Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1869-03-31

( uDeTIleS OF the peOple anu lLlC AAeA y O.
/ powers of the President objects OF CO.
slant attack.
They have wrested from the Presidel
his constitutional power OF supren
command of the army and navy.
/ They have destroyed the strength
| the Executive Department by makiI
/ subordinate officers independent Of, an
able to defy their Chief Magistrate.
They have attempted to place Il
I President under the power Of bolt
defiant, and treacherOus Cabinet Office
They have robbed the Executive
the prerOgative of pardon; rendere
null and void acts of clemency granite
to thousands of persons under the prC
visions of the Constitution, and con
mitted> gross usurpation by legislatiV
attempts to exercise this power in fave
of party adherents.
They have conspired to change th
system of our Government by preferrin
charges against the President in th
form of articles of impeachment, an
contemplating before hearing or trif
that he should be placed under arrest
and held in durance, and when 1t bt
comes their pleasure to pronounce hi
sentence, driven from place and pOwe
in disgrace.
They have in time Of peace increase
the National debt by q reckless eXpen
diture of public moneys, and this adde,
TO the burdens which already weigh up
on the people, they have permitted til
nation to suffer the evils of deranget
currency, to the enhancement in pric
of all the necessaries of life.
They have maintained large stand
ing army for the enforcement Of thei
measures of oppression they have en-
gagged in class legislation, built and en-
couraged mOnopOlies that the few nigh
be enriched at the expense of the many
They have failed to act upon import
ant treaties, endangering our peaceful
relations with foreign powers. Theil
course of usuTpation has not been limit
ed to inrOads upon the Executive De
partment by unconstitutional and op
pressive enactments.
The people Of ten States of the UniOT
have been reduced to a condition more
intOleTable than that from which the
patriots Of the Revolution rebelled;
Millions of the American citizens car
now say of their OppFessOrs with more
truth than our fathers did Of the British
tyrants, that they have forbidden the
Government to pass laws of immediate
and pressing Importance until their as
sent should be obtained.
That they have refused to pass other
laws for the accommodation of large dis
triots of the people unless their people
would relinquish the right of represen.
tatiOn in the Legislature, a right inesti.
mable to them and formidable to ty.
rants only.
That they have made judges depend
ent on their will alone for their tenure
of offices and the amount or payment oi
their salaries.
That they have erected a multitude Of
new offices and sent hither swarms Of
officers to harass our people and exc Oui
their subsistence.
That they have affected to render the
Independent and superior to
the civil power
Combined with others to subject AS tc
a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution
and unacknowledged by our laws.
CHARTERED large bodies of armed troops
among us, and protected them by q
mock trial from punishment for any
murders which they should commit on
the inhabitants.
Interposed taxes upon US without our
Deprived US in many cases of trial by
Jury.
Taken away our charters.
Excited domestic insurrectiOn among
us.
Abolished our most valuable laws.
Altered fundamentally the forms of
our Government.
Suspended our own Legislatures and
declared themselves invested with pow
ar to legislate for us in all cases whatsO-
ever.
This catalogue of crime, long as it is,
IS not complete:
The Constitution vests the judicial
power of the United States in one Su-
Oreme Court, whose Jurisdiction shall eX-
end to all cases arising under the Con-
,titution and the laws Of the United
States.
Encouraged by this promise of refuge
rom tyranny, as citizen Of the United
States, also by the order of military
given under the sanction
If Court and deliberate ediCt of Con-
yress, has been denied the constitution
Il right of liberty of fconscience, freedom
If the press and of speech; personal free
lOm from military arrest; of being held
o answer for crime only upon present.
nent and an Indictment; Oftrial by Jury;
# the writ of ba6Cds ciTpUs, and the pro-
ection of a civil and constitutional
government.
A citizen thus deeply wronged appeals
o the Supreme Court for the protection
him by the organic law
# the land. AT once fierce and ,exci-
ed majority by the ruthless hand of leg
slative power, stripped the ermine from
he Judges, transferred the sword Ofjus-
ice to the general, and remanded the
citizen to degradation and
bondage worse than death.
1t will also be recorded as one of the
narvels of the times that a party claim
ng for itself monopoly of consistency
md patriotism, and boasting of its un-
limited sway, and endeavored by cost
V and deliberate trial to impeaCh one
Who defended the Constitution and the
Union, not only throughout the war of
no rebellion, but during the whole term
# office as Chief Magistrate, but at the
anne time could find no warrant OF
means at their command to bring to
rial even the chiefOf the rebellion. In
Iced the remarkable failures in the case
we're so often repeated, that for prOprie-
VS. sake, if for no other reason, it became
t last necessary to extend tOhim an
pardon.
What more plainly than this illustrate
s the eXtremities Of party management
nd inconsistency on one hand and of
riction, vindicitiveness and mtOler-
nee on the other. Patriotism viii hard
V be encouraged when in such record
sees that it's instant reward may be
most virulent party abuse and Obloquy,
f not attempted disgrace. Instead of
eeking to make treason OdiOus, 1t would,
n truth, seem to have been their pur-
ose rather to make the defense OF the
and Union crime, and to
unish fidelity to an oath of office, If
ounter to party dictatiOn, by all the
means at their command.
Happily for the peace of the country
he war has determined against the as
med power of States to withdraw at
leasure from the Union. The institU-
ion of slavery also found its destruction
I a rebellion commenced in its interest. !
t should be borne in mind, however, |
nat the war neither impaired nor des-
'Oyed the Constitution, but on the con- |
AIRY preserved its existence, and made |
pparent its real power and enduring |
.rength. All the rights granted to the |
tates or reserved to the people are |
lerefore in tact. Among those rights |
that of the people ofeach State to de- |
are the qualification Of their own State /
ectOrs, 1t is now assumed that Con- !
ress can control this vigil right, which !
IN never be taken away from the States
lthout impairing the fundamental F.
rinCipleS of the Government itself 1t |
necessary to the existence of the States
well as to the protection of the liber-
es of the people, for the right to select
he elector, in whom the political pow.