Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1864-12-24

objections and memories OF our (orefa'her's
struggled for freedom, turned, into Ba'-
tile for the uses oil modern tyranny!
This is not all, nor in my view the
worst of the case-ifit is to be established
as a precedent These men are being
drawn out, one by one, to be tried before
tribunal unknown to the Constitution
called Court Marttai, in which they are
denied the priviege-priceless in a free
mans estimate-of trial by jury oFtheir
peers, and Of the vicinage!
I should implicitly impugn your intelI'-
gonce aud love of freedom, fellow citizens,
by Offering here, any elaborate discussion
of this sacred right of trial by jury. No
work Of tyranny so s,irs the Utmost depth
Of every freeman's heart ,as any attemp, at
infringement Of ills precious principle Of
liberty which has come down to usuntram-
melled and unimpaired from the days Of
BGgua Chata to the present moment -
The very idea of military Commission
sitting in the heart Of our faithiu! law
abiding old Commonwealth to try anything
but simple breaches Of military law and
regulations, is mons,rous and unbearabie,
Our Legislature fairly humbled itself to
subseryoncy,iu passing laws Furnishing any
resistance, by word or deed, to the eop-
scripton laws oi Congress and congress
in it. turn has piled enactment on enacl'
mcn.-now endorsing our gracious Prcsi"
dents proc'amations Of martial law, and
then restraining thom-but all the while
poi4ting 10 the { iuH Courts as the proper
tribun Is to try the class OF offences newly
aunounced-shsll | say, CREATED, by
b>th President and Congress Lord and
Masters Of submissive people
submit, fellow-citizeus, whether it is
not the duty Of the two hundred and
sevcnly.six thousand Democrats Of Penn
sylyania, TO Inquire into this alarming
violation of those great principles OF su-
man rights, which even no monarch on the
bronze of our English ancestors since the
date Of Magma Choyt0, ever yet invaded
With mpunity and no administration Of
our Government ever before dared 10 in.
fringe, even in the slightest degree The
fue to day of these men Of Columbia
County, if innocent, may be ours to-mor-
I row. Besides, if it really has come tc
pass, that the old laws of the land require
enforcement by bayoncts, and the new
ones il troduced, ard oJ0W 10 he miro
? duce3, need tie same Illustration aDt
support, it must at lea At be interesting tc
, the people to know it, aud be prepared t.
yield up gracefully all those cherished
principles of civil freedom baptized in thC
Z blood of our fathers Of the revolution, ant
] bcqueathed TO US as their inesimable leg
{ acy
q Truth, we had the boastful announce
men, of the Secretary of State at Wash
ington, that the suspension of til" writ 0
hGbeaS corpus placed every independan
heart in the land under his generaIship
and we had also The practice Of Secrctar
Stanton's satraps in various places in othe
= States chewing the same grand estimat
OF has powers but, that military commits
- sious aud sect UiGl, WITHOUT JURIEs
=, were to he substituted for proceedings i
Civil Courts Of the country in cases cIearl
defined by statute law as belonging ex
cIusively 10 their jurisdiction, is state {
u things which could not have been full
=, contemplated by the people of Pennsglv'
MIA at the late election. Wereally seei
re to be fast reaching the condition oi ii
"a German Barron Of oldcu time, who,
~ - order to provide the means for maintai'
y ing his castle against asSailants, morta
id gagged it to same noigLkoring Shylock
RS who seized aud appropriated ii themselyC
before the Baron's defenceo were conten
en- plated. Or, in palmer words, in conduc
S. ing what appeared at the outset to be
w proper struggle to sustain the powers
es the Constitution, and the supremacy OF II
Of laws over the Southern Slates-we al
tn now .iukiRg the same yit4 principles he
of at home.
u Who is responsible for the position
~ affairs so far as our State is concerned
is The new Military Comm ander of this D
of vision, with his own fair record to preserv
r. and a bright ancestral fame in memor
of cannot be acting voluntary part in thcI
be The Governor of Pennsylvania disaVo1
lis ali prior. knowledge of the original proce
ings against the Columbia county pris
pt ners aud all responsibility in the premise
by The Judiciary, if applied TO- would pro
ne ably be disincliued to enter into oonAi
IS; with the military authorities, in viii
G. would simply be illustrated, that the Pre-