The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1863-03-21
Great D~mOcratlc MEETING nj
Ottawa.

On motion, VIM Osnan, John H,se, q.
o. Wakefield, j. X. Shaver, and j. Avery
were appointed committee to prepare
resolutions for the action of the meeting.
Hon. S. s. HAYS and Hon NJ w. FULLER,
Of Chicago, on invitation, then successive
ly addressed the meeting, eliciting, by
their eloquent and patriotic remarks, the
rapturous applause of the audience.
The meeting then took a recess to Z
o'clock p. m.
On reassembling, the committee on rsso-
lutions submitted the following report:
WHEREAS, it is the undoubted right, -
we'll as the duty OF free people, at all
times jealousy to watch the conduct OF
their rulers, and to exercise perfect free
dom, whenever occasion may require or
inclination prompt, in giving expression to
approval or condemnation of such conduct,
that, if dictated by wisdom and sound
policy, the hand of authority may be
encouraged and strengthened Or, if the
ieve,ss, deferred from persistence in wrong.
doing; And sohereas the occasion has arisen
which, in the opinion of this meeting.
imperatively demands that the voice Of
protest and warning should be uttered in
unmistakable terms against the policy in
augurated by our rulers, and their feeble
ness and imbecility in the conduct Of the
present war. Therefore,
Resolved, That the war now waged by
the government can have no other legiti-
mate and .justifable object than the sup
preston of the rebellion and the enforce
ment of obedience to the Constitution of
the United States and the laws made in
pursuace thereof =
That, as the crime of rebellion consists
i 81, Il
those laws, SO it is not only q solecisn>, but
doctrine monstrous as rebellion itself, to
maintain that the restoration of the au-
thority Of the constitution jastiiies or re,
quires the exercise Of powers not granted
by that instrument
That we arraign our rulers for having
claimed and exercised such powers i'll re-
peated instances notably,
|. In suspendlng the witt OF hdJo.s cor
pas, aud the arrest of citizens not subject
to military law, without warrant or authori-
ty, transporting them out OF the state de-
nying them the right of trial by jury, and
in prescribing arbitrary and illegal test
oaths as the condition Of their release
2 In abridging the freedom Of speech
the press. by imprisoning the citizens for
expressing his sentiments, and by sup
pressing newspapers by military force.
g. By declaring martial law over states
not in rebellion, and where the court.
were open and unrestricted for the pun
ishment Of crime.
4. In the passage of CT post facto laws,
designed to shield public officer sfrom the
just consequences of their illegal acts.
5 BY issuing, under a pretended war
power, utterly unknown to the constitu
ton, a proclamation, affecting 10 Dberate
the slaves in states and districts beyond
the military lines or control of the army,
not even discriminating, in such wholesale
between the slaves OF rebels
aud those of loyal men and OF wcmsa and
minor children; and, as congress b I'd al
ready passed la. coGfscating The Slaves
OF rebels, j; is obvious the only object of
the proclamation was thus to affect the
property of, and punish the innocent-au
assumption Of power having no basis in
the law martial, and contessedly none in
the civil powers conferred on the President
G. BY invading the sovereignty Of the
states, not only by affecting TO set aside
and abrogate, in tho so-called Proclama-
ton Of Emancipation, the constitution,
laws, and institutions of certain states
but also by the dismemberment Of the
state OF Virginia without the ceuse mt Of
her legislature.
:. By the passage OF a CONSUMPTION law,
overriding the authority of the states, in
that it takes from them the reserved pow
er " of appointing the officers and training
the militia according to the discipline
prescribed by Congress and otherwps'
oiious in its features, exempting the rich.
and driving poor men into the army, and
placing IN the hands of the President
power over the person of the citizen 90
absolute as 10 be unsafe TO bs entrusted
nto the hands of any one man, however
wise and pure.
Resolped, That these in many cases, open
aud shameless infractions of the coustitu-
ton, coupled with the unprecedented
powers conferred upon the President by
the last congress, involve the exercise OF
SO alarming-so contrary to the
spirit of our free Institutions, that We now
enter our solemn protest against the same,
in the name of the democracy Of La Sale
county and of the country; seeking no
such powers for ourselves, and most unwill-
ing that they shall be lodged in the hands
OF the mad fanatical crew that now WELD
the authority of this nation.
RsSolred, That the late congress, in con-
ferrins these extraordinary powers upon
the the President, and in justifying the
exercise Of other unconstitutional powers
by passing a law granting him immunity
for the same, have been grossly direlict in
that duty with which they are especially
charged. of seeing that no encroachments
are made upon the rights of the peOp.e by
any department Of the government; and
that this direliction of duty on their part
is aggravated by the fact, we'll known to
them, if they were capable Of compre-
bending it, that the President himself is
utterly without capacity to execute the
vast military trusts imposed upon him, and
that he had sought to relieve himself Of
the difficulty by appointing cabinet
General to act in his stead, who is known
to the whole nation to be as incapable as
himself and not as honest.
Resciced, Nevertheless, that in spite Of
misrule, unprecedented political and mill
tary error and usurpation, we have still an
abiding faith that our government pos
sesses such elements of strength that ii
can survive four years of misrule and I'M
becility; and We, therefore, counsel the
friends Of order and good government not
to initiate our adversaries by committing
any act to endanger or impair the public
peace, to embarrass the government in the
legitimate exercise Of its functions, or in
the prosecution Of the war by consritu.
tional means for the suppression Of the
rebellion. believing, as we do, that although
the attainment Of bepefcial resnls IA
present hands is next to hopeless, yet that
the constitutional, peaceful and sure,
though slow, remedy of the ballot box is
ever the only safe and sure resort for the
correction of political evils.
Resolred, That We hurl back with scorn
and contempt the charge, SO often and
fippantly made, that the democracy are
in sympathy with the rebellion, pointing
triuinphantly as the most effective way to
give the lie to the charge, to our princi-
piles, which have ever been those of un.
faltering devotion to the constitution and
Union, whose enemies cannot, therefore,
but be those Of the democracy, whether
thav he left Davis Steuheus Toomh.