North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1867-08-21

Ills dream and knows hts dream untrue
| I iive whore splendors shine, and sigh o..
For the peace that splendor cannot buy-
, Sigh for the day was rich, though poor
| Ana saw the two young men at my door.
|
New Law for Republics. a.' =
In what century do we live Z / Are WI
the citizens of an American republic, OF
the subjects of an English monarch d.
we owe allegiance to constitutional form
Vf government, or to the person Of an in
dividual wearing regal diadem
| BY our chronology, it is the nineteenth
century. By our archives, we should bt
the citizens of republic. BY our laws
we owe no man allegiance.
But, if we accept the dicta of Judge
enunciated in the trial of John II. Surrat
on Indictment for murder, we must arrive
at conclusions far different from these.
This judge Fisher by name) instructed
the jury in that case that the law in this
republic is as follows: n...s..s ...
I" |. That conspiracy formed in time
Of war to take the life of the President O,
Vice President of the republic and the
heads of the Executive departments. fo1
the purpose of aiding the enemies of the
federal government, by throwing it into
anarchy and confusion, is treason as heni.
Gus and as hurtful to the people of this
country as comprising the death of a kim
or queen of Great Britain is to the subjects
of that rcalm.'' 9e sa
Had the judge said, merely, that " A
conspiracy formed in time of war to take
the life of ary person for the purpose OF
aiding the enemies engaged in levying
war against the United States is treason
able none would have disputed the cor
rectness of the proposition. Treason
against the United States" says sl-
prcine law, "shall consist only in levying
war against them, or in adhering to their
enemies, giving them aid and comfort" !"
There is no other treason in this country.
A conspiracy in time of war to commit any
crime, the commission of which would give
aid and comfort to the public enemy, would
be at least step toward the commission
of treason. The fulilment of the purpose
of such a conspiracy would complete the
overt act'' Of treason, which, says the
supreme law, shall be proved by the testi-
mony uf two witnesses in order to convict
tho person accused. The fact that the per-
son against whose life such conspiracy is
formed happens to be the President of the
republic has no more to do with the trea-
sonable character of the conspiracy than
would tho fact that person happened to be
a town constable, ora hog-reeve. 1t is the
purpose of aiding an enemy at war that
renders it reasonable, and not the official
station of any individual. This is the
whole law in America. It was made the
law by the supreme will of the people,
who threw off their allegiance to a crown,
and proclaimed that thenceforth no king
should reign over these states.
Judge Fisher goes back to the reign of
Edward the Fourth to find that law which
he tells an American jury is the law in
America. In that reign, two inhabitants
of London were executed for high treason
in Comprising or ''imagining'' (these,
says Mr.. Justice Blackstone, "are synony.
nous terms'') the death of the king one
for saying he would make his son heir to
the crown,--that being the sign of the inn
which he kept and the other, whose IA
vorite buck the king killed in hunting, for
wishing it, horns and all, in the kings
belly. This is the high treason in England
four centuries ago. to which an American
judge compares the treason Of imagining
the death of the citizen who happened to
fill the presidential chair in America in
1865. Had this judge instituted the COM
parlson to illustrate the absurditv Of his
own ideas of the law, its propriety and ft-'
ness would have been at once recognized.
For to wish, during the pendency of the
war, that sour-apple tree, sour apples and
all, were in MIR. Lincoln's belly would
have been to compass or imagine his death.
Such wish would have been treason as
heinous and as hurtful to the people of
this country as the conspiracy Of which
Judge Fisher speaks. S@EF'
But, says Judge Fisher, it is in time of
war that the law in England .our centu-
ries ago becomes the law in Americn In
time of war, then, the citizen who is.the
president ceases to be president and be-
comes king. The supreme law ceases to
be supreme, and becomes subject to the
royal edicts of monarch. The ALLEGIANCE
of the citizen, 'whichwas in peace due to
the supreme law alone, is transferred from
that law tocthe individual who wears the
royal diadenl. The person of the individ-
ual, which before was subject to the same
law as the person of other citizens, is sud-
denly invested with new sanctity. The
ancient law of hereditary monarchy
comes forth from its long sepulture in the
dust of ages, and standsin the place Of the
constitution of the United States. 1t stem
'.dereth the safety of the king with an
anxious concern" 1t ''considereth the
wicked imaginings Of the heart in the
same degree Of guilt as if carried into
execution" 1t instructeth jurymen' in
the language Of Judge Fisher. -! ' y
Judge Fishers theory of the law will
be approved by all truly aloyal'' Jacobins;
for it is the antipodes Of that dignifed aud
republican conservatism which, speaking
by the mouth of the highest judicial tri-
bunal in this country, declares the consti-
tuition to be ''the supreme law Of the land,
alike for rulers and people, in war as in
peace.' The former is the doctrine of
monarchies and Of Jacobinism. The lat
ter is the doctrine Of republics and democ-
Chicago Times. Il
The indianapolis Herald is unable to dis
close the name of the new head dress the
ladies have lately adopted, but says cit
looks like section of Newfoundland dog
hide, tanned with the hair on, drawn tight
over the half of muskmelon, neatly comb
ed and oiled, and fastened upon the back
part of the head