Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1865-01-12
8radford 9eporter.
Towanda, Thursday, January IL, 1865.
MIR. WARDS ADDRESS.

If that part of Mr.. WARDS Address which
we noticed in our last, is Objectionable, that
portion of it which we propose to review
now, is doubly so and if we regretted the
awkward position which our examination of
his charge against the republicans oftraud-
ulcnt voting, places him in, we can truly
say that we are panied at being obliged to
follow up the more rcprehensible part of
this eXtravagant folly; and it would be
less grievous to him. if Mr. WARD had not
travelled out of the sphere of his appoint
mcnt to earn condemnation. But to our
subject.
Mr. WARD substantially declares, that
forty-four innocent, and reputable, citizens Of
Luzerne and Columbia counties, were i'm
prisoned by military authority, and tried
before tribunal unkno,cn to The constitution
called a Court Martial. An abundance
of cxpletives are called into requisition to
give this act of the administration horrify-
ing aspect The truth of the matter is, that
these forty-four citizens combined to resist
the draft, and the government was obliged
to send military force to arrest the law
breakers. Mr.. WARD says three of them
were sentenced to heavy fines, and impris-
onment so that these conspiratOrs were
guilty ofthe charges preferred against them;
and it is these criminals before the law,
over which our neighbor makes his piteous
Lamentations We doubt not but that every
criminal in the penitentiary could give an
equally distressing account of his suffer
ings, if he had Mr.. WARDS power of define
alton But who is to blame for this suffer
ing? Mr. WARD says the government. We
say the traitors themselves. For if they
had not resisted the law, they would not
have been punished. This is clear. Why
are not pedceobie citizens punished? Be-
cause they are peaceablc. Mr.. WARD pleads
for these violators Of the law, and tries to
cover up their heinous of1ense for the rea-
son that they are democrats, and if they
were cut-tmoats, and belonged to his party,
it would be the same thing Such is the
perverse tendency Of blind partizan yea.
What is it to the loyal citizen that there
are no stoves, benches, beds, knives, forks,
plates or any other convcnienceS, in the
cells Of Fort Mifllm? What is it to them
that this is damp Island fort, constructed
more with a view Of resisting lombard
mrnt, than anything else? What is it to
them that the government is obligedto des-
ccrate it by the incarceration of Copper
head rebels Loyal men respect the laws,
and have no fears Of Bastiles, and because
they respect the laws, they see no modern
tyranny. 1t is only traitors who feel the
damps Of noisome cells, and see the tyran-
ny.
The Chairman of the State Democratic
Committee says, these Columbia rioters
"are 'being' drawn out, one by one, to be
tried before tribunal unknown to the con
stitution- called a Court Na,fial-in which
they are denied the privilcge-pricelcss 10
Greeman's cstimate-of trial by a jury
of their peers, and of the vicnage."
Mr. WARD is lawyer, and asserts that a
Court Martial is unknown to the cOnstitu-
ton. That instrument says, Congress
shall have power to raise and support ar
mics. TO make rules for the government,
and regulation, of the land and naval forces" !"
And pray who ever heard of armies with.
ont Court Martials7 SO the power to ere
ate Court Martials, comes directly from the
constitution and we have had them under
4I, i+,
Every bright school boy knows these facts;
and yet, our legal neighbor says these
courts are unknown to the constitution
Wise, and learned man What luminous
production it would be, how suddenly all
that has ever been written on the sacred
right of trial by jury, would fall into the
shade, if we had an elaborate discussion
on this subject, from this writer The
question, however, of the legality of the
trial of the Columbia county rioters, has
been clearly settled, in the case of Vallan-
digham. The Supreme Court of the United
States, under its old regime, after full ar
gumcnt, decided that the arrest of Nallan-
digham, by military authority, was legal,
that the military commission which tried
him for a military offcnsc, was constitutions
ally constituted, and that there was no leg
al authority in our civil courts to reverse,
or to revise its Judgment. Yet Mr.. WARD
pron0mces these courts unconstitutional
mOnstrous and unbearablc But the de-
nial of trial by jury i'll the vicinage, to
to these Columbia law-brcakers, is the point
over which we have the full burst of lachry-
NOSE winnings of surcharged Partizan
prejudice A trial by jury in the vicinagc,
to these rioters would have been mock
cry. No witnesses could have been found mo
matter what the criminalty of the party
tried, to testify against them; and the jury
men, like the witnesses, wOuld have syn
pathised with the rioters, and therefore, it
would only have been a farce. to try them
in this manner. After the army that went
out to suppress the Mormon rebellion, had
taken possession of Salt Lake city. and