Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1864-12-28

shouid not impliedly impugn your in
telllgence and love of freedom, FELLOW.
citizens, by offering here, any elaborate
discussion OF this Sacred right of trial hy
jury. No work oftyranny 80 stirs he in.
most deb.h Of every freeInan's heart as a.
ny attempt at Infringement Of this pre-
cious principle ofhberty, which has come
down to us untrammelled and unimpair-
ed from the days Of .haqm Charta to the
present moments The very idea of a M
Ata'y Commission sitting in the heart OF our
faithful law-abiding old Commonwealth.
to try anything but simply breaches of
military law and regulations, is monstrous
and unbearable. tOur Legislature fairly
humbled itself 80 sgbser yiency, in pass-
ing laws Furnishing any resistance, BY word
or deed, to the conscription laws of Con-
gfesS; and Congress in its turn has piled
enactment on eractment-now endorsing
our gracious Presidents proclamalions
OF martial law, and next restraining them
but all the while pointing to tie Civil
Courts as tho proper tribunals to try the
class OF otienses newly announced-shall
say, CREATED, by both Presidentand Con-
gress-Lord and Masters Of submissive
people!
submit, felow-ciizens, whether il is
not the duty of the two hundred and sew
enty-six thousand Democrats of Pennsyl-
Vani0, to inquire into this alarming viola
lion OF those great principles Of human
rights, which even no monarch on the
throne Of our English ancestors since the
date OF Magma Ch0yta, ever yet invaded
with lmpunity; and no administration of
our government ever before dared to in
! lrInge, even in the eslghtest degree? The
iats to-day, OF these men of Columbia
county, If innocent, may be ours to-mor-
row. Besides if it really has come to pass,
that the old laws of the land require en-
lorCement by bayone,s, and the new ones
introduced, and about 70 Be introduced, need
the same illustration and support, it must
at least be interesting to the people to
know it, aud be prepared to yield up
gracefully all those cherished principles
OF civil freedom baptized in the blood Of
our fathers Of the revolution and bcqpcatA-
ed to us as their incstimabla legacy.
True, we bad the boasted announce
ment Of the Secretary Of State at Wash
lngton that the suspension OF the writ Of
ha6eds corpus placed every independent
heart in the land under his goaler.hip ;
and we had also the practice of Secretary
Stanton's satrap5 in various places in
other States, showing tic same grand
estimate of his powers but that military
commissions and secret hiq& WITHOUT
"it'' - - hn substituted for proceed-
ings in the civil courts OF the c5tutry. "a.
cases clearly defined by statute law as be-
longing exclusively to their jurisdiction, is
state Of things which could not have
been fully contemplated by the people of
Pennsylvania at the late elec ton. We
really seem to be fast reaching the condi-
tion Of the German Blrou OF o!den time,
who, in order to provide the means for
maintaining his castle against assailants,
mortgaged it to some neighboring Shy
locks, who seized and appropriated il
themselves, before the Baron's defences
were completed. Or, in palmer words,
in conducting what appeared at the out
set to be proper struggle to sustain the
powers Of the Constitution, and tho su-
premacy of tho 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 concained?
The new military commander of this Di-
vision, with his own fair record to pre-
serve, and bright ancestral fame in mem
ory, cannot be acting q voluntary part in
them. Tho Governor of Pennsylvania,
disayows all prior knowledge Of the origi-
nal proceedings against the Columbia
county prisoners, and all responsibility in
the promises. The Judiciary, if applied
TO- would probably be disncinod 10 enter
into conflict with the military authori- /
ties, in which would simply be illustrated
that the President and his Cabinet minis
ters are the Lords paramount TO our dos-
TIMES, both civil and military! |
The people can allow-cau peypc'lCi5
this position of our liberties if they desire. !
They have the pNwer-the awful power 10
prove recreant to themselves to become
the executioners of their own liberties,
their own happiness, and their own glory
illustrated in the past. Yes: if they 7
20 elect as people, they may, in COW
,rdly supinoness, allow themselves to be
covered with the pail of a despotism rs
lark and dismal rs ever shrOuded any of
It's victims in the Old World and finally
ill the latest of these ignobIe graves of
National freedom, that lie in dreadful
warning along down the great pathway Of
ime
In behalf of the Democratic State Cen
raj Committee of Pennsylvania.
c. l.. WARD, Chairman.
Towauda, Pa, Dec 5, 1864.
TIE DEFEYCEs OF SAvANNAu.- The fol-
owing description of the delences of