Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1863-01-08

! Consultation ~ Mis great cr'SiS, Is a
traitor"
TO speak Of constitutional liberty, and
demand the observation of constitutional
/ barriers, aud the en- iorccmcnt Of the ka-
bcos coy3aS, and to denounce the arhitra.
/ ry arrests of Lincoln and Tod is to oppose
the war, and consequently treason and
/ the cry Of the Lincolniics is, "o1rdy ujM
| himI cyaqJy himI cruelty him" Nay
more, my friends in my case, even to
quote from Lincoln himself was dcnouc-
ed as trcason, and as | have learned
through the mcdium of Republican pa.
Ipors, was mddo the basis of the charges
upon which | was arrested and sent to
the Bastile.
Whilst in Fort Lafayette some kind
friend sent me a number Of the Rcpubli.
can papers printed in our ncighboring
city of Circloville, in which tho editor de-
nounces mc as "an arch traitor" and
quotes from my celebrated Bern township
speech, as reported by Bob Clarke, and
published in the Lancaster Gq=ciie, in or
der to prove my treason, and the justice
of ny imprisonmet. Poor fooll Nei-
thcr he nor Bob Clarke knew that the
language | used, and which they called
treason, was literal quotation, word for
word, from Lincolns inaugural address.
SO rapid indeed have been the changes O!
Mr. Lincoln from conservatism to aboli-
tionism, that, according these editors of
the "Dogberry" school, it is treason now
to quote language used by MIR. Lincoln
eighteen months ago.
Thus, iny friends, ono by one have all
our checks and barriers against the ap-
proch of despotism been torn and tram
pied upon by this administration. One
by one Of the safeguards OF the Constitu-
tion have been swept away; and last Of
all, as the crowning act OF infamy and
despotism, that bulwark OF both English
and American liberty, the habeas corpus,
is tramplcd upon by your Republican
President, your Republican Governor,
and your party tyrants commanding Lin
coins military Bastile.
History furnishes but few parallels in
the utter suovcrsion Of all laws, the com
pletc overthrow of all constitutional gov.
ernment, and the most attrocious act oil
despotism as perpetratcd under this Ad-
ministration. The bloody days Of The
French Revolution is one. It's horror,
are fast overshadowing this once glorious
! Republic. Gou have your Dantons, your
Murats and your Robespierrc-, in a Lin
coin, Stanton and Tod. 1t needs but
the bloody guillotino to make the reign
of terror complete.
The future historian Of our country will
not only be compelcdto darllcu his pages
with Lincoln'S limitations Of the reign oI
terror in France but he will be compelled
to record also his adoption Of the dog
mas, the maxims and the practices of
the spanish inquisition.
Prescott, the great American historian
in speaking Of the Spanish inquisition,
says:
Fanaticism is 50 far subvcrsiye OF the most cs.
! tabiished p iucpcs Of morality that under the
dangerous maxim, "fOr tie advanc cment of the
faith all means are lawful" doctrine which
Tasso has rghtfully thought perhaps undcsignod
y derived from the spirits of he'll. 1t not only
excuses. but cuoins the commission of the most
revolving crimes asa sacred duty. Many
bloody page in history attests the fact that ia
natcism armed with power is the sorcst evil tina
can bclall Il nation.
The creation of special bureau in tho
= War Department. under Provost Mar
shall General, with his suborlinates scat
tered all over the country, whose especial
duty ii is to act as spies and informers,
is but an Institution borrowed from tho
Spanish inquisition.
y You will be surprised to see how graph
y ically the same historian has described the
& duties imposed upon this new branch o
Lincoln's Government, in his remark,
upon the system of espionage officially
directed by the holy office of the inquisi
5 ton. He says: "Edicts were ordered tc
be published annually on the first tw,
Sundays in Lent, throughout the churches
enjoining it as n sacred duty on all VIII
F. knew, or suspected another to be guilty 0
hercsy, to lodge information against hin
@ before the holy office. + II All accusa
S tions, anonymous as well as signed, wcr
I admitted, it being only necessary to spe
= city tho names OF witnesses, whose testi
@ mony was taken down by a secretary, an,
4 afterwards read to them-which, unlos
Z the Inaccuracies were so great as to fore
= themselves upon their attention, they sal
s dom failed to confirm"
o My friends, was all this any worse tha
? the systom adopted and practced unde
o this new branch of Lincoln's Government
b The following extract from the sam
4 historian as graphically describes the ex
pcrience Of the inmates of the Admins
b tration Bastilcs, as it did the prisoners c
h the inquisition:
a The accusedin in the meantime whose mysteriou
y disappearance was perhaps the only public ev
dence of his arrest, was conveyed to the secrC
chambers of TIE inquisiton where he was jcalou
ly excluded from intercourse with all, save prizes
0 and his jailor, both of whom might he rcgardc
ny spies of the inquisiton In this dcsolate cond
. tion the unfortunate man. cut OIL from all eXtern
communication, and all cheering sympathy o
support, was kept for some time in ignorance eve
of the nature Of the charges preferred against hin
and at length instead of the original process, W,
favored with extracts from the dispositions of I'll
witnesses, so garbled as to conceal every clue
v their name and quality. y
= Instead OF prcsuming his innocence until h
o guilt had been established, it acted on exact
Q the opposite principle. Instead of afordng hi
the protection afforded by ev,ry judicature, al
n especially demanded by his forlorn situation,
= used the most insidious arts to circumYe
I and to crush him. He had no remedy again
malice or misrepresentation ON the part OF his a
;, cusers the witnesses against him, who might
q his bitterest enemies, since they were never I
h vealed to or confronted with the prisoner, n,
" subject to cross examination, which can best G
-