Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1868-02-04
From the New York Citizen.
Despotism or Resistance-StandFr From Under

4
| Be 1T enacted &C., That the appellate juris
diction Of the Supreme Court of the United
| States shall not extend to any act done, or
| which shall be done, or to any proceeding had,
| or which shall be had, under and by virtue OF
| the act entitled IAN act to provide tor the
more efficient government of the rebel States,
passed March 2, 1867 or of the several acts
supplementary thereto; and all such cases now
pending in said court, either by appeal or other
WISE from any decision or proceeding had IN
any district court of the United States, shall be
dismissed by said Supreme Court, and no re-
cord of any proceeding had or which may be
had before either of the district commanders,
under either of said acts, shall be removed to
| or reviewed In any other tribunal, either upon
hdbeds corpus, quo, 100TrattO, or IN any other
| manner whatever 4 bill agreed to by the Re
construction Committee, Jan. %.
The time has arrived In the history of this
| Republic when there is no longer safety in ST.
lence nor manliness In submission. The last act
of the Radical majority would destroy the only
chance that remains to us for deliverance from
| absolute despotism. While the doors of the
Supreme court are open to the appeals of the
oppressed, there will still linger in the hearts
Of Americans latent feeling of security. But
when these shall be closed, there is nothing left
to them but the arbitration of physical force
What can be predicted for the future Of coun-
try thus voluntarily thrust back into barbarsm
by the DEGREES of its law givers? What can we,
what dare we hope of the immediate present
of civilized nation thus hurting away the
restraints and safeguards of law, and substitut-
ing for them the license and despotism Of MILF
tary rule? What shall we say of the fitness of
such men for the discharge of the high. and
sacred trusts reposed In them ? History may
perhaps do justice to their crimes, but nothing
can possibly do justice to their monstrous pre-
sumption. How little have they learned in the
great school of wisdom; how little have they
profted by the great lessons of history. When
there is no longer any means left to man to avert
danger they turn and face it with awful des-
peration When there is no longer an avenue
of retreat open, then the sword must cleave a
path for the imperilled army Men conscious
of the value of peace and familiar with the cost
of anarchy, concede little by little for the sake
of peace, as long there is virtue in concession,
but when the terrible alternative of despotism
or resistance is thrust upon them, woe be to
those that make the issue 1t is idle to at
tempt to mask the fact that all appeals to the
reason Of the majority are useless-are grave
travesties They are deaf to everything but the
voices of their own passions and interests
Rights, liberties and time honored institutions,
everything that treemen value and revere, have
been ruthlessly sacrificed What is there left
to them but the memories Of a glorious past
unless, indeed, it is the sacred duty OF vindcat
| ing the liberties which made that past memora
BILE? So long as there is hope of successfully
appealing to reason and the courts Of law, we
counsel peace and forbearance, but when these
fail us we demand our rights and liberties at all
hazards The perjured apostates of Constitu
tonal liberty, that sit IN our legislative halls,
may learn to their cost that there are evils more
dreaded by free-b born men than revolutions
A -, 10
lieves that the crisis demands a dictator, no.
thing is more certain than that he will be of its
own choosing. In the emergency that is upon
US it is the solemn duty of every patriot to stand
fast by the national executive, who has proved
himself to be worthy Of public confidence, by
his unwavering and uncompromislng fidelity to
the constitution and the laws 1t is not the time
now to discuss his errors of judgment. We can
not doubt the sincerity of his heart, and on that
we must be content to rely. We conjure him
now to the utmost promptness and the greatest
caution. He is the commander-in- chief Of the
Army and Navy, under the Constitution; let
him look well to these, and be prepared that
when the moment comes to strike, his strokes
may be decisive. We are satisfied that be will
do his part of the work il the people will Go
theirs. But be must have the assurance of the
aid and sympathy of the Nation at his back
With these behind, the popular triumph Is assur-
ed To this end let the great conservative
element Of the country rally as one man to his
support, and by a series of spontaneous and
overwhelming public demonstrations express to
him theirs pproval of his course, their confidence
in his integrity, and their intention to stand by
him in every necessary effort to restore the lost
liberties of the country. In this attitude and in
no other, is there hope for rational deverance
Act cautiously, but be at all times ready to act
promptly. We warn the tyrant, Radicalism,
against any attempt to incorporate its latest
monstrous conception into the statute books of
of this Republic, and it behooves it to heed our
warning