The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-03-14
The Democratic Revolutionary Consplr.
Acy In Indiana.

| acy I'm Indiana.
The Democratic majority in the Indiana LIE.
glsiatnre, having obtained power on the pre-
| text ofloyalty to the Union, prepared and in.
| troduced measures to take the military power
| out OF the hands of the constitutional suthori
ty, and give it to an illegal board composed of
men openly carrying out the views of the re-
bells, to iisband the militia, and create a new
organization to be controlled by men in omen
sympathy with the enemy, and to lepislate the
loyal city government Of Indianapolis GU: Of
existence, and usurp it in order to clear the
way for the seizure of the capital Of the State.
and he United States Arsenal.
The plot contemplated nothing less than the
subve.sion of all law and constitutional author.
ity in the State, and placing it in the power of
the rebels. 1t twas an insurrection by the par.
ty in control of the Legislature, just as the Sc
cession conspirators in the control Of the Gov.
eminent in the last Democratic Administra-
ton used their official position to transfer the
arms, money, army, navy, forts and arsenals
to the rebel conspiracy. To prevent this in.
surrection from being carried on under the
shelter Of official position, the Union members
Of the House have left their seats, thus depriv-
ing it Of quorum.
plain statement Of the case is their abun-
dant justification. Loyal men could not stay
and give their passive aid to such q conspiras
cy They were under no obligation to permit
the Constitution to be subverted, and the State
precipitated into rebellion, because there are
legal tribunals which may declare these acts
unconstitutional. What are legal tribunals
after State has been precipitated into civil
war? Can the decision Of Supreme Court
reverse an armed rebellion? What would the
decision of the Courts of any of the rebel
States, declaring the ordinance of Secession
unconstitutional, amount to in The face of
armed rebellion? a ar
The members were under obligation to main
tain the Constitution Of the State and United
States, by every means in their power. They
were not required to wait until these and all
legal authority were overthrow by rebellion.
That the loyalmay appeal to the courts against
rebellion which intends the overthrow of all
legal authority, is the plea of either the simple
or the treacherous. The people who saw the
officers of the United States Government in
Buchanan's Administration transferring the
arms and public defenses to the possession of
q rebellion for the destruction of the Cnnsti-
tuition, were under no obligations to wait until
the destruction was accomplished before they
acted. They would have been justified in act.
ing at once.
man who sees an incendiary about to ap.
ply torch to his barn, is not prevented laying
hands on him because there are legal tribunals
before which he may arraign him, after the
CONGREGATION. Yet what is the firing of q barn
or domicil compared with the conspiring of
civil war? A man who meets an assassin does
not have his hands tied by the fact that the
law provides due punishment for murder. Nor
are they who soc plot going on to overthrow
Constitution and law by illegal legislation and
armed force, required to fold their hands and
see 1t carried out, because when the Consti;u-
ton and laws are destroyed they may make .
| vain appeal to them. s's1as
The Union members of the House took the
only way to save the Constitution from viola.
ton, and the State from civil war 1t was their
duty to prevent the forms Of the State Gov
ernment from being used to destroy it. Indi-
ana is subject to the same conditions and ne
cessities as other States. If the Legislature is
reasonable, and refuses to carry on the State
Government according to the Constitution Of
the State and of the United States, it is liable
to the treatment found necessary in the same
conditions in other States If provisional
Government is found necessary, as some Of the
traitors threaten, it will be found that treason
vacates official positions, in Indiana the same
as in Tennessee. When the Goldenl Knights
come to try that experiment, it will be found
that the principle already established in this
Government, that only the loyal are qualified
to govern, will be enforced in Indiana as it
has been in other places.-[Cin. Gazette.