The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-08-13

COAuAl lIoASOu, 8uO Iu2C VIC mu0t cO'Op0-
rate with him in this crime agsipst our
own Government, is a proposition too
monstrous for any man to make. So too
IL the proposition that an enemy u war,
has the right by our Constitution TO hold
innocent men in his power agai4at our
Government. None Of the opposition have
ever dared to put the question in its real
shape and assert this. They go about in
crooked ways. and by . clamor over false
Whatever may be thought Of the propSiesy
Of proclaiming emancipation in remote
districts where we have no power to give
it virtue, there can be no question that
where our armies penetrate the enemy's
territory, they cannot cooperate with the
traitors in holding other men in their pow
er. without committing treason against the
nation. K
We have before written concerning the
extent OF the war. In civil war, who are
enemies7 Do acts or imaginary physical
lines decide whether person is an enemy?
We notice that the opposition cite the clause
of the Constitution defining treason, to
prove that they may 60 to any. extent in
aiding the enemy and In armed organizes
tions hostile to the Government, and that
they cannot be held TO penalty until in
each case the overt act of treason Is proved
by two witnesses. But when our armies
take prisoners, or seize spies, or kill ene-
mics in battle, do they do 1t upon two Wit
nesses to each PERSONS overt act9 When
they find troops or guerrilla bands armed
for warfare, do they wait for the overt act
to he committed before falling upon them?
What kind Of . system of war would
that be? Everywhere the enemy could
enlist and organize troops with impunity.
Everywhere the enemy's spies and con,-
missaries and plotters could ply their prr-
poses with freedom, because the overt act
Of force must be established against each
of them by two witnesses before they can
be touched. No man will affirm such an
absurdity as governing the war in the
South. But is there any code Of morals
which changes their nature, or any law
which gives them immunity in the North
that does not equally in the South? Is this
a Government Of laws which provide war
for the punishment of an act in the South,
and give it immunity in the North?
This is no such Government. There is
no such monstrous legal or moral distinc-
ton. In this as in their treacherous plea
Of trial by jury and ha6cas corpus, and all
the other processes of law for the protec-
ton of persons, the opposition attempt to
wrest from the Constitution tho provisions
for administering justice in time Of peace,
and to apply them to the protection Of the
enemy in war. This is q country Of equal
laws. The acts which in one part Of the
country makes men public enemies, sub
juct to the rules of war, makes them equal
~ 30 in every part Of the country.
We commend this to the reflection Of
unthinking among the masses of the Dem.
ocrstic party, who have been drawn into
secret armed organizations where they are
the tools Of an inner circle Of conspirators,
under the false impression, which Is studi.
oualy inculcated by the leaders, that this is
merely the exercise, Of their legal rights,
and that in time Of war they may organ
ize for war without making themselves
liable to the penalties Of Cncinnati
GG-ette.