Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-05-31


and demand OF the chief magistrate 70 throw
over him these shields. Assaulted by the bayo-
nets OF military commander. be might protest
and assert bis inalienabe right 10 the ORDERLY
processes. the proofs. and the punishment OF the
law. But has the Saxon tongue any terms left
tor him 10 use who. being the victim of crime.
has been made also the victim Of lawless powerl
IL Is the theory Of the law that after the com
mission of any crime. ali proceedings taken be
fore trial shall be merely preventive; but the
proceedings taken against The World were of the
nature of summary execution of judgment
Would trial by law have been denied, would the
law itself have been set aside for the bayonet
would process as summary drum-head
court-mariial have been resorted 10 by you in
peaceful city. far from the boundaries of military
occupation, bad the presses which consistently
applaud your course been. as we were, the vic
| tins OF this forgerl Had the Tribune and Times
published the forgery land the Tribune caudidly
admits that il might have published il, and was
prevented by mere chaDce), would you, sir, have
suppressed the Tribune and Times as YOU sup
pressed The World and Journal of Commerce?
You know you would not If not, why notl
Is there different law for your opponents and
for your supporters
Can you, whose eyes discern equality under
every complexion. be blinded by the hue o: par
tisanship
its struggle TO preserve our imperiled nationality
Ii had helped inspire the martial spirit of the
people, and encourage them to the sacrifices they
have so nobly made. 1t had advocated those
measures of financial policy which could best
preserve the tone and vigor of the government
in the contest Ii had deserved we'll of the re-
public, and of those who love it.
But it also exposed and denounced the cOrrup-
tons attendant upon your administration. Ii had
1..1,.
per money Ii had vindiceted the fame of a pa
iriot general, whom you had removed from com
mand on the eve Of victory IL had deprecated
your re election. Did you not find in these facts
the provocations to your wrong and your persist
ence in wrongl Had YOU not made up your
| mind against US before the underlng your parti-
san, had concocted his plot When you answer
these nerrOgatories, | will produce the proof of
threats made against US by those nearest you, and
assuming to exert your prerogative, before this
trick of forgery furnished you with the specious
| pretense of an accusation.
| eau it be possible, sir. that for moment you
supposed that journals like ours could afford to
be guilty of this forgery Let the unanimous
| voice of your own press answer. Such a trick
would hardly have succeeded in Sangamon cOun.
| ty, Illinois For a party which is about TO 20
before the people, and ask them to commit to its
| hands the administration Of affairs, which has
been more generous and forbearing to your
errors than you have been Just to its guides, per
NIT me TO say that it was less possible to be
of any one of them than it was of any man high
| or low who suspected them.
And so the end has proved. The confessed
and guilty forgers were your own Jealous par
| tisans. Joseph Howard, Jr, who has confessed
his crime, was a Republican politician and Loyal
Lacquer, of Brooklyn Consider, sir, at whose
feet he taught his political education, and in
whose cause he spent his political breath Mr..
| Howard has been from his very childhood an
intimate friend of the Republican clergyman,
Henry Ward Beecher and a member of his
church He has listened year in and year out to
| the droppings of the Plymouth sanctuary. The
stump speeches which there follow prayer and
precece the benedcton he for years reported in
| the journal which is your devoted organ in this
| city. For years he was the city editor of that
journal, the New York Times: for a long time
he the Washington correspondent of the chief
Abolition newspaper of the country, the New
| \ Ork Tribune; he has been a frequent contribu-
| tor to the columns of the Independent; he jour
neyed with you from Springfield TO Washington;
! he represents himself favored visitor at the
| White House since your residence there
By a curious felicity, the stylus with which his
amanuensis copied on tissue paper the proclama-
ton and signed your name was distracted from
the editorial rooms of the Tribune. The party
principles upon which you were pledged to ad-
minister the Government have been the daily
meat and drink of this forger. He has denounced
as faithfully as you the party by whose defeat
you rose to power. He has been the noisy cham
pOn of an exclusive LOYALTY; he has preached in
| club houses and at street corners those politics
which stigmatize constitutional opposition to the
Administration as dislOyalty TO the Government
! The stock brokers, who were his cOnfederates
will be found to be of the same kidney. They
all advocated paper money legal tender; they
have all countenanced the paper imitation: they
have all been needless of the misery to poor men
which such mutations breed; they have all re-
| joced at the speculation thus fostered, and by
speculation they hoped to thrive.
For twenty -four hours something was bar
doned to your presumed natural trepidation.
since our blamelessness having been alleged to
| you by those here whom il was your duty TO be-
lieve. it seemed only prudent to await your reco.
very.
For the next twenty four hours; from moment
10 moment, il expected that you would hast
en- to confess and repair your mistake. But the
mistake thus prolonged grew to the proportions
OF "A crime; and until the discovery of the forger
| stripped its mask off and disclosed the inspiring
cause OF the act. it grew monstrous hourly in
/ mems eyes.
Wewere patient that the lmmeasurabe infamy
of the act might swell 10 its full proportions and
/ stand complete.
! By the recall OF your arbitrary order YOU have
not made reparation for the wrong you have done
! The injury and the insult yet remain The VIC
lation % the Constitution stands recorded. and
unless adequately atoned. becomes fatal prece-
dent For the purpose of gratifying an gnOble
| partisan resentment you have struck down the
| rights of the press, you have violated personal
liberty. subjected property 10 unjust seizure, os-
/ tentatiously placed force above law, setting
dangerous example TO those who love force more
| than they respect law; and thus aud by attempt
! ing TO crush the organs of tree discussion, have
made free elections impossible. and broken down
all the safeguards oi representative government
Ii IL YOU that in this transaction stand accused
before the people. Ii is you who are conspicu-
| ously guilty. u is upon you that history when
recording these events, will affix the crime of a
disregard OF your duty, oblivion of your oath,
and pitiable subserviency TO party prejudice and
personal ambition, when the country demanded
in the presidential Office elevated character de-
votOn 10 duty, and entire self. abnegation
Bat you are not 10 be left in the Judgment of
history alone Thank God, by the provisions of
our Constitution, not yet wholly abrogated the
people are soon to pass upon your claims to re
election, and the right of impeachment vet re-
mains TO their representatives The people and
their representatives have the right to speak when
the pen Is struck from the hands of a freeman
by the bayouet; when the Baste, once broken
down on the other side of the Atlantic by the
reverberatiOn of our Revolution, is reconstructed
here
L. -. 81