Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1863-07-31
Military lDespotisln.

Military DespOtfsm.
From events that have recently transpired
the truth is forced upon US that the iron heel
of military necessity is crushing despotism,
beneath which thousands Of persons, whose
proudest boast has been that they were
American citizens, are being deprived Of the
liberties guaranteed them by the Federal
Constitution. So determined is this Admin
istration to take the lead among the most des-
potic powers of earth, that upon the slightest
pretext the Constitution, the palladium Of
our liberties, is boldly trampled under foot
and the rights of citizens subjected to the
will Of one man. The Federal Constitution
insures to every citizen the right to bear
arms and the right to 60 and come when and
where he pleases, except when convicted Of
crime. But these sacred rights, when exer-
cised by those who are compelled to oppose
an INSCRIPTIONS and corrupt administration,
in their defense of constitutional freedom,
are every day violated. The Federal Consti-
tuition plainly guarantees the right of every
citizen to a speedy trial by jury in the
county where the ofense is committed. But
what are constitutional guarantees to an ad-
ministration bent on crushing out the liber.
ties of the people? Thank God, the people
will not always submit to tyranny and op-
preston The slumbering fires of Freedom
will, by the breath of tyranny, be famed to a
consuming fame. ..., ....,.....
But few weeks since, the purest patriot Of
the age, the noblest statesman of his time,
who, for his manly defence of the rights of
Americans, has won a fame second only to
the Father of Treason, was arbitrarily seized,
at the dead hour Of night, by body Of armed
minions," whose hands had been imbrued
in the blood of their Southern brethren, hur-
ried before Court unknown to the laws of
Ohio, where no rebellion existed and civil au-
thority was maintained, tried and compelled
to leave his home, family and business. An
American citizen in exile, for no crime, save
that of giving aid and comfort to those
whom the disinterested historian will JUS
tify in this rebellion" against an abolition
dynasty.
The precedent established in the case of
Mr.. Vallandigham, the minions of Lincoln,
under the lead of the hireling Grant, compels
the citizens Of sovereign States to abandon the
home of their choice, surrender the arms. the
right of bearing which is secured by the
Constitution, and without speedy trial,
sending 10000 wayward sisters into disgrace
full exile.
On the same day another minion, by name
Prentiss, usurpingly deprives larger body
of citizens of life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness, near Helena, in Arkansas. But
four days pass, and acts of tyrrany thicken
and.multiply. An abolition hireiing, by name
Banks, who had been convicted of saying
"let the Union slide," seized over 5000
Southern bretheren, and forcibly took from
them their property and their liberty-send-
ing them to prison without process of law.
Later-(and this case has so outraged our
feelings as to call upon US to sound the tocsin
of alarm before it is everlastingly too late)-
body of emigrants, some 1000 in number,
under the leadership of one Morgan, while
quietly proceeding on their journey, are set
upon by an undisciplined mob, hunted down,
fired upon from behind fences and barns,
their horses taken away from them, their
pursuit of happiness" interrupted, and final
" compelled to yield their personal liberty to
the restraints Of Lincoln hirelings. And so,
one of the most chivalrous, heroic, liberty
loving body of men that ever left southern
plantations, temporarily residing in a State
where no rebellion existed and where civil
authority was recognized, has been compel
led, like the heroic Vallandigham, to pass un-
der the oppressive yoke of Ambrose Burn
side. The right to bear arms-to speedy
trial by jury-to liberty and the pursuit of
by this "minion" of the Lin
coin dynasty, denied those brave men.
Do not these outrages cry to us for ven
geance Men and brethren, how long shall
these things continue, and what shall be the
sign Of your uprising? Are not all these
things contrary to our ideas OF Constitutional
Liberty? Shall this military despotism con-
tinue? r.'- .t-.E -.s5I s
We rather think 1t will for while.