East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1864-07-13


ton, or determination, and il has
been professedly carried on for oil these
objects, has long ago resolved itself
into q simple war between the North
and the South II is claimed that the
South is section Of the United States
in rebellion; tho south however, pro-
tests against the phrase, since it pro-
fesses TO have established govern
ment of its own, entirely distinct from
that of the United States to which the
South claims that it owes no. allegi-
nnco and that therefore the people of
the South are not rebels, because no
people can rebel againsta Government
they do not acknowledge. On the
other hand, largo and daily increas-
ing class of people at the North
believe that tho Republican party and
its administration are both robellious
and revolutionary, in that they have
eubverted, or broken, or ignored every
clause of the constitution and every
law Of the United States which guar
antee the protection of personal hber.
ty and property, and the freedom of
speech and the press, and other privi-
liges for which, and for the sake Of
which alone, the States consented to
the establishment of the Federal
Union. In place of these privileges,
or rather rights, which have been TAX
on away there is established on the
ruins Of the Constitution wholly ir-
responsible autocratcy, despotism
which claims that the mere will of the
President OF the Constitution and the
laws of the land, to Senates or any
Representation of the people. This is
a.revolution indeed and among its
fruits are arbitrary arrests without
even u pretense of process of law, ex-
traditions and repeated attempts to
control, to muzzle; to suppress the ex-
uression of opinion in the press of the
country. No act of the administra-
ton has been more arbitrary or more
offensive, and none has excited more
wide spread indignation.
The recent temporary suppression of
two prominent journals in New York
called out the censure of every other
paper, but one, in that city, and the
administration alarmed at the con-
domination of its arbitrary acts by its
own party journal, promptly removed
the order of suspension and restored to
the two journals the rights that had
been violently taken away. 1t is a
favorite and much quoted adage that
Revolutions never go backward" but
this like most pet maxims, is wholly
false, for revolutions hardly ever pro-
coed in any other direction. The
present action of the administration
toward the press-the attempt to sup
press any and all expressions of opin-
len not favorable to the party in pow
er, the suppression of the circulation
OF certain papers in different depart
ments by military commanders, for
bidding the publication of army oper-
atoms from reliable correspondents,
and substituting therefore false and
meagre "official" kilograms, and a
manifest disposition on the part of the
administration to stop, if it dared, the
publication of every journal in the
country not favorable to the policy Of
the party in power--all these things,
the result of a revolution that has
overturned the Constitution Of the
United States, carry us backward to
the times so wildly portrayed in the
third chapter of Macaulay's History
of England. The historian describes
the position Of the London press in
year 1855. lie says;
"After the defeat Of the Wings, it
was no longer necessary for the King
to be sparing in the use of that which
all his judges had pronounced to be
his undoubted prerogative (the CEN
scrship of the press.) AT the close of
his reign no newspaper was suffered
to appear without his allowance, and
his allowance was given exclusively to
the London Gazette The London
Gasette came out only on Mondays
and Thursdays. The contents gener-
ally were loyal proclamation, two or
three tory addresses, notices of two
or three promotions, an account of a
skirmish between the Imperial troops
and the Janizaries of the Danube, a
description of highwaymen, an an
nouncement of q grand cock fight be-
tween two persons Of honor.
The whole made up two pages OF
moderate size. Whatever was COM
municated respecting matters of the
highest moment was communicated
in the most meagre and formal style.
Sometimes, indeed, when the Govern
ment was disposed to CRAFTY the pub
lie curiosity respecting an important
transaction, broadside was put forth
giving fuller details of it than could be
found in the Gazette, but neither the
Gazette, nor any supplementary broad
side printed by authority, ever con-
tanned any intelligence which it did
not suit the court to publish, The
most important parliamentary debates
the most important State trials re-
corded in our history, were passed
over in profound silence.
All history as the world advances
is only repetition of the past. Rev
olutions, whether against q legally
constituted government, or by gov
eminent against the constitution and
laws ordained for its guidance, almost
always go backward. The quotation
above, SO aptly fitting to-day, takes us
back to tho times in English history
between the restoration and rebellion,
and our italics indicate striking par
slell in the position Of the press in
England under Charles H., in 1885,
and in America, under Abraham J.,
in 1864. With the progress of events
the rest and worst may be accomplish
cd, so soon as II dare not" waitsupon
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