The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-05-20

accused of the "nature and cause" of o "tres.
sonabie practice ~ Who, Of allgthe thousand
victims of arbitrary arrests within, the last
twenty-five months, even to this day, has been
informed Of the charge against him, although
long since released Yet even . Roman pro-
consuIin aeonqqered province, refused to send
up 2 prisoner without signifyipg the crimes
him. 80 - =. - .oga
Witness, iudeedi Fortunate win be the fac-
cused j. there be any witnesses against him.
But is your deputy provost marshal to call
them Oh, M? he is only to enquire into
aud report Is your Provost Marshal Gener-
ALI What Call witnesses from, the remo-
test parts of the Union to- q secret inquisition
here in Washington Has any "prisoner of
State" hitherto been confronted with witness
ses at any time !? Has ,hs even been allowed
to know SO much as the names of his accusersa
Yet Festus could boast that it was not the
manner of the Romans to punish any man
esbefore that he, which is accused, have the
accusers face to face."' sidi
"To have compulsory process, for obtaining
witnesses in his favor"
Sir, the compulsory process will be- under
this bill, as it has bten from the first, to COM
pei the absence, of not only the witnesses, but
the 1fle0ue anu nearest EetatlF6Si Oh tue Eaccu-
sed ; even the wife. of his bosom and his chill
dren-the inmates of his own household
Newspapers, the Bible, letters from home, ex-
cept under surveillance, a breath ofair, a sight
of the waves Of the sea, or the mild, blue sky,
the song of birds, whatever = was denied to the
prisoners of Chillon, and more too yes, even
a solitary lamp in, the casemate, where, q dying
prisoner struggled with death, all have been
refused to the American citizen accused of
disloyal speech or opinions, by this most just
and mereiful Administration. -o
And, finally, says the Constitution: :
tsTo have the assistance of counsel for his
Defense" aiiioz1ami Bag is1s go ied
And yet your Secretary of State, the acon-
scrvative" SewardAtie confederate of Weed,
that treacherous, assembling foe to constitu-
tional liberty and the true interests of his. coun-
try-forbade his prisoners to- employ counsel,
under penalty of prolonged Imprisonment.
Yes, charged with reasonable practices, yet
the demand for counsel was to b. dealt with
equal to treason itself. Here is nm order,
signed by a minion of Mr.. Seward, and read
to the prisoners at Fort Lafayette, on the Sd
of December, 1861; ,5R fe
at am instructed by the Secretary of State
to inform you that the Department of State of
the United States UiW mot recognize any one
as an attorney for political prisoners, and will
look with distrust upon all applications for re-
lease through such channels and hat ouch
applications sciH be regarded as additional
reasons for declining to release the priso"ers.p 4.
And here is another or1er to the same eff
feet, dated "Departmen t of State, Washington,
November 81, 1861" signed by William H.
himself, and read to the prisoners at
Fort Warren on the 10Th of November 1861 y
GDiscountenancing and repudiating all such
---A.- ILLAT.LEH r.. u = H L- Il
The disloyal practice, forsooih, of employ
ing counsel i
"the Secretary of State desires that all the
State prisoners may understand thai they are
expected to reooke all such engagements ncso
criting and avoid amy hereafter, as they can
only lead to new complications and embarrass
ments to the cases of prisoners on whose be-
half the Gorernmen might be aispose3 to act
10Th I6erdlity." s |
Most maghtnimous Secretary! Liberality
towards men guilty of no crime, but who,
though they had been murderers or pirates,
were entitled by the plain letter of The Con-
to have 9th assistance of counsel for
their defense" Sir, there was but one step
further possible, and that short step was taken
some months latter, when the prisoners of
State were required to make oath, as the con-
dition of their discharge, that they would MI
seek their constitutional and legal remedy in
court for their wrongs and outrages inflicted
upon them.
Sir, incredible. as all fhis will seem some
years hence, it has happened, all of it, and
moro yet untold, within the last twenty months
in the United States. Under Executive usur-
patton, and by virtue of presidential procla-
lions and cabinet orders, it has been done.with
out law and against Constitution /; and now it
is proposed. I repeat, to sanction and au-
- ELL L. - -..I1
and void act of Congress, Sir, legislative tyr
amy is no more tolerablc than Executive tyr
amy. 1t is a vain thing to seek to cloak ali
this under the false semblance of law. Lib
erty is no more guarded or secured, and arbi-
trary power no more hedged In and limited
here than under the Executive orders of last
summer. We know what has already been
done, and we will submit to it no longer
Away, then, with your vain ciamor about dis
loyalty, your miserable mockery of reasonable
practices. We have read with yirtuous indig-
nation in history ages ago of an Englishman
executed for treason, In saying that he would
make his son heir to the crown, meaning of
his wi tavern house, which bore the sign of
of the crown I; and of that other Englishman,
whose ~favorite buck the king had killed, and
who suffered death as a traitor, for wishing, in
q fit of vexation, that the buck, horns and all,
were emboweled in the body of the king.
But what have We not lived to see in our own
time? Sir, not many months ago, this Adj
ministration in IFS great and tender mercy to.
ward the six hundred and forty prisoners Of
State, confined for reasonable practice, at
Camp Chase, near the capital of Ohio, ap-
pointed a commissioner, an extra judicial func-
tionary, unknown to the Constitution and laws,
to hear and determine the cases of the sever.
al parties accused, and with power to dis charge
at his discretion, or to Danish to Bulls Island,
in Lake Erie. Among the political prisoners
called before him was a lad of fifteen, a news.
boy upon the Ohio river, whose only ~offenso
proved, upon inquiry, to be that he owed ff.
teen cents the unpaid balance of a debt due
to his ENTHUSIASTICALLY a woman of
aoIor-ubo hod hin, ,rraesod L. IL. -