The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1864-12-23

/ under FIVE line will be measured as hall squar
aud all over five lines as a full square All lega
advertisements will be charged to the person mana
/ ing them in.
of this peaceful and loyal State, dragged off
to noisome military dungeon, and there kept
| for months, without being confronted by an &C
cuser one of them in the mean time dying, as
| is belieN ed, from suffering thus; another be
coming blind from his confinement, while most
! of the others still continue shut up in Fort
| Miflin-a damp, island fort, constructed more
with a view of resisting bombardment, than
any thing else A brave old name desecrated ::
fortress associated with many proud recollec-
tions and memories of our forefathers' struggle
| for freedom, turned into Bastile for the uses
of modern tyranny
This is not all, nor in my view the worst OF
the case-if it is to be established as a prece-
dent: These men are being drawn out, one by
one, TO be tried before tribunal unknown 20
the Constitution-called a Court Marshal, in
which they are denied the privilege-priceless
in freemans estimate-of a trial by jury OF
their peers, and of the vicinageL
should implicitly inpugn your intelligence
and love Of freedom, fellow citizens, by offer
ing here. any elaborate discussion of this ga,
cred right of trial by jury. No work of tyr
amy SO stirs the inmost depth of every free
mans heart, as any attempt at Infringement
OF this precious principle of liberty, which has
come down to US untrampled and animpaired
from the days of Magma Charta to the present
moment. The very idea of 3 Military Conn''S-
son sitting in the heart of our faithful, lava
biding old Commonwealth, to try anything bu:
simply breaches of military law and regulations
is monstrous aud unbearablc Our Legislature
fairly humbled itself to subserviency, in passing
laws Furnishing any resistance, by word or deed,
to the conscription laws of Congress; and Con-
gress in its turn has piled enactment on enact
ment-now endorsing our gracious PRESIDENTS
proclamations of martial law, and next restrain
ing them-but all the while pointing TO the Ct@t
Courts as the proper tribunals to try the class
of offences newly announced-shall say, GRE
ATED, by both President and Congress-Lord
and Masters of submissive people
] submit, fellowcitizens whether 1t IS not
the duty of the two hundred and seyenty-six
thousand Democratsof pennsylvania, TO inquire
into this alarming violation of those great prin-
cipies Of human rights, which even no monarch
on the throne of our English ancestors since
the date of Magma Charta, ever yet invaded
GoFernment ever before darc1 80 1fr;n.,o
in the slightest degree7 The IA. c tod &c tloaa
men of Columbia county, if innocent, may BE
ours tomorrow. Besides, if it really has come
to pass, that the old laws Of the land require
enforcement by bayenets, and the new ones in-
trodueed, and about to be introduced, need the
same illustration and support, it must at leet
be interesting 10 the people to know it, and be
prepared to yield up gracefully ali those cher
ished principles of civil freedom baptized in the
blood Of our fathers of the revolution, and be-
queathed to us as ;heir inestlmable legacy!
True, we had tho boastful announcement Of
the Secretary Of State at Washington, that the
suspension of the writ Of hqberS corpus placed
every independent heart in the land under his
gaoler5hip; and wo had also the practice Of
Secretary Stanton's Satraps ia various places in
other States showing The same grand estimate
Of his powers; but, that military commissions
and secret trials WITHOUT JURIEs, were to be sub
stituted for proceedings in the Civil Courts Of
the country, in cases clearly defined by statute
law as belonging exclusively to their jurisdiction,
is a state Of things which could not have bee
fully contemplated by the people of Pennsyl
vania ut the late election We really seem to
be fast reaching the condition of the German
Baron Of olden time, who, in order to provide
the means for maintaining his castle against as
sailants, mortgaged it TO some neighborlng Shy
locks, who seized and appropriately it themselves,
before the Baron's defences were completed
Or, in palmer words, in conducting what ap-
peared at the outset to be proper struggle to
sustain the powers Of the Constitution, and the
supremacy of the laws over the Southern States
we are now sinking the same vital principles
here at home
Who is responsible for this position Of affairs
SO far as our State IS concerned? The new Mil
itary Commander Of this Division, with his
own fair record to preserve, and bright an
ccstral fame in memory, cannot be acting
voluntary part in them. Fhe Governor of
Pennsylvania disavews all prior knowledge of
the original proceedings against the Columbia
county prisoners, and all responsibility in the
premises. The Judiciary, if applied to, would
probably be disinclined to enter into conflict
with the military authorities, in which would
simply be illustrated, that the President and his
Cabinet ministers are the Lords paramount Of
ou7 lestinies, both civil and military
The people can allow-can perpetuate, this
position of our liberties if they desire They
| have the power-;he AWFUL power to prove
recreant to themselves TO become the execu-
TONERS of their OWE rights-their own happi-
ness, and their own glory illustrated in the past
Yes: if they so elect as people. they may, in
cowardly supineness, allow themselves TO be
covered with the pail of DEsPorIsM as dark
and dismal as ever shrouded any of its victims
in the old world and fnally fill the latest of
Of those igneble graves Of National freedom,
that lie in dreadful warning along down the
great pathway of time!
IN behalf of the Democratic State Central
/ Cntamittae of pennsvIyania---