Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1868-01-21

That old Conservative and prudent journal,
the National IateRi9eaeer, that is never
moved until the coal is applied to its back, is
evidently alarmed at the present revolution
airy schemes Of the Rump Congress To the
people of the North, who are yet supposed
to be free, it sends forth the following stir.
ring appeal =
Freemen of the North! Know that the
clutch of usurpation is at the throat of YOUR
Ministers of Justice; that your treaeherous
servants. determined to destroy your Consti-
tuition, defended by your Chief Magistrate.
have desperately resolved upon abnegatina,
the legislative branch of your Government,
entrusted to their per6dious hands, and in Or
der to demolish all restraint of treason, ara
about to destroy all the departments of Gov
erument, even their own, and lifting your lib
critics from your sovereign shoulders, to lay
Gil at the feet Of military despot Know,
people of the great free North, that youf
chains are forged; that the bayonets, as it
were, are sharpened, the muskets charged.
the orders written, and are to mete out to each
one of you what liberty, what property. what
life he shall retain. Behold, at your firesides
the apparition Of the guard for midnight
arrest; in your places Of worship, the armed
censor of your prayers; in your fields, at your
work tables, on the high roads, the snaky and
skulking detective. Listeni You may hear
the drum, as 1t drops in at your startled ear
the palsy that thickens yet free tongue
We tell you that the Supreme Court is to be
struck down, that the equal balance of the
Three Great Departments is swaying from it's
equilibrium; that The great tripod of the Re
public is to be broken up; that from your po-
litical temples your betrayers are banish-
ing your gods, and from the Genius of
your freedom are wrcnching her iuvio-
liable sceptre. That few vretches.
drunk upon irresponsible power, loath-
some with guilt, hidcous with blood, and
er, through the degradation of the South,
your liberties are to be destroyed, your Con.
stitution subvcrted, your Republic dissolved,
and your name dishonorCd among nations for
ever
Arise, froemen, in your fiery majesty -
Consume with the lightning of your powerful
rebuke this devilish combination of perfidy
and greed. Shake off the fatal incredulity
which lays you supine in the midst of peril,
and let not the go down ere you have
shaken the earth with your mighty tread
Gather in every hamlet in the land from
Eastport to Astoria, and send up to heaven
the shout Of your indignation. The wind
ing sheet of your coffin is woven and its cof-
fin made. Shall it die and be buried?
In concluding an elaborate review OF the
new Reconstruction Bill, the same paper
holds the following unmistakable language:
at (the billy can come to nothing without
the cooperation of the General of the army
1t all rests on him, whatever his reticence
This is matter in which reticence might be
understood. At the first overt act however
slight-'gcrc II Gm to orally promise to dc-
ccPt tie functions o6ered an 1t after such u
bill had jeea passed opcr tie yefo-the Gen
erdt Of The army must DC cast into Jail to
GlcGH las trial for treason to his country IN
less the Chief MGgistrotc Of that country is
.tnkse 10 THE trust Of tie people and his oath
of Office"