The weekly loyal Georgian., 1867-08-10
The Tyranny of the Federal Gov
eFnment.

| 'h'h W SC all immense DaStllt
IN every village, and a gibbet at ever,
cross road. That these leaders do not
believe what they teach, is sufficiently
proved by the eagerness with which
some OF them returned to the protec
ton of the American flag after having
abSconded to Mexico and elsewhere. in
anticipation of the punishment then
conscience told them was Justly their
due. But they have returned, and
under the miraculously animating
influence Of Executive pardon, have
recovered the use of their tongues and
pens. They have inaugurated a regular
and organized campaign of resistance
to the government, and deception OF
the people, similar to the secession
campaign of 1860, and probably for
the same end. They bring a general
charge of unconstitutional despotisnl
against the government. Ask them
for the specifications, and amid a
torrent Of empty words and a deafen>
ing clamor, no ground is discovered
for the charge except that the govern
ment chooses TO protect itself against
destruction by disfranchising some of
those who once attempted to destroy
it. Never before has the press been
more liccntious, never has speech
been more free, never have the rights
of person and property been more
sacred than now, under the abhorred
military rule. We hear of fewer riots,
fewer mobs, less lynching, than under
the regime Of that much yearned for
civil law.
Can the press complain of want of
liberty? No onc intcrferes, not even
by enforcing the law of libel, while it
villi6cs and maligns every one who
dares to advocate the adoption of the
terms Of settlement which Congress has
proposed. The press has il all its own
way, for there is no means by which
contradiction Of its slanders can be got
before the majority Of the people-few
organs by which its malignant influence
can be ncutralized. 1t runs its muck
uncontrolled and unrcstraincd. Govern
ment officers, to say nothing of State
and County officers, who are nothing
if not sccesh, but Federal civil officers
suffer the government to be vilIifed, and
the misrepresentation of the press to
be repeated, in their presence without
a rebukc. Are their mouths SO full of
government bread that they can say
nothing in favor Of the hand that feeds
them? The government permits the
press freely TO stab private charac-
ter and TO SOW treason broadcast,
apd 10 proclaim a war, nf IL
allows II to excite the people to rebellion,
without a word Of remonstrance. The
press destroys as fast as the government
attempts to build up, and this terrible
despoijSm quietly Succumbs, and its
aai,dps the commanders ofthc military
districts as pOwerless as the first
king of 4Esops frogs - very suggestive
fable, by the way.
Is there any restraint upon the
liberty OF speech? Ben H. Hill is
allowed to preach scdition and incite to
revolt, almost under Gen. Pope's
windows The general may not
consider Hills speech as dangerous
enough to notice, because there is in it
about the same proportion Of reason to
nonsense rs there was of bread to sack
in Fallstalf's tavern hill. But many peo-
pie are to be caught with chaf, and mis-
take vitupcration for argument so Ben
exerts his malicious influence, un-
checked. 1t the military law is powcrless
to reach such orators is there no law
in Georgia against common ScOlds?
Has personal liberty been unwarrant
ably invaded by this de$potism ? When
and where in Georgia has any citizen
been punished or tried by military
since the present rule was
established ? Who is the man that has
been deprived Of life, liberty or property |
except by sentence of civil law? True,
there has been less cause for the inh;c-
ton of punishment, but if the fear of
the military law restraints from crime, it
is far better for all good citizens, than
our old fashioned civil law, which no
evil doer feared Or respected.
In fine, this is the "mildest manner-
cd' of deSpotisms. Not man has been
punished for treason or reasonable |
sentiments-they are permitted to be
proclaimed from the house tops. Would |
those who so vehemently denounce its
have been better satisfied |
with the massaeres of Queretaro ? Yet
they would have US believe that the |
rule Of General Pope is worse than the
cruel tyrannies of Juarez and ESco'
bcdo! Congress might have refused to |
admit us into the Union upon any con-
litions, and held the South rs con-
4uered territory, subject to such
penalties for treason as it saw
fit; now, when it proposes to restore
us to all our rights and equality in the
Union, upon terms the most lenient
ever offered to any conquered people,
it is met by the bowling of Tray,
Blanche and Sweetheart, "little dogs
and ALL" about the tyranny Of the
terms and their unconstitutionality |
and it takes no pains to silence its
revilers-those deceivers, misleading
the people again to their own destruc-
ton. As if we, who had repudiated all |