, 1865-08-11

/ meQL OF all Ile nOueSJ euQS Oh RCNerumsubJ dHS
! all those ends may be attained easier ard fla
cheaper, by obeying and following the law
than by breaking and degrading it. And, in m,
! opinion, 1t is only the ignorant egotism Of pub
/ lie officers which ever makes them imagine
themselves wiser and stronger than the law, anC
therefore, better qualified than the lawful Gov
ernment can be, to rule the people and save thu
State
Every usurper, fr5p Caesar, Cromwell ant
Bonaparte all the way down to the District Pro
Yost Marshal of ST. Louis, conscious of the
wrongs he is committing, feels bound to excuse
his conduct by pretending there is a nece8sitl
which impels him to act Caesar s'assumed tht
purple" in order to quell the factions which
had thrown the Republic into anarchy and
drenched Rome and the provinces in blood; and
Maj. Matlack assumed the supreme judicial
power here in St. Louis, because the ldaos Of tht
State Oere 0rong in not epualizing all people be-
fore the law. These pretenses are always an
lawful, and almost always false in fact; and,
not unfrequently artfully eontriycd to maks a
show of excuse for the nieditated crime, and
cover mp the partisan fraud with himsy yeil OF
hypocritcal loyalty. OF this last character is
the pretense, impudently started and pertina-
cously adhered to, that the laws were silenGed
and the courts rendered incapable of admins
tering legal justice by the presence of guerillas
and bushwhackers in various parts of the State.
To prove the absurd falsity of this pretense, it
may Suffice to refer to two facts: /. Gen. Pope,
in his letter to Gov Fletcher, estimates the num-
Der Of these outrages at twenty TO the county on
the average; and surely good sergeant's guard
for each county would be enough to protect the
court IN. the discharge of its lawful duties
against such handful robbers. 2. Here in
st. Louis, where the commanding generals re-
side; where the courts, both Federal and State,
bold tbpir cpcciopc. uvba fc
the existence of guerrillas and bushwhackers is
to suppose dishonor to the military power and
criminal negligence in the civil police-even
here, where there is no obstacle to civil business
and to legal justice, but the obtrusion of armed
authority, the same unlicensed and unbfidled
power has been used by the military, as in the
most remote and exposed parts of the State
The pretense, therefore, is false in fact. And
its falsehood is not its worst feature. II is a
cruel contrivance, a radical measure, adopted
long ago, when President Lincoln declining to
lend himself to a faction here) refused to ahnul
the State Government, and rule the people by
arms. From that moment bushwhacking be-
came cherished institution of the radical poll
cy in Missouri, their stock in the trade of poll
tics By that false pretense they have succeed
ed in their first step to the comprehensive
scheme of revoutionizing the State. They
have succeeded in subjugating the people, and
crushing their spirit; under martial law, and by
those means have succeeded in electing their
partisans to places of transient power 1t re-
mains to be seen whether or no they are able to
carry out the whole of their destructive pro-
gramme, which comprehends thorough revo-
luton of the State, in its principles, political
moral and religious and also in its population
and its property. | know whereof AFFIRM and
hold myself ready, if ever occasion should re-
quire it, to give the history, in disgusting de-
tail, with facts, names and ancillary circpm-
stances.
During the stress and agony of the war, when
the result hung doubtful in the scales, we will
lingly submitted to many irregularities of Off
cial conduct; in fact, we were ready to submit
to almost anything, for the sake of success in
putting down the rebellion. But now that the
victory is won, that the war is, substantially,
ended, no pretense remains for the exercise of
extraordinary powers. And the people (breath-
ing more freely, and looking hopefully to the
future, not wholly occupied in defending against
the presently will be sure to return to their
first and best emotions Their reverence for
the Constitution and love for legal liberty, will
revive in their hearts, and they will demand in
a voice too loud to be unheard and too strong to
be unheeded, their absolute, hereditary right to
be governed by law, and not by the will Of man.
still have undoubting faith in the theoretical
ptlltOLlOu VI Jul lOlul VI BONSi anu buC
practical goodness of our Constitution and laws;
and therefore, do not doubt, that the law will
again rise in its strength, and assert itssuprem-
lcy, both to protect and punish, and put down
I'll opposing powers.
And may we not hope that many military
men, who have been made (perhaps unwilling
~ the agents of unlawful power and popular
oppression, seeing that the occasion is past, will
1T once confne themselves to their proper voca-
ion, as soldiers, and cease altogether from
r6dbling civil men, and from meddlng with
civil government. But if, unhappily, should
pc disappointed in this hope, then my advice to
LII the people is to resist oppression and mis-
government, and by all the means which the
avs authorizes. Do it calmly and prudenty,
md taking care to keep the law always on your
side; do it with unfinchng courage and fixed
purpose to press the controversy to the end of
he law. If a military officer presumes to inter-
ere with the civil courts, or to intermeddle
With popular elections, have him indicted for
he offense, no matter what is his rank, and
prosecuted according to law. And if any sol
liers, high or low, do a wrong to private per-
ION under the pretense of military power, let
he proper civil action be promptly Brought and
)ressedwith all vigor, to q verdict and Judgment
or damages. My life upon it, this course dill
gently and skillfully pursued, will soon bring
'DotlutlbO OuOHuOlo W {" PlOPOA 0ShSO VI eAVAA
to the civil power.
Be not afraid of that foolish and wicked Ordi-
lance of the Convention, designed to protect
,ppressors and to secure impunity to crime, for,
assure you, theiI's is powerless to protect the
,uilty. 1t is powerless-lst, because the Con-
-ention had no power to pass such a law; I'd, be-
ause the language of the Ordinance (eavng
he offender just where the good old law left
lim) does not protect the accused, unless be
an show IawfuJ authority to do the act COM
,lained of.
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