The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1866-06-06

On the l3lh Of January last, an ordin.
ahce was issued from the War Depart.
ment to the military in Southern States
to protect from prosecution or suit in any
State Court all officers or soldiers, or any
other person subject to military authority,
acts done pursuant to orders, aud to pro-
tect al! loyal citizens for acts done against
rebel forces, J, and sU pers ons, their agents
or employees, charged with the occupancy
Of abandoned lands, and the possession
and custody Of any kind of property who
used, possessed or controlled the same
pursuant to the order of the President or
Of any civil or military department and
also to protect colored persons from pros
ecution in any State for offenses for which
white persons arc not punished in the
same manner and degree. That is to
say, the citizen shall have no redress if
any military officer or the President, or
any department, shall have stripped him
of his property, driven him from his home,
upon some false or trivial charge, or to
crafty some personal hatred or i'll will.
The order is more awless than the act
could be. The judga who would obey it,
unless compelled by mere brute force,
would deserve to be deprived cf his Of
fee, and to be byword and scorn among
all men. l pass ever the infamy of en-
bodying such provisions in military
order. In law they would be intolera-
BILE. They are the fit means of subvert-
ing not only this but any system of free
government.
Aud not content with striking thus di-
rectly at the States, these Radicals are
attacking the well settled system of Exc.
cutive authority. They find now, in time
of peace, that the patronage Of the Presi,
dent is enormous, that it may be used to
thwart their schemes, that it is dangerous
to liberty. We heard Dothing of this
when the officers of million of soldiers
we're to be apIointed by Mr.. Lincoln, and
the Conscription Law and the Internal
Revenue Law clothed him with power Of
filing the land with Presidential parti-
sans. They now seek to break down and
degrade the Presidential offic,, and to
reduce it to mere dependant upon the
will Of and whim of this Congress. which
has in its fanaiicism and folly degraded
itself to q mere Central Directory
And these are the proofs which I ad
duce of desire and determination to
overthrow our system of government
know, Of course, these gentlemen will
deny my conclusions understand their
theories and the arguments by which
they support them | understand their
thimblering logic BY which the States are
in the Union, in order they may be gov
erned, the Constitution when duties are
to be cxdcted; and not under it VIXEN pro
lection is to be accorded; wi.lli;a. :ha .ha law
when taxes arc to be paid beyond it
when representation is demanded. The
President Of the United States confronts
these gentlemen; he denies their theories;
he brushes away their cobweb sophistres ;
he stands consistently on the ground 90.
cupied by him and them at the begin
ming of the war; he denies the doctrine
Of State suicide, he denies that the ordin,
ances of secession were valid by the sue.
cess of arms ; he maintains that the States
never were and are not now out of the
Union, and he is prepared to secure to
them the enjoyment of all their rights, as
they are ready to perform their duties.
Gentlemen, let US give him in this eff,
fort cordial and ready support, let us
give warm, effective, maguanimous sup.
port. Let it be the more Jealous and
outspoken because he is not the President
Of our choice; because we have no favors
to ask, no Offices to seek, no patronage to
enjoy. Let us verify unselfshly the claim
which we made during the heat Of the
war that we were devoted to the integ.
rity of the Union and to the maintenance
Of the Federal compact. We disagree
with the president in many things. We
dissent from his doctrines. We question
the wisdom of many of his acts; but we
agree on this question Of restoration !;
and it does seem to me to be our highest
duty to cooperate with all who will coop
crate with him in making it effective
There is no room for hesitation or delay.
The Constitution is in peril the Govern.
mem is in peril liberty is in peril Ho
seeks to secure them from the Radicals
and Destructives, the blind and bigoted
Jacobins Of our Revolution.
In these days of danger to our liberties,
when in its frenzy tho central power is
seizing upon all the guarantees of popu-
lar rights, where shall We find place Of
safe deposit for our Constitution, till this
darkness be ovorpassed aud the sunlight
of reason appears? .a1"o.. y
Two centuries ago, in crisis Of deadly
peril, the true men Of Connecticut, in the
4 haze aof the twilight, snatched tLeir
charter from the council table, and
Iplaced it in the charter oak, within whose
noble trunk, and under the protectiod Of
whose spreading branches, it was hidden
from the search of the tyrant. That
sturdy tree had for centuries escaped the
| lightning of the tempest and the violence
! Of the tornado. Bythis event it acquired
au immortality of fame--two centuries
longer it stood unscathed, but it exists
no more. It. bowed its head to the
storm during our terrible civil war !; and
the hiding place of the charter was ex.
posed to public gaze. We have an ark of
safety for rlConsttutiou more effective
than this oak 1t tis the ballot-box. II
invites us to use it. . We need not ap.
proach it 10 darkness, as the men OF Con-
necticut were compelled to do; but in
,ba hr;ohk sunlicht. uhder the capopy of