The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1863-05-21
Free speech.
EDITOR

Free speech.
There is no more efficient method Of aiding
the rebel cause, just than the course taken by
a portion of the Northern Press, and by a GER
tain class of stump speakers-the oft repeat
ed declaration. that the rights of the people
are being wantonly and wickedIy usurped by
the Federal Government-that the right Of
Free Speech, Or free political discussion is be
ing u~selessly curtailed and that if the people
would defend and enjoy the rights and priv
leges guaranteed to them by the Constitution,
they must resist by force Of arms, the execu-
ton of the laws by the present administration
The blackest-hearted traitor in the southern
confedcracy, never invented a more wicked
or mischievous lie, wherewith to urge his con
|stituents into actual rebellion, than this.
The immediate text for the great cutlery.
just now, is the arrest, trial and conviction
of the infamous rebel sympathizer-Vallandig
ham! A name that should be a Kissing and
a byword in every loyal community, is being
held up by demagogues and politicians, as
that ola martyr to the cause of Free Speech
Many Of the self-styled Democratic papers like
the Chicago Times, Milwaukee NewS, &c, are
filled with inflammatory appeals against the
Government, on account of the arrest of this
brawling d~emagogue-to call him by nc
harsher name. We believe, however, he
should be called a double dyed traitor. We
recollect, during the winter Of 1660-61, III
the stormy debates of that session, while many
ofthe present rebel Headers still held their seats,
and spouted their treason III the halls Of Con
gress, Mr.. ~Vallandighaln never suffered the
most rabid secessionist Of them all, to 60 ahead
of him in denunciation Of the President elect
and the people who elected him, and vitupe-
~rative abuse of the Government, unless it
could be made entirely subservient to the i'll
~terests Of the accursed institution of slavery.
In every effort of the s~ecessionists, to destroy
the Union and subvert the Government, they
had the most active and outspoken eneour-
agement and sympathy from Vallandigham.
The fact that he resided in and mis-represent-
ed a loyal State, is the only reason that he
did not 90 out with the Southern traitors !;
and the only reason that he is not now in the
Southern army instead of Fort Warren, is,
that he thought he could do more e~ffectual
service to the rebel cause, by a crusade against
the Government Gin the house of its friends"
He thought he could, by poisoning the minds
of loyal men-by sowing discord and dissen-
sion among the people-by turning partisan
feeling and animosity into actual enmity to
the Government-so weaken the common
feeling of loyalty and respect for the Union
and Constitution, that its destruction might
even be longed for, by those who could never
have been approached directly for such an
end.
After all the hue and cry that has been
raised against the oppression and usurpationS
of the Government-the curtailment of the
right of Free Speech and free political discus
sion. there is no JoyaI man, we care not what
his politics are, or have been, who honestly
believes a word of it. Nobody believes that
President Lincoln or any of his cabinet wish
to restrain the freest discussion Of the acts Of
the administration, any further than such
discussion is calculated to aid and abet the
rebellion. The Government is i'll a deadly
struggle for existence. What in time of peace
might be passed over with silent contempt,
becomes in such a struggle a powerful instru-
ment in the hands of the enemy to weaken
and annoy; and the officers who have ta-
ken the oath to preserve and hand down to
their successors, the inestimable boon Of Free
Government, would be r~ecreant to duty and
to the trust that hasbeen given them, if they
should allow such men as infamous Vallan-
digham to continue his efforts, unrestrained,
in behalf of the rebellion.
No man not in sympathy with the rebellion
feels himself restrained Of any liberty, either
Of action or speech by the steps that have
been taken to restrain the turbulent and dis
loyal in our midst. The people ought to
know that their real danger lies in the sue
cess of those who are striving to destroy the
Government, instead of the success of those
struggling to preserve it. We say to the 10y
al people Of kenosha County, whatever your
politics, be not deceived by the false teaching
Of demagogues. Your liberties are only in
ln,pr,, Prov, 4ha r,,aoo.- 90 H.. zz
fighting for the destruction of the glorious Tn
ion founded by Washington and his compat-
riots-those revolutionary heroes whom we
have been taught to respect and venerate
from our cradles! Your liberties are not de-
pendent upon the liberty of such men as the
infamous ~Vallandigham, to go about the
country in the service of JEFF. Davis, denounc-
lug every act Of the administration and insti-
eating and doing his best to stir up civil war
anddiscord in the loyal States, with the hope of
thereby earning some position in the cabinet
OF the confederate monarchy to be established
ON the ruins of this once glorious Union. Be
true to yourselves, true to your Government,
true to the principles which underlie this
grand structure Of Freedom upon which rest
the institutions that have nurtured and de-
veloped this Nation until it has taken it's place
among the greatest, most prosperous, happi-
est and freest in the world.
Words with the Right Ring.
The Green Bay Advocate, in times of peace
a partisan paper of the Democratic order, and
not very luke warm at that, but now a patyi-
OF paper, holds the following language, which
is worthy of all acceptation.
''In the course of our own political expert
ence, brief and rugged even as it has been, we