
cooperative efforts to put down the rebel
lion aud preserve the Union, are multiply
iug 50 rapidly that even those who have
heretofore most strenuously denied the
facts will not dare deny them any more.
Yhy, in many localities in Illinois the |
treason is so bold, defiant and rampant that |
companies Of armed men are meeting for
discipline and drill in open day and in pop
ulous villages, scarcely caring to conceal
their ultimate purpose Of cutting the
flroats Of their neighbors who differ from
them in political belief. In Pike county,
The home Of the Treasurer Of the State,
where his baleful influence is most felt,
there was, 3 few days ago, gathering OF
Fix hundred horsemen, most Of whom were
armed. The ostensible purpose o. the
meeting was 10 elect the officers OF their
disloyal association; but as majority OF
4hc members were not present, the election
was postponed. In that county, are q
large number Of Missouri refugees, gueril-
las and cut-throats, who seek in the friend
ship Of the Pike county Copperheads the
safety and immunity that is denied to
crimes like theirs where military rule pre-
yails. In Clark county, such meetings
are frequent, and loud curses Of our Gov
ernment and praises Of JEFF. Davis, in
which the speakers indulge, are responded
to by the ignorant and infuriated crowd, by
the rattle Of the arms with which they
are loaded. In Christian county, close to
The Capital, disloyalty is rampant and has
like manifestations; there these armed
gatherings are fatally common, and in
MANY localities in that county to boast Of
fidelity to the Union or to ayow Republican
ism as form of political faith, Is to incur
f1aurer Of violence it not Of death. In
Shelby, too, this spirit is rife and ready for
revolt, Indeed, in all the counties Of the
renter Of the State, in which the pro-Sla-
very party used to look for and getits large
maiorities, the boosting that this war shall
not 20 on; that this Administration at
Washington shall be dispersed; that Gov.
Yates shall be driven out Of Illinois; that
the Federal taxes shall not be paid; and
that the Conscription Law shall not be en-
forced, is everywhere loud and defiant; and
The preparations to make these Word'
good are actively and increasingly going
pnl
It must be said, to quiet the fears Of tn
men Of property and Of the men who Low
7,eace, that in all the places that we haV
pointed out, the prime movers and activ
agents in these demonstrations both b
word and speech, arc mainly men VIII
have nothing to lose but everything t
goin by violent disruption Of the tie
that now bind society together. They ar
adventu1ers-1enegade Yankees who re
member the land of their birth only Il
curse it, and ragrant Southerners who hay
come North to find the bread that tue,
we're too proud OF too lazy to earn in til
slave Statesmen whom the excitement G
the war has thrown to the surface, an
who are now, by unreasonins violence an
diaboGcal malignity, endeavoring to re
Tenge themselves upon the public for th
neglect OF dislike with which they hav
been treated heretofore. Not one in
dozen Of them has q dollar or IN acr
10 be imperilled by the revolution thu
zhey threaten. Anything for change, ]
sheirmot In our army they would nj
have been noted except for their mcrci1es:
ness after the battle, and for their greate
anxiety to plunder the retreating enemy
camp, than to har1ass him with hot pu
suit. Where they are, exercising their III
scrupu1ousness, their falsehood, their in
pudence and their effrontery in disloy;
cause, they are to be feared, not for VIII
they will dare in the way Of stfife, but f
their unwholesome influence upon the hi
who seem willing to obey their beck 81
nod. Our readers need not ask who
what their followers arc. In the count
where ignorance is the thickest, where
emigrants in two generations have 4
putgrown the ambition Of being some d
able to establish title to gentility and pt
ton by the only method they know
possession Of the wherewithal to purcha
and command niggcrs-in such count
The outcrop Of this disloyalty is the mi
marked; and there, if trouble comes, u
The standards Of Northern rebellion be
up.
We are not alarmists. We have not
most distant belief that the madmen II
are threatening to dcluge the State #
blood, will come any nearer to success tt
to get themselves or their deluded tolle
CTS shot, OF, more likely, hung, as the res
Of some insane outbreak to which Il
leaders will push them On. But they
ali bear watching; and VIC deem it
duty to tell the men Of the Northern &C
ties just what the aspects Of the th1ca
ing elements are.
LOSS OF FREE SPEECH.
The Coppcrheads proclaim that
constitutional right Of free speech is abr
ed'by tile "Lincoln despotism-" They.
ameeting the other day in Now Yo1
protest against the loss offteedom ofspe
which they had suffered. Here are s
specimens Of it: Mcllastcrs, for instt
appealed to physical force and arms t
sist the Administration. Judge Met
said that there was but one course for
Liberty or DEATH b1r. Blanl
said that Julius Caesar had his Brutus
Charles l. his Cromwell, and couns
resistance 10 tho draft on the ground {
war being unconstitutional A1r. r.
warned the people that they might
zee another Presidential election; fo