Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1863-02-20


trary arrests, your trampling under foot the
freedom Of speech and Of the press, the viola
ton Of the solemn rights secured by the Con-
stitution to the people God grant, what God
alone can grant, good sense enough 10 under
stand the temper Of this people sufficiently
not again to attempt 10 inaugurate reign Of
terror Great applause. We have submit
ted as no people ought ever 10 have submitted
for an hour-to the taking away of our rights
not for moment Why did the people DO
so2 Not that they loved liberty less, bot the
Union more and they we're willing to surren.
der Rto the hands Of men who betrayed every
trust confded to them those precious legaoisa
which were inherited from our fathers, for
three months, on the pledge that the rebellion
would then be crushed out We never In.
tended that we we're 10 be crushed out our.
selves, Laughter and applause. But the
people can be no longer deceived the scales
have fallen from their eyes, aud their liberties
are being correctly appreciated by the people
as they never were before. For two hundred
years no Minister Of Great Britain has dared
to tamper with the body Of any Englishman
without being punished When, in 1853, one
hundred years ago, the Minister OF George
l,-he who tried the experiment Of con.
quering thirteen rebellious eolonies--that
monster laid his arbitrary hand upon the per-
son Of one Of the worst men England, John
Wilkes; the people Of England, seeing their
liberties involvedin the person of John Wilkes,
rallied to his defense, and the Chief Justice
Of the Common Pleas issued a writ of habeas
corpus and said "The King has q right to
know through his Courts what has become Of
the body of one John Wilkes" And McMas-
ters, and Mahoney, and Reeve, and Colonel
Wall--they were denied the writ but had
they not been surrendered, the people of the
United States would have served popular
writ of hdbeas corpus to know what had be-
come Of their leaders Cheers Let not
this experiment be tried
am no friend Of the Administration. as
you all know, cheers and laughter though
it has befrended me much unintentionally; but
would whisper in their ear in the accents Of
friend, Try not that experiment again"
Loud cheers Tsmper not with the rights
OF 25,000,00O of free men, You deceived us
once; you cannot deceive us again Do not
pass your monstrous bill now pending in the
House to suspend the writ of habeas corpus
everywhere What2 Because there is a re-
bellion in South Carolina, men shall not be
free in New Jersey2 and the minions of this
Administration may enter your house and drag
you from your beds to the Bastie2 Is that
the liberty for whom the Jersey Blues fought
in the Revolution Is that the entertain
ment to which Washington and his fellow pat
riots invited his countrymen Pass not your
Conscription Bill, which you seek to enforce
| by holding that rod Of terror over the people,
your masters We made and will unmake
you. Cheers. Inaugurate not a revolution
in our own midst shall stand by the Con-
stitution and the laws of the land-by order
and submit to all things in reason; sur
render every minor point to enable this Ad-
ministration, if it be 80, to carry out father
the experiment of restoring the Union by
war but not one jot or title Of our rights to
carry on an unconstitutional war for the me-
gro. Loud cheers Have they ever read
history A voice, "They never did. Do
they not know the inevitable result Of the
course Of revolution in former ages2 Do they
not know that the men who begin them ALWAYS
perish by them? Did they ever read of Dan
ton, or Robesperre, or the the French reyo-
luton? Danton got tired of the radicalism
of Robespierre, aud proclaimed himselfa con.
servatiye, and Robespierre had him decapitat-
ed
Weed and Seward are tired Of the radicalism
of Greeley and Sumner, but whether they will
decapitate them or not ia not quite certain
but speaking politically, il they wait a little
longer, we will take the Job out of their hands.
Laughter and cheers1 The people have
borne too much, and they are not prepared for
the exper iment any longer; and / warn the
men OF New York and New Jersey, if they
countenance this Administration in any further
usurpatlons, the Northwest will not 90 with
them. Loud cheers. We propose to 90 be-
fore the people of the whole Union to try this
question by argument and the ballot-box and
If you beat us we will submit TO your rule
under the Constitution and il we beat you.
then, by the eternal you shall submit TGreat
cheers. Why sir, they owe apology for these
monstrous violations of the Constitution Be-
cause we stand by the Constitution, we are
denounced in fine fancy epithets of Butter
nuts, and "Copperheads," and "traitors,"
and "Secessionsts Why is it that this
party, when defeated in illinois by ls 900
majority, have refused to submit to the deei-
sion of the ballot-box2 They ran away 10
escape the bonds ofthe Constitution-absoua
ulated, as it was once called in the State of
Ohio. or, in Northern phrase, skedaddled.
Laughter The grand old Democratic party
ISL good scholar. 1t is no Bourbon, but learns
oil the time ! believe in clinging to the laws
ana the 0allotbox to settle quarres in free
Government, but we will have the liberty Of
criticising the acts Of the Administration. and
will not consent to be called traitors because
we do. Before the Judicial tribunals we are
readyito answer. Try us put to US the ques-
ton as even the Roman Proconsul did in olden
times put the question, "Guilty or not
guilty y and we will answer by the verdict Of
an unbonght, impartial jury of our country
men Our day is coming, if you allow It to
come under the Constitution, and we will try
you the same way, but If the experiment is to