M'arthur Democrat. (McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1853-1865, 1864-09-29


because ! do not associate with them,
and have no influence over them.
You, Mr.. President, you will e1
cuse the bluntness of a soldier, by
an exercise of arbitrary power, have
caused ME to be arrested and held in
confinement contrary to law-not foT
the good Of our common country, bnl
to increase the chances Of your elee,
ton to the Presidency, snd otherwise
to serve the purposes of the political
party whose candidate you are aud
now ask pledge whereby shall vir-
usllyadmit your right to arrest Inc,
and virtuallysuppo-t you in deterring
other men from crlticising the policy
f Of your administration.
No, sir, much as love liberty,
will tester in a prison, or die on O
gibbet before will agree to any terms
that do not abandon all charges
against me, and fully acknowledge
lmy Innocence. Since you have taken
my case into your own hands, Mr..
President, let me appeal to your sense
Of justice, and ask that you will give
to what l have to cay in my defenGe
Il candid hearing, and then do what
you shall gee fit, And here trust
shall be rardoncd if | speak Of uly-
sell somewhat more largely than the
cauous of good taste might seem to
warrant; for, Gs 10 me, 80 they are my
cole defence. Whether or not they
form a trluInphGu defense, you, sir,
shall judge,
On the 10th day Of March, 1854,
in the city of Lexington, Kentucky,
the Union men presented ne with
very fine sword, pair Of valuable p;a
tols, and u pair oFspurs. 10 roGpo'e
to an eloquent presentation speech,
made by learned diyinc, | deliver bda
Union ep .ecb, the lrading purpose of
which wAs TO promote the recruiting Oi
men or division Of cavalry, which |
then hai the hoaor IL command whcG@
ranks had been grea;lY thinneG by ito
losses 10 battle -.ihe division hGvng
jast come to Kentucky IRON che iom
he front for the purposes CT yecuit-
ing fefILing, and remourtiag, |
made long speech, in which / fully
d scussed the &iGksdnesa Of the re.
be!Ilon and contracted the myssry
and dsapotism Of the 60 called South.
ern Government: with the happiness
and !rgrlom Of our own. In the.
corrs2 Of the speech, | spoke OF your.
a bolltjon policy, and condemned it.
Bat / ius..,rd that it was tho duty
Of all good citizens to defend heir
county by fighting the rebellion,
whether tIey approved the course
pursued by tae Administration or
not. Fo the true character OF tha
speech / refer you 10 the seateme0ts
OF VI. g.. johnson and Others, whGh
encloee. TIE men whose names
arc sul lsriJeI thereto are m OIL
the highest order o! intollcat g, and OF
the most elevated moral cdar a3ter.-
The substance Of wha! they say
therein can be proved by five nun
dred ladies' and gentlemen,
For this speech WAS arrested and
sent to Knoxville, in the State of Tea
uessee, where | remained, wi;hont
soy charges being preferred agsint
me, until you were induced by some
wicked men in Kentucky, who incw
that no court martial could 81 found
who would even cersp7e me for Sny-
thing sGid in tina. speech, to issue an
order, founded on a bare rumor, as
you yeurselt informed me, GisholOra-
oily dismiesing me from Inc service of
the United States, iOT violation of
tho fifth article ol war. for dsloyaIty,
and for conduct unbecoming au Of
deer and gentleman.
Now, Mr.. President, what | wish
to call your attention particularly toI
the fact that evory word contained
III this order of dismissal is falsb;-I
that there 10 not the least foundation
in truth for an thing contained 10 i.
did not violate the fifth article OF
of war; nor did ever violate any ar
ticle of war in my life 1t was my
dnty to study the articles of war, and
teach them to my men; and I think /
understand theln. The ouly thing
| said about you personally was that
you had told a great political truth
when you said that you had no poF'
er under the Constitution to inter,
fere with the domestic institutions Of
the States. | futher said that you
wers the President Of the United
Slater, and as such the Commander
in.chief Of the army, which made it
my duty to respect your position, and
to obey all the legal orders that eman,