The dollar weekly bulletin. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1862-1864, 1863-09-24
MI Rnokalew,s Letter.

| -OENTLEMEN- Ou AiO W "
: mmended for assembling yourselves a
: men opposed to the Admin istrations' a
Harrisburg and at Washington, and / an
glad to contributes to your proceedings tht
= expressions of some few earnestwords.
An issue between Power and Liberty i
! distinctly presented US by the policy of on
rulers, and if we stand Indifferent to it, o
: acquiesce in its decision according TO ;tht
Epieasure of those who aspire to be our m as
: ters, what loss and injury! what degrad atior
and eternal disgraee!
By liberty, therefore, do not mean IL
cense. but that regulated freedom establish
ed by our ancestors which we have enjoyed
hitherto without question, and the example
Of which we have held forth proudly before
other nations as the reproof of their system:
aud the glory of our own.
By power l do not mean legitimate au-
thority., but authority usurped and lawless
pursuing its own ends over broken Consti-
tuition and through the baleful fam es oil civil
war
Between these-between power and liber-
ty-can you hesitate in your choice? Will
you hold up balance and weigh, doubt
fully, the arguments which sustain liberty
against those which strongly oppose it! p
Necessity-Safety-ar these the magical
words by which despotism is to be changed
in character and made fit for adoption?-
Shall the idea of tyrants be accepted as our
standard of public rule? Shall we concede
force, and justice, and wisdom, to one OF
the most impudeut, false and injurious doc
trines ever intruded into tho discussion OF
public affairs?
But there is a necessity quite different
from that one asserted on behalf of power)
which we must now admit as most evident
!
SELVES OF THOSE WHO PLEAD NECESSITY AS
THE JUsTIFICATIoN OF THEIR MIsDEEDs.-
Those who cannot govern lawfully and iust-
/ ly are not to govern at all but to give place
| to others. For it is monstrous to say that
the incapable and vicious shall lord it over
/ their fellows. The rulers who say they can
not govern by law and according to right.
stand self condemned. Judged out of tn cir
own mouths. they are unfit for any rule and
they should be voted out of power.
Gentlemen, the greatest son of New Fog
land spent most of his life and won his great
fame in this Common wealth. We are proud
that he became Pennsylvania and took
rank in our history with the illustr;ous man
who established it Sin deeds of peace Let
us try the logic of tyranny by the judgm ent
of that great man. Let US invite the apollo
gist of arbitrary power and advocate of'strong
stoned discourses upon public safety, and
national life, and necessity, to go with US to
our great commercial metropolis and there
stand with US beside the modest slab which
marks the resting-place of Benjamin and
Deborah franklin" Oh! how mean, and
pitiiul, and low and utterly false and de-
spicable will there sound all these apologies
all these pretexts for stealing away, or
taking away from the people the rights and
liberties achieved for them by the great men
of former days! We will hear the voice of
franklin sounding in our ears those memoir
able words of wisdom and warning which
should be written up o. hung in great lette rs
wherever the people N eet for consultation
WOULD GIVE UP ESSENTIAL LIBER-
TY TO PURCHASE TEMPORARY
SAFETY, DESERVE NEITHER LIBER
TY NOR SAFETY.''*
Gentlemen; your political opponents think
that patriotism should be called loyalty and
made to consist in III conditional, uuqles-
tioning devotion to an administration of the
government. | believe you will agree with
me that this great virtue requires no new
name borrowed from the literature of mon
archy; that it is shown in devotion to the
Constitution and laws of the United States,
and of the several States, and that the true
patriot regards public officials with a respect
precisely proportioned to their observance of
law, justice and right, and to their skill, /
their wisdom and their honesty in the per-
formance of their public duties.
Judge your public men fairly but freely. |
Let DO man put paddock upon your lips, /
For impose upon you any of the false and .
pernicious sophisms of arbitrary power.
An important election approaches in this |
and another important one .
succeeds it next year. AT these you are re-
luired to Judge those who have ruled o.
misrule you since 1860, and to determine,
rs far as your votes will go. the policy of
he future. You need no abored exhorta-
ion from me to inspire you with zeal cour-
'ge, determination and fidelity in the dis
charge of your electoral duties Behold!
he evils which afflct the nation and the
Danger. which threaten it! These exhort
rou, beyond art of mine, TO right action, and
Justify that opinion which we hold in COM
non, that upon Democratic success in the
elections just mentioned, depend the exist
nee of free, liberal aud just government in
lis country; resto Grafton OF Union founded
q consent; the avoidance Of future wars, and
be preservation and growth of that material
which results from good govern
nent when vouchsafed to an united, ind US
rious and virtuous people.
l arr, your ellow-citizen,
and obedient servant,
G. R. BUCKALEW.
Works ct' Franklin, by Sparks, Z. III, PIP. 1o7,