East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1864-10-05
THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS.

Extract from the United States Consfitu-
Ion-The right Of the people 10 be secure in their
rArrons h"""@'' r"r"-s und effects nPainst I'M
reasonable searches and seizures, shall not be vio-
lated, and no warrants ssall issue but upon prob
able cause, supported by oath or affirmation and
particularly describing the place to bc searched.
and the persons or things to be seized
Following this extract the n. Y. Jour
nal Of Commerce gives detailed account
of one hundred and eighty: fire violations of
the liberty of the press by A. Lincoln
and his party since April 10, 1861, and
during all this time the Boston LiJera-
tor Haunted its motto at the head of
the sheet, "Thc Constitution is a
league with death and u covenant with
hell" but Mr.. Lincoln never thought
of suppressing that! lie only sup
pressed the newspapers which defend
ed the Constitution, and opposed his
violations of it.
The Journal in presenting this start
ling list well says:
The liberty of the press is the bull
wark of peoples freedom. The ed
itor is not more free than any other
man, but he is entitled to the protec-
ton of law, and it is eminently impor-
tant that the freedom of discussion
should be limited only by the provis-
ions of the known law, and not by
the arbitrary will of one man. Even
Congress is forbidden to abridge the
freedom of the press. Abraham Lin
coin had no power ~ right to sup
press one Of these newspapers. Each
instance was breach of law, a blow
at freedom, and a violation of the
Constitution. He used the physical
force he possessed to violate law.
trample on the Constitution, defy the
guarantees which the people once pos
sessed, and thus silence the voice of
political opponents. Nine arrests out
of ten were made solely because the
were anti-abolition. These
were guilty of being con-
sentative. They disapproved of Abra-
ham Lincoln's. ruinous policy. They |
were suppressed by mobs of Republ-
cans, or by direct order Of Abraham
solely because they opposed
his policy, and discussed it with the
to which we claim right as
American citizens. In large num-
Der of instances the order for sup
preston of the psper and the arrest
Of the editor came directly from Abra-
ham Lincoln himself In all the cases
he assumed the response
bility of tho order, by approving the
officers course. In some cases he in
iorsed the work of mobs, by exclud-
ng from tho mails, papers which had
been mobbed.
The spirit of the radical party is
we'll illustrated by this fearful list of
violent acts. Each and all were law
ess. The mobs were no more lawless
han the impressions by order of Mr..
lincoln. There were, not improbahly,
more than q hundred cases besides
hese. Our list is, Of course, incom-
,lete. We have no means Of learn
ng all the destotic acts of Mr. Lin
oln. But we give the catalogue as
We have kept it. And we beseech the
american patriot to look at this fear
I'll statement and judge Abraham
lincoln and his party by it. BY their
works we know them. The horrible
reatment given TO some Democratic {
ditors by Mr.. Lincoln's officers and
y Republican mobs passes descrip-
ion. But this is of less Importance ,
han the blows struck ut the liberty Of ,
he press. Shall we re-olect this adj
ninistration2 The Baltimore plat
orm approves these acts, and if Lin