The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1864-08-10
Military Necessity.

JeSt, suouiu hot NC ucpeHuailt OH INC caprice
of the mob or the despotic will of the sover-
eign, but should rest secure under the
broad protection of well established and
well settled principles of public policy, was
the grand result sought by the founders Of
our civil institutions.
The Constitution was made the "hichest
law" of the land. No military necessity
| cast its baneful shade over that work of
their hands. That term was unknown in
the nomenclature of civil liberty. 1t was
purely of despotic origin. 1t was the
thunderbolt forged by the despotism of the
old sconrges Of mankind, which had been
hurled at the devoted head of every one
who had questioned "the divine right of
Kings to rule" BY it Caesar held the
world in awe. BY it the bloody triumvate
at Paris bathed France in innocent blood.
By it the light Of liberty, the world over,
has gone out in the night of despotism.
The very term admits that it is not reeog-
nized in codes or constitutions, or known
to courts. 1t is simply brute force allied
with absoluteism, knowing no restraint,
fearing no accountability. 1t was this
phantom that haunted the Imagination of
Washington, when with parental solcitude
he warned his fellow countrymen to "be-
ware Of change by usurpation, for though
this in one instance may DO productive Of
good, yet it is by the customary weapon of
usurpation that free governments are us.
ually destroyed" 1t is strange, when we
read on so many tomb stones Of decayed or
destroyed nationalities the mournful epitaph
Persisted by military necessity" that a
once free people will not only submit to,
but will even invite state Of things which
must necessarily ultimate in their ruin
The theory of our government is, that all
power resides in the people, and that the
legitimate channel through which that
power shall be exercised is the ballot box.
Its agents thus chosen, under wholesome
checks and restraints, are authorized to ex-
ecute the peoples will. Our government
can constitutionaly be revolutionized
through the peaceful agency of the ballot
box. By it the people make or unmake
their home or their foreign policies. What.
ever power comes between the people and
the free exercise of suffrage at the ballot
box, strikes directly at the life Of popular
government. Our constitution has no
name for that power which rises superior to
the popular will. Bonaparte correctly de-
fined that name when he said to his minis.
ter, II am the government" or the tide
walters on power, when they say, "The
President is the government" 1t is that
name, unknown to the constitution, which
has necessitated that military necessity
which lately, in Kentucky, closed the ballot
box and struck fsom the lists the name of
a candidate for Judge of the Court of last
resort, or, at an earlier day, the name Of a
candidate for Governor of the same State
But those were disloyal men. What evil
dence of that? Simply the opinion of a
military commander. In the opinion OF
that same commander Mcclellan ard Sey-
mour, and the vast multitude who think
like those men, are disloyal too, and shall
they be prescribed from the. suffrages of a
free people ? Shall all men who oppose the
policies Of the present dynasty be incapable
Of holding offices in the gift of the people
But there was military necessity in Ken
lucky that required extreme measures to
enforce the policy of the President Very
likely, but the entire democratic party op-
pose the same policies. That party at the
coming election will present candidate for
the office of President, pledged, if elected,
to reverse those ruinous policies so far as
may be done with safety to the public, and
who will inaugurate new policies, which
will look TO the restoration Of peaceful re.
lations and a reconstruction of the Union
of the States. The same military necessi.
ty" which usurped the dominion of the
laws and closed the ballot box in Kentucky
will require that the name of the democratic
candidate, which military necessity" has
already professed to believe to be disloyal,
shall be stricken from the lists, from Maine
to California. 1t only requires that strong
hand shall execute what feeble mind de-
sires to convert the ballot box, the engine
of power in the hands of free people, into
an instrument Of thimble rig in the hands
Of q dangerous political charlatan. More
than this, he who dares to warn his fellow
countrymen of the impending danger is liza,
bic to be dragged from home and family by
this hand Of blood, and thrust in loath-
some dungeon. No man is to day safe,
unless with bated breath and silent lips he
listens to the tinkling of Stewards curfew
bell. Vallandigham was tried and con-
victed on the charge of asserting that he
believed that the war was conducted for
the abolition Of slavery. For this grave
crime the President of the United States
banished him from his native land, and yet
within year the same President, in an.
swer to an earnest effort for peace, officially
announces that any proposition for that
purpose must embrace the abolition OF
slavery An important election, on which
will turn the final destiny Of the republic,
| is near at hand. Disunion, irretrievable
bankruptcy and despotism stare us in the
face on the one hand; on the other, the
Union restored, the white blossoms oil
peace growing on blood-stained battle fields
an exhausted people, weary and sad, laying
aside weapons red with each others blood,