North Branch democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Pa.) 1854-1867, 1864-04-13
fabric of despotsm which over shad owed all

Sir, pause in this train of sorrowful illus.
tration1. trenble at their contemplation
when my mind is brought to embrace the
conclusions whice flow from them. Blu,
hall we shrink back affrghted and appalled,
because the great lessons of uniform history
comes to us with a voice Of solemn and pro
phetc warning? Shall the universal expe.
rence of the human race bring US no wis
dom? Shall we wrap ourselves in a sweet
delusion and lie down TO pleasant dreams
when We know by every chart of navigation
that the fatal maelstron is just at hand?--
Will the proud and airing people of America
close their eyes and ears against the teaching
of ages, and wait for the fetters and gives TO
convince them that their libert es are in dar
ger2 Are they to be chained like Prometheu
to the rock, while the vultnre of deSpotism
preys forever upon their bleeding vitals? Sir.
in my hours Of seclusion and study have to
the best of my humble capacity held up the
lamp of the past to the face of the future, and
| call God to witness that | would be re-
creant and faithless TO my own conscience if
did not proclaim, far as my voice will
reach, that danger is this hour upon the
American pc pile more deadly than the iu ices
Of the hemIock or the bite of the asp. This
Government Is dying; dying, sir, dying
We are standing around Its bed of death
and soon will be wretched mourners at its
tomb, unless the sovereign and heroic remedy
is speedily applied. | will submit the facts
IN condensed array on which | make this
assertion, that candid public may Judge
between me and that pestilent class who.
failing to answer, resort to slander.
The American republic was established in
order to accomplish avowed and specified
purposes. The objects of its creation we're
left IN no uncerl Amy. Its mission was clear
and distinct by the terms Of the Constitution.
1t came into existence, sin order to form
q more perfect union, establish Justice
insure domestic tranquility, proride for the
common defence, promote The general areL
fare, and secure he blessings Of Hbe,ty" To
that and all succeeding generations of Amer
scan citizens. Who will dare To rise in his
place and ,av that this Government has been
administered during the last three years in
mode even tending towards the accomplish
ment of these grand results? Has the es-
tabll shment of justice been maintained O.
The sword has been thrown into the scales
of justice, and there is not this hour a court
between the Two oceans left free to decide
the laws as they have uniformly been decided
in Engls q and America for the last two
hundred years. The very foundations of civ
ized jurisprudence have been torn away,
and the whole edIfice IS in ruins. The Mag
ma Chdrtd is erased ; the Hd6eas Corpus Is
dead the very soul and spirit of liberty is
extinguished in the forum Of the jud ,ciary-
To this sacred sanctuary, more than to any
other department of the Government. the
blessings of liberty were entrusted. But
has the present administration made them
sccure2 1t is require to do so by the terms
of the Constitution. Let each mind give It's
own answer. Not one right which consti
tutes the freedom and safety of the citizen
but what has been wIckedy and wantonIy
violated. Prisons filled without indictment
and without warrant long and bitter pun
shment inflicted without trial or conviction:
the whole jury system abolished by stroke
Of the pen IN the hand of the Executive, or
MS subordlnates in crime; no witnesses
brought to the face of the a ccused: no coun
sci permitted to appear in his behalf his |
house broken open and his papers searched
in the midst of his pallid and terrified wife |
and children such are some Of the evidences
which exist on ever hand that our free
institutions are Fastening two their over
throw. And not content with breaking
down all the ancient safeguards of liberty,
new and malignant measures Of legislation
nave been continual ydcvised by savish
Congress by which to more effectualy reach. |
ma torture, and grind the citizen. The |
most inocent conduct, a harmless word,
simple look has been eeact.l into guilt
The hired hounds of arbitrary power find |
and crime IN the friendly greet |
ngs of nelghbors on their farms. Speaking
If the period Of 1895 in England, that |
great modern philosopher, Henry Thomas
Buckle, in his History of Civilization, uses |
he following language, which | adopt as
aithfully descriptive OF the conduct of the !
)arty now in power, and of the times in |
which we live:
Nothing, however could stop the Government in |
is hea Hong career The ministers, recure of ma
ority in both houses oi Parliament, were able to |
larry their measures in defence of the people, who |
opposed them by every mode short of actua vio-
ence. And the object of these new laws was to |
heck the spirit of inquiry and prevent reforms |
which the progress society rendered Indispensable
here were also brought into play otner sub |
'ervient to the same end. 1t is ex ggeration to
ay that for some years England was ruled by a sys
EN- of absolute terror. The ministers of the day
ia rning struggle of party into of pro1crp- |.
on filled the prisons with their olitica opponents
md allowed them wheh in confinement to be treated |
With shameful severity. If man was knsvn to be |
rested; and if he esaaped that, he was watched at
every turn, and his private letters we're opened as
hey passed through the postofice. In such cases
10 scruples were allowed. Even the confidence of |
domestic life was violated. No opponent of Gov
ernment safe under his roof against the
ales of eavesdroppers and the gossip of servants -
Discord was introduced into the bosom of families
and schsms caused between parents and their chill |
lreD. Not only were the most strenuous attempts
made to silence the press, but the book sellers were
20 constantly prosecuted that they did not dare to
publish work if its author obnoxious to the
court, Indeed, whoever opposed the Government was
proclaimed an enemy to his country. Political as
sociations and public meetings strictly forbid
den. Every popular leader WAS in personal danger,
and every popular assemblagc dispersed, either
by threats or by military execution That hateful
familiar to the worst days of the seven
teenth century, was put in motion. Spies were paid
witness subornel; juries were packet. The
coffee houses, the inns, and the clubs filled with
emissaries of ths Government who reported the most
hasty EXPIRE ssons Of common conversation. If by
these means sort of evidence ceud be collected
there was another resource which was unsparingly
used. For the habeas corpus act being constantly
suspended, the crown had the power of imprsoning