Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1869-03-12

lean citizens can now say Of their oppres
sors, with more truth than our fathers did
of the British tyranis, that they have
forbidden governments TO pass laws
Of immediate and pressing import
ance, unless suspended until their assent
should he obtained; that they have refused
10 pass other laws for the accommodation
of large districts Of people, unless these
people would relinquish the right Of rep.
resentation in the Legislature-a right In
estimable TO them and formidable TO ty.
rants only that they have made judges
dependent on their will alone for their
tenure of offices, and the amount and pay
ment Of their salaries that they have
erected a multitude of new offices, and sent
hither swarms of officers 20 harass our peO-
pie and eat out their substance that
they have affected 10 render the military
Independent Of and superior TO the civil
power; combined with others 10 subject us
to Jurisdiction foreign 10 our Constitu.
tion and unacknowledged by our laws
quartered large bodies of armed troops
among us, and protected them, by mock
trial, from punishment for any murders
which they should commit on the inhab-
itants imposed taxes upon us without
our consent deprived us, In many cases,
Of trial by Jury taken away our charters
excited insurrection among us abolished
our most valuable laws altered funda.
mentally the forms Of our Government
suspended our own Legislatures, and de-
clared themselves invested with power 20
legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
This catalogue of crimes, long as IL is, is
not complete. The Constitution vests tho
judicial power OF the United States In one
Supreme Court, whose Jurisdiction shall
extend to oil cases arising under the Goa.
stitution and laws of the United States.
Encouraged by this promise, refugee
from tyranny, citizen of the United
States, who, by rider of military com
mander, given under the sanction of a
cruel and deliberate edict of Congress,
had been denied the constitutional
rights OF liberty Of conscience, free.
dom of the press and of speech
personal freedom from military arrest of
being held to answer for crime only upon
prcsentment of an Indictment or trial
by jury; of the writ of hd6edS corpus, and
the protection of civil and constitutional
government; a citizen thus deeply wrong
ed, appeals To the Supreme Court for the
protection guaranteed him by the organic
law Of the land. At once a fierce and ex-
cited majority, by the ruthless hand ofleg
Judge, transferred the sword of Justice
to the General, and remanded the oppress.
ed citizen to a degradation and bondage
worse than death. 1t will also be recorded
as one of the marvels Of the times, that a
party claiming for itself monopoly of
consistency and patriotism, and boastipg
of its unlimited sway, endeavored by a
costly and deliberate trial to impeach one
who defended the Constitution and the
Union, not only throughout the war OF
the rebellion, but during the whole term
of Office, az Chief Magistrate, but at the
same time could find no warrant or means
at their command to bring on the trial
even of the chief OF the rebellion. Indeed
the remarkable failures in this case were
so often repeated, that for propriety's sake
If for no other reason II became at last
necessary TO extend to him an uncondi
tional pardon. What more plainly than
this, illustrates the eXtremities of party
managementande engineering on one hand
and of faction, vindictiveness and intoler
ance on the other2 Patriotism will hardly
be encouraged when in such a record II seei
that its instant reward may be the most
virulent party abuse and obloquy, If mo-
attempted disgrace. Instead of seeking
TO make treason odious, II would in truth
seem to have been their purpose rather L
make the defense of the Constitution ant
Union crime, and to punish a ielity to al
| oath of office, if counter to party dlcta.
ton, by all the means at their command
Happily for the peace of the country, the
war has determined against the assumed
power of States to withdraw at pleasure
from the Union. The institution of slavery
also found its destruction In the rebellion
commenced In the United States in its in
terest
II should be borne in mind, however
that the war neither impaired nor dc
stroyed the Constitution, but on the con
trary preserved its existence and made
apparent its real power and enduring
strength. All rights granted to the State
or reserved to the people, are therefore in
tact Among those rights is that of The
people of each State 10 declare the quail
tications Of their own State electors. Itil
now assumed that Congress can contro
this vital right, which can never be taker
away from the States without impairing
the fundamental principle of the Govern
ment ITSELF 1t is necessary TO the exist
ance of the States as we'll as to the protec
ton of the liberties of the people; for tn,
right to select the elector in whom thu
political power of the State shall be lodgeC
involves the right of the State to govern
itself When deprived of this prerogative
the States will have no power worth re
tanning All will be gone and they will
| be subjects TO the arbitrary will of Con
gress. The Government will than b
centralized, If not by the passage of laws
then by the adoption through partisan in
tluence, Of an amendment directly In con
fliot with the original design of the Con
stitution. This proves how necessary
is, people should require the administers
tlon of the three great departments of tn
Government to be strictly within the limit
of the Constitution. Their boundarie
have been accurately defined, and neitho
should be allowed to trespass on the Other
nor, above al, to encroach upon the reserve
rights Of the people and the States Tn
troubles ofthe past four years will prove I
the nation blessings, If they produce s
desirable result Upon those VIII
became young men amid the sounding c
cannon and the din of arms, and VIII
quietly returned TO the farms, tn
factories, and schools of the land, wi
principally dovolve the solemn duty {
perpetuating the Union of the States, i
defense of which hundreds of thousand
of their comrades expired, and hundred
of millions Of national obligations wer
incurred. Amanly people win not negleC
the training necessary TO resist aggression
but they should be careful that the civ
be made subordinate 10 the militar
clement We need TO encourage, in ever
legitimate way, a study of the ConstitU
tion for which the war was waged.
knowledge and reverence for those wis
checks, by those so soon to occupy IN
places hlled by their seniors, win be tn
only hope OF preserving the Republi,
The young men of the nation, not "
under the control Of party, must resist III
tendency TO Capitalization, an outgrowt
of the great rebellion, and be hmilis
with the fact that the country consists
the United States, and that when III
States surrendered certain great rights f
the sake Of more perfect Union, they r
tained rights as valuable and important
those they relinquished for the commo
veal. This sound old doctrine. FAR di