Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-04-20

American citizen can be faithful to his allegiance
unless he comedies the principle that the king can
do no wrong. he has studied this heresy,
doubtless, in European courts, and desires to
transplant it to these shores. And if it should
bloom here, it would be as the deadly upas tree,
under whose blighting shadow every green and
beautiful thing dies. All civil rights would per-
ish. The courts would stand adjourned to meet
no more. The scales 0 fjustice wonld be broken
and thrown away. The temple of Janus would
stand wide open, and war, the sport of kings and
the ruin of the people, would waste the country
forever. The sovereign voice of the masses
would be silent and stiAed in their threats. 1t
would be dangerous TO think, and children would
no longer be educated to e~nlighten their minds,
but simply to develop their muscles, with which,
as slaves. to work for the tax gatherer, or as
gladiators to enter the arena of ambitious wars.
The prison houses would overflow with all who
dared to remember that they were once free, and
death, in its most appalling aspects, would hold
high carnival on the gibbet. And over all, and
supreme above all check, restraint, or response
bility would reign the sovereignty of one man.
Sir, need i ask whether the public mind OF this
country is ready 10 receive calmly and submit TO
the plain and inevitable consequences of such as
founding principles2 Are American citizens ready
70 surrender all, all, absolutely all that renders
lie a blessing and redeems their citizenship from
being a byword and a reprOachi | will not insult
the proud ancestry from which we sprung; / will
not mock the memory of the dead who have died
for liberty on both hemispheres; | will not i'm
peach the purity of the blood which flows in
American veins by reiterating this question. 1t
has been answered more than . thousand times
already in council and in the field. by the great
race to which we belong, and the American peo-
pie are ready to answer il again. Our remote
ancestors beat down the walls 6f Rome and
BUNDLED the pride of the worlds mistress into
the dust. They broke the Roman yoke which
Caesar placed on their necks, and turned and
trampled to death the nation which had penetra
ted their misty regions, and awakened them to a
sense OF their power and their destiny. Their
descendants for two thousand years, in all the
wonderful vicissitudes of history, have chaie1
under and resented and resisted he insolent spirit
of encroachment, invasion and usurpatiOn against
their civil and their religious Liberties. They have
met the degrading demands of executive tyranny
at their thresholds. IN whatever forms they have
been advanced. Sir. this is the race of liberty.
| solemnly and earnestly commend the study of
its glorious and exalted history TO those who are
this day trihing with the majestic principles of
personal independence which il has secured to the
world bv its wisdom and its blood. IL has stood
as the ron-mailed champion of constitutional
government; it has borne the banners of the cross
and planted Christian civilization on every shore
and beneath every sky; it has poured the beams
of the useful sciences into the dark and waste
places of the earth: il has carried the reh0ements
of the arts to the savage forests, and caused the
wilderness to be transformed into the abode of
learning and genius; it has ~thronged every ocean
with il has spoken the great empori
ums of trade into existence; il has de6ed every
barrier of nature to resist It's adventurous spirit;
it has PLAYED with the fiery elements of the phys
ical world, and used them rs obedient servants in
the grand march Of its gigantic progress; and in
the midst of all this, and under all circumstances
it has waited on the fortunes and espoused the
cause Of liberty with the unmeasured devotion Of
a knight HeTrant of chivalry, and the undaunted
courage of the Lion Heart. Such a race viii
take no step backward. 1t will submit to no di.
minutiOn of its glory. 1t will surrender none of
its high prerOgatives. Revolutions and changes
NAV retard It's progress for a briei season, but
they can no more defeat its ultimate success in
all that is great in conception and sublime in exc
cution, than the storm which lashes the waves
into fury can annihilate the ocean. NV faith,
which brightens the future TO nv ewes. is founded
on the blood which the American people have in
herited from this lofty race. 1t will never bend
the servile knee to executive dictatiOn. Itwears
an erect port and an elevated crest. IL has de-
fed the insOlenee OF power in every age of its
history, and it defes il now. Yes, sir. the Amer
lean people have suffered the Outrages Of execu-
tive usurpations. and they have soiemnly and de
Iberately uttered their defiance. The voice of the
Barons, the voice of John Hampden, and the voice
of Patrick Henry crying, "give me liberty or give
me death, were all concentrated in the voice of
the people of this country, as expressed at the
ballot box in the recent elections.
Much has been said in regard 20 the meaning
Of these popular expressions. There are many
issues before the country. and ! shall not at this
time seek TO interpret AZ length the public will on
any other than the one / have endeavored to dis
cuss to-day.
1t is true, however, that this Administration
stands condemned by the people in every essen
tial particular. 1t no longer possesses the public
confidence. 1t is waging "A war which it is no
longer pretended is to restore the Union as our
fathers made it. The constitutional rights of the
States have been abolished 10y proclamation, and
that portion Of the slaves which are not TO be
liberated by the sword are 10 be paid for by direct
taxation A war thus conducted is a fraud on
millions of voters who have hitherto sustained it.
Its failure "a a remedy for our national calami-
ties is palpable and absolute, even if war, under
any circumstance, could have brought US a res
%toration OF the Union. These and kindred queS
tions were decided in certain and distinct tones At
the ballOt-bOx in October and November: but |
can do no more than give them a passing allu-
sion on this occasion.
But on the question of the integrity Of the Con
LstitutiGn and the protection which il affords to
the citizen, the voice of the people comes to our
ears with a sound equally plain and clear. 1t rang
out from the cities and plains. the mountains and
the prairies. in stern denunciatien Of every in
frirgement which this Administration has made
of that holy instrument. and in favor OF the pres
e~rvation OF civil liberty, whatever else might
perish IL demanded not only that the prison
doors should roll back and the victims of despo-
tism be Welded up to the guardianship of the law
but it demanded also, in the sovereign and impe-
rious tone of a free people. that the audacious
and dangerous principle on which arbitrary
arrests have been made, and speedy and
public trials denied. shall be at once and forever
abandoned in the most open and explicit manner.
Nor, sir, will the people give any second warn
ing on this subject. They intend to be obeyed.
They know themselves to be masters and not
slaves. IL the peaceful admonition of the ballot
box goes mheeded; if the reasonable and earnest
remonstrance of an enlightened and patriotic peo-
Pile is lost on those who seem drunken and mad
with power; it the insane wtckedness which has
ruled this Congress and launched the present Ad-
ministratiOn on its schemes of ruin cannot be
reached aud restrained in its destructive career by
the popular voice coming up here in all its i'm
pressive grandeur. then the sword, the sword
sir. must once more in the annals of the world
determine the ancient issue, so often baptized in
blood, between the absolute power of one man,
and the inalienable, ndestructable rights of the
masses. speak plainly. The time for words
without meaning has gone by. You may pass
this bill TO protect the Executive and his agents
in the exercise OF arbitrary power from the con
sequences Of their own acts. You may place
them above all responsibility. You nav elevate
item above the law, and say that il shall bave no
claims on them for the violations it has suffered
You may say that the victims of their barbarous
oppression shall be dumb in their presence You
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