Weekly New Oregon plain dealer. (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1866-1867, 1867-01-11
"The Law had ,nDt been
Dead, though lit had Slept


gus refers to the late decision of the
late decision of the supreme court
Of the United States concerning
military commissions, calls for the
impeachment and punishment Of the
living officers who perpetratcd the
outrages recited:
1t was in 1861, more than five
years ago, that the president and
his cabinet commenced arresting
private citizens, in the states where
the laws were in full yisor, and the
oanrt0 min ter9-pted in their
administration Of justice and con-
fined those citizens in distant prisons.
de MED them all knowledge of the
charges on which they were arrest
ed secluded them from the visitation
of friends, and excluded them from all
relief by Judicial process. The forts
were filled with men born free, sud
denly torn from their families, and
transported to distant prisons like
criminals condemned of the bIackost
crimes, and there treated in the
most iIhUman manner. In some
cases military courts were organized,
and these unhappy men were hauled
up and given the form Of q mock
trial, before tribunals unknown to
the law, and condemned to death,
for pretended ofenses which they
had never committed; others to per-
perpetual Imprisonment at hard Ia
Dor, beyond the process of the courts.
What number ofarrests were made,
what number Of these sham trisls
and convictions were had, what
number is still languishing under
these cruel sentences, the secret
archives of the government can
alone inform US; but the number
was very large.
Every one knows that these arrests
were not made ION warrants sup
ported by oath OF afirmation,' but
on simple orders Of the secretary of
war-sent by telegraph. The free
dom Of the press was DESTROYED by
the arbitrary suppression Of newspa
pcrs, and liberty itselfwa no longer
protected by the constitution, the
laws ana the Judiciary, but depended
on the caprice of the seer etary of
state and the ringing of his little
bell. Five years have elapsed, and
now the supreme court Of the United
States has judicially declared and
affirm ed that all these arrests, i'm
prisonments, trials and sentences by
military tribunals, were in violation
Of the constitution, illegal, and a
usurpation of power unwarranted by
law. BY this Judgment it is de-
clared that president Lincoln and
all his suborainates who acted in
making these arrests and imprison-
mcnts, or assisted in their mock
trials, and enforced the unauthor-
lied judgments, were themselves
violators of the public law, disturb.
ers of the public peace, false impris-
oners and criminals, liable them
selves to Indictment and punishment
by the laws of the laws of the land.
The charges thus authoritivcly
and judicially made against til late
president and his secretaries is of
the gravest character. 1t rs but
little, If any, inferior to treason,
and comes very nearly, if not quite
to that of rank murder-when death
followed as the punishment awarded
hy an unauthorized and illegal tribu-
nal. Congress has now an opportn-
nifty to exert it's independence
and vindic ate the const tuition and
laws, by impeaching those the court
has declared guilty of high crimes
and misdemeanors in establishing
arbitrary power and inficting illegal
punishments. The members have
each and all solemnly sworn to sup
port the constitution, the court has
declared that it has been repeatedly
and constantly violated for five years
by illegal arrests, false imprison-
ments, mock trials, void Judgment $
and military murders. A great act
Of national justice is necessary to
the vindication of the constitution
and the rights Of citizens, to defer
hereafter all men from exercising a
usurped power, and trampling down
constitutional liberty when accident
ly placed IN authority.
If congress cowardly shrinks from
its plain duty; if, by not proceeding