The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1863-02-25


GENTLEMEN Il desire to call your
attention to subject of moment. When
the present infamous and God d-cendemned
rebellion broke out, Congress was not in
session, and the occurrence OF such a
state of things not having been seen In
former times, no adequate legislation had
| been had to meet it, At the same time
the life of The country being at stake
it appeared necessary that some means
should be taken to control the small band
of traitors in the loyal States, so as to
prevent them from Vaccinations which
might be Injurious if not fatal, to the ma
tional cause Under these circumstances,
the General Government resorted to the
system of military arrests of dangerous
persons, and having thus commenced act
ing under it, have continued Cat long in
tervals in this State) to pursue it. The
Government of the United states acts di-
rectlv on individuals, and the State Exc
cutive has no authority or means to in
terfere with arrests of citizens of the Uuit-
ed States, made under the authority of
that Government. Every citizen of Penn.
sylvania is also a citizen of the United
States, and owes allegiance to them. as
we'll as (subiect to the provisions of the
Constitution of the United States) he
owes to Pennsylvania. If he be uulaw-
fully deprived of his liberty his only re-
dress is to be had at the hands Of the ju-
dietary. In such times as the present, it
is more than ever necessary to preserve
regularity in official action. Great efforts
have been, and are, perhaps, still being
made, by persons blinded or i'll disposed,
to throw us into state of revolution !;
that is to say, to create anarchy and con-
fusion, and ultimately 20 bring about the
destruction Of life and property among
US. Any Irregular, much more illegal,
interference by your executive, with mat
ters which, by the Constitution, are not
entrusted to his cognzauce, and especial
ly any such interference with the action
of the executive of the United States or
with the functions of the judiciary, would
be, in the existing crisis, emphatlcally
dangerous, it would have direct revolu-
tionary tendency-in fact, it would be to
commence q revolution. The courts of
justice are open, and, no doubt, all per-
sonal wrong can be properly redressed in
due course of law.
[ do not know how MANY arrests of the
kind heretofore referred to have been
made in Pennsy lvaDia, as have at no
time been privy to the making of them,
but | believe they have been few. was
under the Impression that there would be
no necessity for more of them, otherwise
[ might have referred to them in my an
nua message: but recent events have
shown that this impression was erroneous,
| deem i. my duty now to invite your at
tentiou to the subject.
is one for the preservation of our own lib
erty and welfare. The traitors Of the
South hate the great body of our people,
who are loyal, and hate and bitterly de-
spise the few who are ready for submis
sion. Unless the rebellion be efectually
suppressed, we must lose our pride Of
country, the larger portion of our terri
tory, and the elements not only of great
ness but of prosperity, and even OF secu-
rity to life, liberty ard property. Not
wthstauding all this. it is, fear, an un-
doubted truth that Ii few wretches among
us, false to our free and loyal traditions,
false to the memory of their fathers, and
to the rights of their children, false to the
country which has given them birth and
protected them, only stopping short Of
the technical offence of treason, in the
very madness of mischief are actively
plotting to fetray US, to poison aud mis-
lead the minds of our people by treacher-
Gus Misrepresentation, and to so aid and
comfort the rebels that our fate may be
either to abandon the free North and be-
come hangers on of Government found
ed IN treachery, fraud, and insane ambi-
ton, or. at best, to dissolve the Union
under which we have prospered, and to
break this great and glorious country in-
to fragments, which will bo cursed by per-
petual discords at home, and by the con-
tempt and i'll usage of foreign nations,
from which we shall be too weak to vim
dicate ourselves. -
That such offences should be duly pun
ished no good citizen can doubt; and that
proper Legislation by Congress is required
for that purpose, can be as little doubted.
Whether such legislation should include
a suspension of the writ of habeas corpus
in any and what parts of the country, is
question Which belongs exclusively to
the legislative authorities Of the United
States, who, under the Constitution, have
the right to determine 1t. The great
writ ought not to be suspended, unless to
the wisdom of Congress the present ne