Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1863-06-24

cannot discern them. Under single
despot there is equality; from a single
despot there may be hope of escape.
But the worst form that despotism can
assume is that of the tyranny of party
over party; and if anything can add to
its horrors it is when the dominant fac
ton is infamed by fanaticism and led by
priests.
conscientious that they act under sense
of duty, of religious duty7 1 do not
impeach their motives. The more consci-
entious they are, the worse. All fanatics
are conscientious, and it is this that
makes their tyranny, or all tyranies, the
most insufferable.
What we can and ought to do, beyond
the mere expression of our sympathy, in
aid of our oppressed countrymen in Ohio,
Kentucky and Indiana, is a subject upon
which it may be as well at present to say
nothing. Let us wait the course of
events. We have an immediate ques-
ton to determine for ourselves, and that
is whether we will permit the establish
ment of the same species of government
in our own State-a government which
not only no Englshman and no French
man would endure, but against which the
very lazzaroni of Naples would revolt.
do not speak of exceptional cases of an
extreme public necessity, such as we may
immagine, though their occurrence is not
at all probable; but speak of systematic
acts, done under claim of right, without
necessity, upon false pretences, acts which
are not only fagrantly unconstitutional,
but utterly subversive of liberty and of
law, and of which the manifest tendency,
if not the purpose, is not to maintain the
Union, but to destroy it. l am sure that
to say so plainly. l have no faith in
any petitions, protests or remonstrances
that fall short of this. There is danger
in leaving the President ignorant of our
purpose. am not sanguine enough to
hope for anything from his sense of JUS
tice or respect for the law. The powers
that control him, whether spiritual or
terrestrial, will do to US whatever we will
suffer, but are not likely to attempt that
which they know we will not suffer.
At the same time eprccate all re-
sistance that is not strictly constitutional.
Let US not only submit to, but support all
proper authority. The President claims
| the constitutional power TO establish mar
tial law over the body of the loyal peo-
pie of the loyal States. We deny ii.
Let the courts determine the question.
The Judicial authority is vested in the
courts, and not in the President, the Con-
| ho C 4 fIa
duty of the President, as of any private
citizen, to submit to that authority. If
he resists it, he becomes an usurper, and
may himself be lawfully resisted. And,
on the other hand, if any court or judge,
acting under the forms of law. shall sane
ton his monstrous assumptions, let us in
turn submit not because there may not
be judicial as we'll rs executive usurpa-
ton, and the same right in extreme cases
to resist the one as the other, but, on nc
count of the condition of the country,
and the double dangers that assail. us.
In this way there may be occasional acts
of tyranny, as has been already, but
upon the whole the Judiciary will be
found adequate to our protection, if the
President himself will respect it
But if any citizen of this State shall
be arrested or imprisoned by military
men, or by provost marshals or other Off
GERS, acting under the authority of tho
President, and the court before whom the
question shall be brought shall determine
that he is entitled to his liberty, then, i
in spite of this decision, force shall b,
used to detain him, there ought to be NJ
hesitation to support the Judiciary in op
,, position to military usurpation, and
should regard it as base and cowardl,
not to do so, unless in the face of such
force as would make resistance quit
hopeless. If it be said that sucl
; action would impede the successful prose
, cution of the war, / answer that it i
better that n nation should loose a por
ton of its territory than its liberty AM
if for this cause the rebellious States sha
!. succeed in establishing their independence
/ the fault will be that of the Administra
, tration; and the people, driven to choos
between two evils, will have wisely che
sen that which, beyond all comparison,
- the least.
r The times require, in very high d.
n gree, the exercise of the virtues of coul
: age and of prudence. Moderation in OF
e counsels will give us strength and unit
v in action. Let us accept him as OF
s leader him whom not less merit than pt
I sition designates, (the Chief Magistra'
If of our State and follow and suppo