The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1866-04-26

heeNe, Esq, OF IiyLhoulh, Was calleu ups
on and responded as follows:
My fellow citizens and friends, fear I
cannot talk to you When the heart is full
with grief or JOY the tongue refuses utter-
ance, and no man can talk. When think
and realize that our loved and honored
friend is in our midst, free, my heart eX-
pands with Joy so intense as to be almost
painful; but when [ look upon his sunken
cheek, bleached in the shadow of the pris>
on wall. and sec his feeble frame worn down
by toll and want of wholesome food; when
l think of those long, dreary months of
silent agony; of his desolate freside, about
which gathered the sad, sad hearts Of his
loved ones, whose longings went out and
sought in rain to penetrate those prison
walls. and carry consolation to the weary
dying soul within, while and you have
been at home with comforts, love and peace
around Ills, grief o p'erwhelms me like flood
and chokes all uttorancc Then when
think of the outrage and insult heapcd up
on him in the name of liberty; of the desc
Grafton ofexery right fman; of the ruthless
hands that struck down the law, and tram.
pied in the dust the sacred shield erected
for our protection; the time, the place, the
manner and the cause, indignation min
Cling with grief and JOY swclls the heart
with such mingled emotions that tears
alone can express the feelings the quiver-
ing lips cannot utter.
Blinded by my own tears; striving to
gaze upon these upturncd, quiycring, tcar>
full faces around me; the thought of that
wasted form and pallcd face. now comes
back to US as all that's left ofhm We loved
so well; how can | talk? ! cannot Oh
"Let pity, like new born babe
Striding the blast or Heavens cherrbim
HOrsed upon the sightlcss courier OF the
Air, blow the horrid deed in cv'rv
! Eye, that tears shall drown the wind"
| 1t is hard to realize that the long, dark
night is nearly over, and that day begins
to dawn for us once more. Yet it seems to
be true; for here, in our midst, stand, o,r
honorcd friend, Lambdin P Milligan; a
living tangible evidence of that sublime
principle that 1truth crushed to earth Will
rise again" Yes, nature will have COM
pensation; and already MS enemies can ex-
claim like Othello:
"Oh were damned beneath all depths in hell
But that did proceed upon just grouuls to hs
eHu entity"
Let them look to it. While PROSTATE
with disease; in the dead hour of night;
without process OF law. he was seized by
the ruffan hands of an armed band of
hircl;ng towards; dragged from his home,
his family, and his lifelong comforts, to a
loathsomc prison, filled with discomfort
and filth; charged by traitor and perjured
renegades; tried by hreling minions of
usurped power; without jurisdiction or
the forms of law; sentenced without ver-
diet; condemned to death, and saved only
by the interposition of that power whose
executor had sworn to preserve, protect
and defend him against these very wrongs,
and then immured with felons. for life
aye life O.; clothed with the fclon's garb;
fed with the felons food; deprived speech;
burthcncd with a convicts toll; insult, con
tumcly, and dcpredations hcapcd upon
him hourly; frowncd and spit upon, and
left to drag out lifetime under such a
burthen, and for what? For asscrt;;a :,
and striving to maintain the eternal prin>
ciplcs of truth. born with our republic and
of it, enuncated by Jefferson, sustained
by Madison, enforced bv jackson, loved
honored. believed and cherished by us,
and all true men, and hated only by such
as placed this burthen on him, and will
place it upon you and me unless the reins
of power are taken from them from their
hands. Who are they? Men who con
found theology with religion; who take
the doctrines of our Divine Master-lIc
who blessed his disciples and said Glove
one another" who blessed little children
and held them in his arms, and during his
short mission taught love, love continually,
beneath whose influence intolerance with
ercd-and on that sublime injunction they
built up intolerance that bathes the earth
in blood and crushcs civil liberty beneath
the iron heel of despotism. DemaSogues,
desperate and reckless; hypocrites; politi-
clans, without principles; legislators, with
out knowledge; statesmen, ignorant of di,.
plomacy; jurists filled with prejudice and
partisan feelings; speculators without hearts
-iobbcrs who coined the blood Of the
people into gold to swell their Golfers, al
ready bursting with the spoils of a nation
they have degraded and robbed of every
clement of honor; traitors to law and good
order, enemies to peace and Union; men
sworn under the law to obey the law, and
who treat that oath and the law with con-
tempt and derision. These are they;
n. ably crushing in where angels fear to
trea,i." and who are now in full retreat
before he rc-animarcd and rc-encouraged
hosts of hoGcst men who have turned upon
them and slowly but surely forcing them
on towards the brink of destruction. over
which they will soon be plunged, into the
ocean of eternal infamy from which they
,hall never be resurrrected; God speed the
day
Let us begin now where we should have
begun years ago. The release of Colonel
MIligan proves that we yet have foun,
dation to build upon The latent power
of an honest public opinion has forced the
iudges-or Llajority-in our Supreme
/ Court to recognize yet the existence, and
1 to declare the supremacy of the law in