The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1869-04-22
Stewards Little Bell.

ScWarO'S Little Bell
It is said of Mr.. Seward, lately Secreta-
~ of State, that, while in conversation,
during the earlier half of the Lincoln ad-
ministration, with British diplomatist and
visitor, he made boast of the extent OF
his official power, claiming that it was
greater than that of Queen Victoria, or of
any functionary of either England or
France. To illustrate the truth OF his
claim, he pointed to bell within reach of
his hand and remarked: 81 can touch that
little bell four times and have any four per-
sons | please arrested within fifteen min
utes in any four different parts of the coun-
try, and sent on their way to Federal pris-
ons" Mr.. Seward evidently sought to as
tonish the English diplomatist, and no
doubt, did astonish him. Yet our Secreta-
ry was making no idle boast. He did not
vaunt greater power than he possessed
All that he said he could do he did habitu-
ally. The country wildly remembers, and
surely it can never forget, the events OF
those times The era was one OF terror.
No Democrat could go to his bed at night
with any confidence that he would not be
prisoner before morning. Many, all un-
conscious of crime or offence, slept IN out
houses, and othels in the woods. Their
first anxious inquiry each day was, who of
their neighbors had been seized during the
preceding night. No explanation was
deigned to the victims as to the causes of
their arrest. They were not permitted to
know the character Of the charges against
them. They were not even told in what
direction they were 10 be taken or what bas-
tiles they were to occupy. Their guards.
if questioned, were as dumb as SO many
Turkish eunuchs. Thus, in the full flush
OF radical sway, was inaugurated the tyr
amy, previously unknown and unconceived
among American citizens, which has result
ed in what we now behold.
Thousands of persons who feel shocked
in thinking of Mr.. Seward and his ''little
bell" perhaps neglect to inquire or to con-
slider whether the monstrous and startling
power, which he boosted Of and exercised,
has ever been disowned or disused since.
1t is used as oppressively and as constantly
in several portions of the Union as it ever
was. In Texas, in Arkansas, in Mississip-
pi, in Georgia, &C., men are arrested and
thrown into prison by little military tyrants
without even the Formally Of the tinkling
of little bell at Washington. Seventeen
citizens of the town of Jefferson, Texas,
are to-day in prison, to be tried by mill
tary court, all arrested without warrant, all
uniformed what are the charges they have
TO meet, who are the witnesses against them
or when their trial is expected to take place,
and all denied the benefit of counsel or Of
intercourse with the outside world, even
with their own families. Men in Georgia
have been sent within the last year by mil
itary courts to the Dry Tortugas, who were
seized at dead of night by white and black
men in uniforms. and kept in ignorance of
the accusations against them till dragged
before the martial tribunal ''organized to
convict" Mr.. Seward, comparative nov
ice, may have thought he ought to be at
the trouble Of touching a ''littlc belI' for
the arrest Of every man or body of men
that he wished arrested, but the present
authorities have got over all such obsolete
IDEAS as that. What was new and startling
hen first practiced by him is ''old-fogyism'
now. A general order to satraps and 9TH
ers does all that Radicalism needs.
Whilst the war lasted, the national ne
cessites, the terrible dangers of our coun-
Try, struggling for her very existence with
the mighty armies of the South, were urged
rs an excuse for the exercise of unconsti
tutional and tyrauical powers by the admin
istration. The rights of citizens, it was
argued, must in many cases be sacrificed to
the public good. Such considerations,
thOuuh thew were NOT wholly without inhu-
ence, did not for moment satisfy the scrll-
pies or alay the detestations and alarms of
those rejecting members of the community,
who appreciated the great truth that our
Constitution was made for war as we'll as
for peace, that the liberties of the citizens
were as sacred 10 war as in peace, and that
powers, usurped in war, no matter upon
what pretense, would probably continue to
he exercised when war should cease. What
ever influence such considerations may have
eXerted then, they can exert none now.
We have peace now or what should be
peace and is called peace. We have had
peace for years. 1t has been more than
four years since the last Confederate army
laid down its arms and acknowledged allie
glance to the Federal Government Yet
the bloody tyranny, practiced with excuses
in the worst times of the war, is practiced
now without excuse, and every voice lifted
against it is denounced by Radicalism as
the voice OF traitor, and he who utters it
is threatened with traitors doom. Jour
nal.
A Perilous Adventure.