The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1868-04-16
OMEGA.

Inc hon. heVeruy JOnuSOO remarked
in the senate few days since that the
country had survived treason and would
survive whatever issue" might grow out
of the impeachment business We should
like to hear Mr.. Johnson's definition of
the country" and we should like to see
hts inventory of the precious rights be-
queathed US by our fathers which still
survive" Surely he does not mean to
say that what vas known as the Republic
OF the United States has preserved its in
tegritY. The people of ten of the states
which formerly composed it have no voice
in the government. They are ruled over
by mere military satraps. Congress itself
declares that all that vast region stretching
from the Potomac to the gulf has been
severed from the union. The millions
who iuhabit all that territory are not pro-
tected by the federal constitution, but, on
the contrary, are living UNDER grinding
despotism which is sustained by the bayo-
net And yet We are told ia confident, nav
triumphant tones, that the country has
come safely through the war. What has
survived of the things we were wont to
hold most dear? Constitutional govern
ments we once reverenced. Civil liberty
VIC upheld as one Of the inalienable rights
of nan, Respect for the forms OF law We
demaEded from all those in authority as
we'll as the simplest citizen. The prompt
itude with which this people would fly to
arms to resent any infraction Of its chart
cred privileges was q theme on which
American orators deScanted most proudly.
Have the institutions we boasted Of SUR
vived Have the qualities which enabled
a race of treemen, and without which no
nation can remain free long, have these
survived the war? The history of the
past few years and the shameful spectacle
we present to the world to-day sadly answer
these questions. We once protested
against the existence Of moDarchal insti-
tutions on our frontiers, and yet we have
learned to tolerate despotism harsher
aud more arbitrary than exists even in
Turkey. We used to read with horror of
the French Bastile, and wonder that men
should have been slavish enough to have
submitted to the tyranny Of Louis NV,
but we have seen citizens sent to bastiles in
dozen states at the tinkle of Stewards
bell, and they are now tried by drum
head court-martial for the crime of free
speech. We have seen state governments
set up and pulled down by rump con-
gress which assumes to fairly represent
the nation, and minorities invested with
all political power in defiance Of the clear
est and most stringent provisions of the
constitution, and yet there is no popular
ho ul,1, l.
profess to bewail the misgovernment of
Ireland, and yet suffers congress to go on
In its revolutionary work which il destined
to bring to quick ruin the people and pros
perity Of the south. The country has not
survived the war, and the issue of the i'm
parchment scheme will probably be such
as to accelerate the final extinction of the
union and constitution as they were. We
are but quilting ourselves with fine words
when we prate now about our constitution
al rights, our love TOR our old institutions
and our willingness to defend our liberties.
We but fool ourselves when we proclaim
concerning our hatred Of arbitrary govern
ment and our pity for oppressed nations.
We deceive no one else. The world sees
that the foundations of this republic are
crumbling away, that the constitution is
being torn up shred by shred, that millions
of the American people are ruled by
military despotism, and that revolution
ary faction is openly preparing under the
fiimsiest pretexs to secure by force and
fraud Its ascendancy throughout the whole
land for some years to come. All this the
: world sees and marvels at. The Republic
of the United States survives in name on
lily. We alone appear to believe in what
is only a hollow delusion-a gigantic
sham.-Frantlin ". ~ Gazette.