Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1864-04-01
I" Retaliation In Kind"

/. This is now the motto Of. the Copperhead
press. vallandigham enunciated it in his
famous letter to the Dayton E~pirs, when,
speaking Of mobs, he said: Retaliation,
therefore, is the only rightful remedyin times
like these. I speak advisedly. and recon-
mend it in al cases hereafter" Thus We
find the Psaes Democracy, in utter violation
of their avowed principles, advocating the
doctrine Of retaliation BY mob law. Peace
Democracy evidently means peace with trait
OH but internecine war at home. It u IN
accordance with ex-President Pisrce's pro-
gramme, set forth in his letter to JEFF. Davis,
promising that our Northern streets would
run with blood in case Of war with the
South. At last the Pierce allandigham De-
mocracy seem determined to inaugurate this
programme of civil war in the North under
the term of retaliation. The Oosrier, Of
this city, aud the Press, Of Washington, have
already spoken out plainly and unsquivocally
in favor Of this strife in Iowa. Democratic
Conventions in several Western States have
endorsed it, and Democrats put it in practi-
cal operation in Coles county, Illinois. few
days since, by numbering Union soldiers.
The Detroit Free Press, in noticing the
action of Democratic Convention in lndi-
ana, at which retaliation in-kind" resolu-
tons were adopted, says:
To retaliate in kind means, if it means
anything, that when Abolitionists or Repub-
licans incite any Of their followers to acts Of
violence, that swift vengeance should be dealt
out upon men belonging to that party. with
out reference to their participation IN the
violence committed, instead of resorting to
the law for protection or redress.
What mans life is safe If this is once estab-
lished as the rule of action? What is retail
alton in kind? tits toset the laws 1T defiance,
to kill, burn, and destroy, because others
are alleged to have committed the same crime.
Retaliation in kind does not content itself in
following up the guilty and visiting vengeance
upon them, but it wreaks vengeance upon the
first victim who chances to be found in the
path of the Infatuated mob, however innocent
Of the crime committed.
If mob law is adopted by tho maddsned
AuO ulS6ppOlutcu ouuSAVAso Va 0SA' De''S -
the North, simply in retaliation for any out
break of indignant and indiscreet soldiers,
swift retribution will be visited upon the
heads of those engaged in it. The people
will understand the object Of ito aid the
rebellion-and they will not treat rebels
North with less severity than those South.
The valiant " Bowlegs," in his ignorance and
perversion of Holy Writ, may declare sven
geance is mine," but he will find it his in u
sense which he did not mean or desire. The
ex-would-be Congressman, in his touching
and pathetic appeals for peace, may enforce
the doctrince of "eye for IN eye and tooth
for TOOTH" forgetting that Lovejoy was
murdered by men whose interests he is now
serving, and that thousands of men and wo-
men have been mobbed and driven from the
South for daring to speak their honest senti'
ments. The times of retribution haze come
for false teachers Of free speech and free
press. Do they realize it sll