The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1871-02-11


by the southern traitors under surveillance
SO strict. that ne could not speak with SEN
ator except at midnight, by stealth and in
secrecy. At his own Office it was impossible
10 see such visitors the southern eve was
always on him. How did those traitors of
the south manage to control hin, as they
controlled nobody else By what means
oid they COW his better part of man,' and
master all his movements? What did thcy
90, or threaten to DO, which made him a slave
to sucn fearful, extent? His relations with
them must have been very peculiar. The
suspicion IS not easily resisted that he had
MS nocturnal meetings with southern men
aiSo' ana that he feared simply the discovery
OF his double dealing. This is what we
must believe II we suppose that he really
was shaken by those unmauiy terrors. But
l confess my theory to be that he did not
feel them, and that he made pretencs Of
tdem only that he might fool MIR. Sumner
TO ms bent. What does MIR. Sumner him
sell think Was he or was he not the vic
tim Of cruel kumbug
IF.-DIc Mr.. Stanton conspire with the
political enemies of the administration TO
arrest bir. IOucey on a false charge of trea-
son That such 4 conspiracy existed seems
to be fact established. What Won saw
about 1t shows that you knew and approved
1t. hr. Dawes ard Mr.. Howard were in il.
and no doubt many others who have not
confessed it themselves, or been named bv
you. But Mr. Stanton was not with Won
The evidence Of his completely which Won
produce Is altogether too indefinite, Indirect
and obscure to convict him Of SO d2ulning a
crime. Ths enormous atrocity of :he cff.nce
makes 1t impossible to believe in his gull.
without the cIearest and most indubitable
proof
Stanton and Toucey were at that time
acting together in perfect harmony, closely
united In the same general measures and
principles. Toucey. az all events. was sim
cere and Stanton knew him to be lust
upright and hoaorable man, whose fidelity
TO the UnlOn, the constitution and the laws
was aa firm as the foundation Of the everlast-
lag hills. To TUucey himself. and to his
friends, he never expressed any sentiment
out esteem and respect, and be declared his
confluence In him even to Mi. Seward. who
was MS enemy, as you yourself have taken
the pains 10 prove. Was the destruction
"t tEIs man one Ot the purposes for which
the hTst law officer Of the government sneak
e. about your secret committees. met the
p!ottcrS IN their midnight lurRiug-places,
employed gO-betwecn to fetch aud carry
LIS ciauaestlIe message, and like treach-
eTous Iniorner, wfote accusations which he
trusted even to the hands ofhjs coufederatcs
only while they were read IN the light Of
street lamp?
There were two distinct and separate WAYS
IN which the cOuspirators could effect their
designs upon the man whom they had mark
ed out for their victim. One was to take
hun in custody under legal warrant. rogu-
iaTly Issued 10y competent judicial officer
itflf r., cot .ggr r.h
necessary that somebody should peri ure
himself by swearing that Toucey had Leried
ioaT against the United .States. Was Stan
ton 10 make this false oath, in addition TO
the other proofs which he gave Of his loval-
ty Z Or was it expected that Peter H. Wat
son, who carried the charges, would also
swear to them IF you did not rely on
Stanton or Watson was it you, or Mr..
Dawes, or Mr.. Howard--which of YOU
that meant to do the needful thing Or
was it intended that all three of yon should
entwlne your conscItucos in the tender en-
brace oi joint afIidavit? Or lad yoa look
ed out for some common .'man Of belial !"
who was ready to be suborned for the occa-
sion No, no you may have beun eager
to feed tat the ancient grudge you bore
against Ioucey for being Democrat and a
"union~saver ;" but none Of you would have
S1coFa that he was guilty of aIY criminal
offence. Nor could Stanton or Watson have
been persuaded to encounter such perils Of
soul and body. Nor could you if You had
tried your best have found any other person
to make tie accusation in the form of
legal oath. The price of perjury was not
then high enough in the Washington market
to draw out from their hiding places that
swarm of goddess wretches who afterward
swore away the lives of men and women
with such fearful alacrity.
From all this it is very clear that there
was to he no swearing in the case, conse-
quently no judicial warrant, and no lawful
arrest But TOucey aCds to be arrested
How2 OF course in the only other way it
could possibly be done. The conspiratOrs
intended to kidnap him. Mr.. Dawes says
that from the hour when the paper directing
the arrest was read under the street lamp,
and went back to its hiding place." the
secretary was watched. The members of
the committee, or the hirlngs they om ployed,
dogged his footsteps, and were ready to
spring upon him whenever they got the sig
nal. They could rush out as he passed the
mouth of a dark alley, knock him down
with their bludgeons, and drag him off. Or
the lawless aud "patriotic" gang might bur-
glariously break into his house in the night
I'.LiSs oIt lili pCiiCts you HOuiu sdys ny
high and holy motives,'' take him by the
throat and carry him away. After proceed
ing thus far, it would be necessary to dis
pose Of him in some priUate dungeon (for
you knew that the public prisons and forts
could not then be prostituted to such base
uses). where no friend could find him. and
whence no complaint of his could reach the
open air. Even in that case. with all APP
plances and means to boot" his speedy
liberation would he extremely probable, and
the condign punishment of the malefactors
almost certain. unless they acted upon the
prudent maxim that dead men tell no
tales" The combination of Booth and
others to kidnap Mr.. Lincoln was precisely
like this in its original object; and it was
pursued step by step, until it ended in a
most brutal murder. Fac,lis deceRsus do
erRi.
Was this a becoming business for senators