The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-05-20

that they are ga less public, a less striking,
aud therefore q more dangerous engine Of ar
bitrary goverpmentD than executions upon the
scafold. And yet tonight, you seek heres
under cloak of7an act of Congress, to author
ize these arrests and imprisonmcnts, and thus
to renew again that reign of terror which smote
the hearts Of the, stoutest among us, last sum
mer, as ".the pestilcnce which walketh in dark
ness" - - r i.-a~ fal,r o.he
But the Constitution provides further, that
aTheirights of the people to be secure in
their persons, houses, papers, and effects,
against unreasonable searches and seizures,
shall not be violated, and no warrants shall is-
sue, but upon probable cause, supported by
oath or affirmation, and particularly describing
the place to be searched and the persons or
things 10 be seized" IL aHtF ,sH Isr13 2 =
4 Sir, every line, letter, and syllable of this
provision has been repeatedly violated, under
pretense of securing evidence of disloyal or
reasonable practices and now you propose
by this bill to sanction the past violations, and
authorize new and continued infractions In
future. o Your provost marshals, your captains
of cavalry are to enquire into reasonable
practices" How 2 In any way, that they
may see fit and of course by search and sell
zlre,of person, house, papers, or effects for
sworn AID appointed spies and informers as
they are, they will be and can be of no higher
character, and no more scrupulous of law or
right OF decency than their predecessor of last
summer, appointed under Executive proclama.
tons of no more or less validity thai, this bill
which yoa seek now to pass into a law. Sir,
Hthere:i is but one step further to take. Put do*n
the peaceable assembling of the people; the
rightiof petition for redress of grievances; the
fright of the people to keep and bear arms -
and finally the right of suffrage and elections,
and then these United State this Republic
of ours, will have ceased to exist. And that
short step you viii soon take, if the States and
the people do not firmly and speedily check
yeu in your headlong plunge into despotism.
What yet remains? The Constitution declares
that ~ 1aiaaEG1t ,aFe5Al4zto Oh
"The enumeration In the Constitution Of
certain rights shall not be construed to deny
or disparage others retained by the people,
And again: tq &C.,.
''The powers not delegated to the United
States by the Constitution nor prohibited by
it to the StateI are reserved to, the States 70
spectiycly or to the psopleI"s ~
= And yet, under the monstrous doctrine that
in war the Constitution is suspended and that
the President as Commander-in- Chief, not of
the military forces only, but of the whole peo-
pie of the United States, ucay, underlrthe war
power" do whatever he shall think necessary
md proper to be done, in; any State or part of
any State, however remote from the scene of
warfare, every right of the people is violated
or, threatened, and every power of the States
usurped, Their last bulwark, the militia, be-
longs solely to the States when not called as
such into the actual service of the United
States, you now deliberately propose, by this
bill, to sweep away, and to constitute the Pres
ident supreme military dictator, with q stand
ing army of three millions and more at his |
command. And for what purpose are the NIL
litia to be thus taken from the power and Gus.
tody of the States r Sir, the opponents of the
Constitution anticipated all this, and were de.
nounced as raving in~cendiaries or distempered
enthusiasts. royfssf2 1 rzza |
"The Federal Government
Said Patrick Henry, in the Virginia Con.
"~squints toward monarchy. Your
President may easily become o king. IF ever
he violates the law, UiH not the recollection of
has crimes teach hin, to make oae bold push
for the American thrones? Will not the
difference between being master of
everything and being ignominicusly tried and
punished powerfully excite him to make this
bold push2 But, sir, where is the existing
force to punish him? Can he not, at the head
of the army, beat down all opposition? What
then, will become of you and your rights?
Will not absolute despotism ensue?"
And yet, for these apprehensions, Henry
has been the subject of laughter and pity for
seventy years. Sir, the instructive love of lib.
erty is wise and more far seeing than any phi
losophy. 5ar osg 65a
Hear. now, Alexander Hamilton, in, the
Federatist. Summing up what he calls the
exaggerated and improbable suggestions re-
spccting the power of calling for the services
of the militia, urged by the opponents of the
Constitution, whose writings he compares to
some ill-written tale, or romance full of fright
full and distorted shapes, he says:
"The militia of New Hampshire, they al
lege, is to be marched to Gcorgia; of Georgia
to New Hpshire; of New York to Kentucky;
and: of Kentcky to Lake C~hamrlain. Nay,
and debts due to the French and Dutch are to
be paid in militia men, instead of Louis d'ors
and ducats. At one moment, there Is to be
a large army to lay PROSTATE the Liberties of
the people; at another moment, the militia of
Virginia are to be dragged from their homes,
five or six hundred miles, to tame the republic
can contumncy of Massachusetts; and thatof
Massachusetts as to be transported an equal
distance to sxbdae the refractory h~aughtiness
Of the dristocratic TIryiniams. Do persons
who rave at this rate imagine that their elo-
quence can impose any ~ooneeits or absurdities
upon inc PeoPie OF America iot iniaiiiDie
truthsY AtFtfe5
$ And yet, sir, just three quarters of a centu-
~ later we have lived to see these raving,
~conceits and absurdities practiced, or attempt
ed; as calmly and deliberately as though the
power and the right had been expressly con.
ferred- ne
And the reporter unable to follow the vehe-
n snt orator of the revolution, adds:
"Here. Mr.. Henry strongly and patheptioslly
expatiated on the probability of the Presidents
enslaying America, and the horrid consequences
that must result"