The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1864-06-01

; Ofthis State has forgotten to do his duty !:
do not imagine taat the people Of this city
or State, or country have ceased to love
their liberties or d, not know how to pro.
te:t their rights. 1t would be fatal 10
tvrant to commit that error here and now
A free people can at need devise means to
teach their Chi.f Magistrate the same
lcssln. - .-.
- To you sir, who have by heart the constitu-
ton which you swore to 'preserve, protect,
and defend, il may be an impertinence to cite
those natural and chartered rights therein emu
n,erated, among which are these That the
. people shall be secure in their persons, houses,
papers and effects, against unreasonable seiz
ures, and that no warrent even shall issue, ex-
cept upon probable cuase, supported by oath.
ALPHABETICALLY describing the place to be
searched and the persons or things to be seized:
that no person shall be deprived Of life, liberty
or property without due process Of law yet
these are the most priceless possessions of free
men, and these you took away from me.
Even captured and guilty criminal who
:; knew than his crime would bo proved, and
that TIE law would assuredly visit upon him
condign punishment, might with propricty
plead these rights and demand of the Chief
Magistrate to throw over him these shields.
Assaulted by the bayonets of military com.
mander, he might protest and assert his ina.
.lienable right to the orderly processes, the
proofs, and the punishment of the law. But
has the Sexon tongue any terms left for him
to use who, being the victim Of crime, has
been made also the victim oflawless power?
1t is the theory of the law that after the
commission OF any crime, all proceedings taken
before trial shall be merely preventative but
the proceedings taken against the World were
OF the nature Of summary execution of
judgement. Would trial by law have been
denied, would the law itself have been set
aside for the bay onct, would process as sum-
mary as drumhcad court material have been
resorted to by you in peaceful city, far from
the boundaries of military occupation, had the
presses which consistently applaud your course
been, as we were. the victims of this forger7
Had the Tribune and Times published the for.
gerry (and the Tribune candidly admits that it
- might have published it and was prevented on
ly by merce chance) would you, sir, have sup
pressed the Tribune and Times as you sup.
pressed The World and Journal Of Commerce.
You know you would not: If not, why not
Is there different law for your opponents
and for your supporters =?
Can you, whose eyes discern equality under
every complexion, be blinded by the hue CT
partisanship?
The World had sustained the Government
in its struggle TO preserve our imperiled nation
atty. 1t had bel ped inspire the martial spirit
OF the people, and encourage them to the sac
rlflces they have so nobly made. 1t had advo-
Gated those measures of financial policy which
could best preserve the tone and vgor of the
Government in the contest. 1t had deserved
we'll of the republic, and of those who love it
But it also exposed and denounced the cor
ruptions attendant upon your Administration.
1t had opposed de!usive and enervating sys-
TEN OF paper money. It had indicated the
IF q lol
moved from command on the eve Of victory.
1t had deprecated your reelection. Did you
not lind in these facts the provocations to your
wrong and your persistence in wrong. Had
you not made UP your mind against US before
the underng, your partisan, had concocted
his plot When you answer these interroga-
tories. | will produce the proof Of threats made
against us by those nearest you, and ASSUMING
70 exert your prerogati1e, before this trick Of
s9rgery furnished you with the specious pre-
tense ofan accusation.
CAN'T be possible, sir, that for a moment
you supposed thatjournals like ours could afford
to he guilty of this forgery? Let the unani-
nous voice OF your own press answer Such
trick would hardly have succeeded in Sanga-
mon county, Illinois. For a party which is
about to go before the people, and ask them to
commit to its hands the administration of az
fairs. which has been more generous and for.
bearing to your errors than you have been just
to its guides, permit me to say that it was less
possible to be true of any one of them than it
was of any man high or low who suspected
them.
And so the end has proved: The confessed
and guilty fOrgers were your own jealous parti-
sans. Joseph Howard. Jr., who has confessed
his crime, was Republican politician and Loyal
Lacquer, of Brooklyn. Consider, sir, at whose
feet he was taught his political education, and
in whose cause he spent his political breth.
Mr.. Howard has been from his very childhood
an intimate friend of the Republican clergy
man, Henry Ward Beecher, and member of
his church. He has listened year in and year
out to the drOppings of the Plymouth sanctuary.
The stump speeches which there follow prayer
and rrecede the benediction he for years re-
ported in the journal which is your devoted or
gan In this city. For years he was the city
editor OF that journal, the New Hork Times;
for a long time he was the Washington cores
pondent of the chief Abolition newspaper of
the country, the New York Tribune; he has
been a frequent contributor to the columns of
the Independent; he journeyed with you from
Springfield to Washington he represents him
self favored visitor at the White House since
your residence there.
By a curious felicity the stylus with which
his announcements copied on thissue paper the
proclamation and signed your name was alb
stracted from the editorial rooms of the ZIi-
tune. Tee party principles upon which you
were pledged to administer the Government
have been the daily meat and drink Of this for.
ger. He has denounced as faithfully as you
the party by whose defeat you rose to power
He has been the noisy champion of an exclu-
sivG loyalty he has preached in club houses
and at street corners those politics which stig.
Matte constitutional opposition to the Admin,
istraton as disloyalty to the Government. The
stockholders who were his confederates will
be found to be Of the same kidney. They all
advocate papermoney legal tender they
have all countenanced the paper imitation ;
they have all been needless of the misery to
poor men which such mutations breed they
have all reioiced at the speculation thus fos
tered, and by speculation they had hoped K
thrive.
For twenty -four hours something was par
doned to your presumed natural trepidation
since our blamelessness having been ALLEGED
to you by those here whom it was your duty tC
believe, it seemed only prudent to await you
recovery.
For the next twenty four hours, from mo
ment to moment, it was expected that yo1
would hasten to confess and repair your mis-
take. But the mistake thus prolonged grew Il
the proportions of crime and till the dis
covery of the forger stripped its mask off an
disclosed the inspiring cause of the act, it gre,
monstrous hourly in mems eyes.
We were patient that the immeasurable il
fanny of the act might swell to its full proper
tons, and stand complete.
BY the recall of your arbitrary order, 20
have not made reparation for the wrong 20
have done The injury and the insult yet r,
. main. The violation of the Constitution stanG
recorded, and unless adequately atoned. b.
comes fatal precedent. For the purpose {