The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-03-04
THE -CONsCRIPTION BILL.

Our readers will find on. the first page of
fhis paper q statement=of the main features of
xsf tbs Gonseription Bill.
80 !. It has been believed by many for some time
that President Lincoln Intended to make him
self military dictator and that it would be
done somewhat upon the plan of Napoleon's
coupdeetaG Fearingthatthis manner ofaccom-
flishing the main purpose might not be accept
able to the American people some new scheme
must be. devised, which might be less unrop-
ular thar, the plan Of the Emperor Of France.
= The same object has been attained in the pas
sage eof themost infamous enactment ever
placed upon Sto Congressional records of the
United States This CONSUMPTION bill, it will
.ssbe seen, takes the control of the militia Of the
esi State out of the hands of the governors and
.s,agises that control, without limitation, to the
President. 1t thus gives the President SUI
:, preme military power; and that which Napo,
dileon accomplished by his coup de etat, Lincoln
IA hassaccemplished through the serYile tools in
sd the Congressional halls that make our laws
2 It cannot then, be too soon known and under
:. - stood, that instead of living under a Demo.
eratic form of government, we have over us a
womilitary dictator, whose power is absolute and
NIL - " IL bnAol INV tuO OuG
boosted freenen of America come in less than
-stao years. of Abolition rule. The prepare
fions for carrying out this usurpation are now
ss.being made. The people must either submit
or resist. Those who yet wish to preserve tho
: name and the advantages of freeman will RE-
SYST; and they cannot commence their prepa-
a~qratf6ns for IL too soon stfr
r., The law further creates another immense
-hsrdeso Of Federal officers, who will join hands
with the abolition aristocracy and accumulate
wealth and attain position at the expense of
the enslaved and oppressed poor white men Of
thestafes. Each Congressional district has three
aof6cers, among them a Provost Marshal, who,
beside other powers and duties enumerated,
rs 4to. arrest descrters; report reasonable prac-
stices, detect spies, &c" The writ of Ha5eas
Corpus being suspended, what may not these
irresponsibls Provost-Narshals do? Every
sma6 tha votes the Democratic ticket is
charged with treason, and if this draft should
be ordered but a shortstime before an impor
tsnt- election every democrat might be arrest
ed andscon6ned until the draft s0as over.
Again; the bill provides that these Provost
Mazhakrn taks and keep al arms that may
be found in the hands of individuals, that inn
portant article of the Constitution giving the
people nthe right to keep and bear arms be-
ing thus directly and violently set aside.
Again heavy penalties are imposed upon
anypsrson whom one of these Provost Scoun-
drsls may desire to have out of his wAy,aby his
simply charging that the person tried to dis
susde some one, (perhaps a SON or brother)
sfrom performing military duty" What a.
mount of liberty, pray, is left to any man with
All these restrictions. Freedom of speech, of
the press, Of opinion, are all stricken down at
q single blow
Il would seem that the objections We have sta.
'tedsxere enough to damn to eternal infamy this
most outrageous, unjust and tyrannic Measure
But the aoorst has not been told. Infamy has
beenaddeda and heaped upon dan1nin9 infa-
The, party and administration that are
building up a despetism and privileged ~aristoc-
racy upon the ruins of the Republic have
laid their last and hardest burden upon tho
poor white man. "A Tremendous depreciation
of currency and an enormous tax or duty thar
raises immensely all the necessities of life to
them was supposed to be enough for them to
bear for the purpose of enriching a pack of
thieYing, numbering abolitionists. But this
the aristoerats concluded was not enough, and
ther5upon a iconscription law is enacted which
results in forcing into the Abolition army
every. poor white man in the Northern States
Suppose as is asserted, that six hundred
Thousand more men viii be Immediately forced
into the army by thsC Go inscription. The quo
ia of Ashland County will be about 800 men
The law ezempts every man that can pay to
the thieying traitors three hundred dollars
It Is safe to say that theirs are not over eight
hundred men in Ashland County who cannot,
n such an emergeHcy, raise three hundred
dollars. In other-counties the proportion is
undoubtedly about the same. This will then,
as We said before, force into the army every
poor man in the country. This is its direct
and inevitable result. ANY man that eau raise
his three hundred dollars goes free, while the
poor laborer Is forced to risk his life, in bloody
battleof in apesti1entiaI hospitals. The demand
of Lineoln, Seward, Halleck and Co. is "thrce
hundred dollars or your life"
The Bill, all through, is a most infamous
measures IF submitte d to by the American
peoplstheir liberty is . thing of the past. But
we warn. the dsspots that they are treadfng :
ondangerous ground There are burning I
volcanoes,ybottomfes morasses and troublous &
quicksdnds beneath them. They can no more
escape the .Prernt than they can histOry-tll
And soon, suspe nded lBetween Heaven and )
earth, or doomed to the lingering torture of t
the. SstiJ, small voice. until the grim mon c
ster sends them pnapnealed to deeper misery, y
they viii here OF hereafter suffer the penalty
of thcfr enormous crimes; upon their heads, f
the wreck. Of q great nation, the blood of hun r