Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1865-01-17

LINCOLN and biz administration. Read what be
says on the subject Of arbitrary arrests In his
SUMMING up in The OrDfkf. " KID 1Tbel suit:
Henry B. Slower has been on The
stand before you--a man who has lived here
msus years attending to his business man of
a. good character - any nsn in this crowded
room. and yet he was let oct Of Fort Lafayette
but a Few weeks ago. where be has been con
fined for FIVE months and -four days. without the
shadow of e crime bis bssiness ruined. bis for
tune dissipated. and be compelled 10 begin life
anew, and now the government, finding that he
has been rTonged, are irving 70 repair the wrong
by re employing him again. aud giving him all
the contracts they can, for having been misled
oy fraudulent men, who wished 70 drive him
away from the Boston Navy Yard FOR cutting
into their business 10 trade.
This is civil war, gentlemen. The tree Of
liberty Is not growing very vigorously just now
Give verdict that will have the effect 70 muzzle
the press. and prevent the disclosure of frauds
and the leaves of that tree will never put forth
again, and next spring you will see that the tree
is dead. You may water it with your tears or
the blood Of your sons but il will not revive any
more. Eternal vigilance is the price of lber-
ty." Let us recall Henry ID. Stover's tale -" it
IS but a trihing circumstance compared with
many which the walls Of that fort will tell. for a
free country, where we boast so much of lber-
ty" You heard il all under oath. You saw
from his appearance that lie was a man of energy
and enterprise. He was engaged furnishing the
navy yard for the Government, aud desired to
extend his business likewise in Boston, and he
was successful Smith Brothers, / think he
told you, they desired to run away from that
trade, and they hired a clerk to make false
perjured affidavit for $500, that he had attempted
| 10 get things passed there on false weights, and
f, Slower arrested aud put in Fort Lafayette
| until, finally, il; was proved that his accusers
we're the ones in the wrong. and they are the ones
| that are now sentenced, and the Government
having been msled. discovered too late that Mr.
Slower was an innocent man.
Now these things, gentlemen, grow out OF
| civil war, and they are very sad, but they need
some guarding on your part. Mr. Slower il
brought here upon the stand; aud YOU have seen
the attempts made TO blscken his character for
crimes be never committed; and he is asked il
be had not been in Fort Lafaye cite as though he
had been there for some Infamous crime; though
be were 10 be blGckened before you because o
PICTURED villain for money had placed him there
when he had shown you that he had been re
stored TO the confidence OF the Government
Now these things have been constantly going on
since the war commenced. For instance, a Mr.
Nettleton went to Washington to try to get po
sition in the Treasury Department from little
town in Connecticut, aud a drunken fellow there
Who wanted TO get the place, reported him TO
magistrate in Washington a. a secessionist ans
spy, and Mr. Nettleton was arrested and put int
the Old Capital Prison. and lay there clever
months a. innocent the unborn child. Thes,
things have been constantly going on since thi
civil war commenced, and yet when an limo
cent man il, through mistake of the Govern
ment, put into prison, and he comes before
court of justice to testify. he II treated fel
on-as a cuprit-and q vagabOnd. from New
Orleans who never knew him, is called here 4
bi49t his character.
These are the results of civil war They groV
out of the underliRgs who. from desire of ex
erclsing arbitrary power, are perpetualy tryin
to undermine and destroy their fellow men
Gentlemen, there is not man of you who is no
! as liable to be put in Fort Lafayette as Henry ID
, Slower What would you think oft when afe
il was discovered that YOU were not in th
wrong. you called to give evidence in
court OF justice, and it should be considered as
evidence against your character? Gentlemen.
il for you to see that civil liberty is not take
away entirely from Us. If, by your verdict, 70
will muzzle aud hush forever the public press
then your liberties are not worth straw-the
have departed
Thus the rights and the liberty of th
citizen trampled under foot as attestec by on
who has investigated this whole subject of an
btrary arrests in all its political forms 1t
difficult to conceive a more despotic sway. tina
is here depicted, under the most absolute govern
ments of the old world