Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-05-25

selves and our posterity, . they divided the pow
es of the Government into three departments,
Legislative, Executive and Judicial. aud declared
that all legislative power therein granted should
be vested in a Congress of the United States;
and.
WHEREAS, Legislation is claw making pow
er. and law is a rule of action by which men
shall be governed; and.
WHEREAS, The people of Indiana in their Con
~stitution reafirmed such division of government
tai power, and ''to the end that justice be estab
lished, public order maintained, and liberty per
petuated." they declare that "all power is in
herent in the people, and 1.-The military shall be
kept in strict subordination to the civil power"
and,
WHEREAS. The Constitution of the United
States provides that Congress shall make no
law . . abridging the freedom of speech, or
of the press. or the right of the people peaceably
TO assemble and to petition the Government for
a redress OF grievances" and.
WHEREAS, In accordance with this declared
right and long-established usage, we have this
day assembled respectfully and earnestly, as be
comes freemen to present our views to those in
authority; therefore,
/. Resolved, That the people are the source ofall
political power; that officers provided by the fun
dameDtal and statute law, are their servants to
carry out their will as expressed in those laws;
and that when any one of said servants assumes
to act without the previous sanction of such au
thority, he ceases to be the servant of the people
and is striving to become their master, BY making
his mere behest alaw unto them.
z, That It IL the duty OF every good citizen to
obey the Constitution of the United States and
of this State, and laws passed in accordance
Herewith whist they remain in force; bnt il is
their right-not a mere privilege but a RIGHT, to
temperately, %candidly and freely discuss, not only
the laws. but the acts of those of their servants
who may have passed, or may be in the admins
tration of those laws.
3. This is the necessary result of the fact that
the people are the source of all power. They
must freely discuss, that they may properly de.
termine whether a law is "A bad one and ought to
be changed, or whether il is right but wrested
from its meaning and wrongfully administered by
those in authority, and therefore such unfaithful
servants should be legally set aside.
4. Whilst constitutional guarantees-among
others the right of free discussion; of appeal to
the Courts, as against unconstitutional laws and
illegal acts; of resort To the legislative power TO
abrOgate bad laws ;ofrem1val of obnoxious officials
through an untrammelled. uncorrupted ballot
box, remain inviolate, it is the duty of the citizen
to aid those who are r~ightfully in authority in all
lawful proceedings; but, if these rights are set at
naught by their official servants, the people may
assert their inherent sovereignty, and resume the
powers thus being abused.
5. To uphold these great and inalienable prin-
ciples of liberty, one general rule should govern
those who frame laws, those who are intrusted
with their administration, and the great body OF
the people, being those upon whom they operate:
namely. the golden rule of RIGHT.
6. The violation of this rule by disobedience to
properly enacted laws, should be punished: It's
disregard by the fragrant assumption of unauthor
lied power aud performance of uujustifiable acts
by the servants of the people, should meet with
their stern rebuke.
Z. In view Of these great truths, We hereby
proclaim our fixed and irrevocable m
of every attempt to make laws by executive au
thority alone; or by mere orders Of those repre-
senting the military, the subordinate arm of the
/ Government. And we Indignantly denouDce the
result of such fragrant usurpations, as the act of
military tyranny, to-wit: the arrest of citizens of
Indiana and our sister States that are in obedi
ence to the Constitution.
&. That The day has arrived when our official
servants are setting themselves up above their
employers the people, and have two wars upon
their k7nds-oue against the rebels of the
South-the other against the Constitution, and
those who attempt to uphold it in the North. In
the first named, The Democracy have poured out
their blood and treasure at the call of the Ad-
mllllStfallOD. IN tue ScCODu. t0eN are upon the
side of the Constitution, and are being prosecuted
by illegal arrests and Imprisonment tor opinions
sake even 'unto strange cities and lOathsome
bastiles.
9. Martial law il no law but the will of the
military officer proclaiming it, within the limits in
which he has a sufficient force to maintain abso
lutte power. In State or district OF cOuntry where
the public enemy has no footing. the people are
not in rebellion, nor an armed Instruction pre-
vailing. there is no legal authority IN any military
officer, high or law, to substitute his will for the
civil laws and the operations of the three CO
ordinate departments of the Government.
10. That the attempt to suspend civil rights
among them the right to make inquiry as to the
cause of arrests and imprisonments, by the writ
of habeas corpus-in territory loyal to the Govern
ment. is such an act of usurpatiOn as demands
and receives our merited condemnation
IL. That the Democratic party Of Indiana are
now, as they ever have been, attached to the
Constitution and the Union. and are wiling to
make almost any sacrifice to maintain the for mer
and to preserve the latter. We hold that there
can be no treason in submission to the Constitu-
ton and laws made pursuant thereunto, until
they are constitutionally repealed or judicially
declared void: and a people who do this and can
cot or dare not maintain and exercise the right OF
advocating the repeal Of bad laws and the change
of a policy which they believe to be wrong, are
slaves. aud if the idea of treason and slavery is
right. we are resolved neither to be traitors or
slapes. We will submit to every law passed pur-
suant To the Constitution, as long as all cOnsti
tutional means of redress are left open to our
free exercise. including free ballots. free speech
tree press, and ah untrammeled judiciary; and we
pronounce every effort to take away from the
people these means of redress, by military orders
and arrest, or Otherwise. a fragrant outrage
against the rights of a free people.
~ We denounce the members of the Legisla
ture who. by the abandonment of their seats and
failure 10 discharge the plain duties imposed
upon them, were guilty of Il violation OF iheiI
oatns, and we fear will bring discredit upon the
State; and we declare that the Governor cal
clear himself from completely in that crime. only
by taking steps to prevent repudi"ti0n.
-. That the arrest of Hon. Clement L.. Val
landigham, Of Ohio. for no other reason but fO
the exercise of his right of free discussion, has
been received by the Democracy of Indiana will
feelings of just disapprobation. as another evi
| dence that the first and most sacred right OF I'll,
citizen has been stricken down in his person; anC
we send to that gallant tribune of the people tn,
sympathy OF his Democratic friends in Indiana
who. though assaulted at nome by kindred op
preston. are vel prepared to stand 6rm by him il
his defense of the sacred right of constitutions
freedom.
IA That we hereby reafiirm and indorse Oh,
resolutions adopted by The Democratic State Con
%vention which assembled ia this city OH the 30tl
day OF July. 1862.
From the Albany Argus.
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