The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1871-12-09

lating since the foundation Of the gov.
ernment. We have passed the terrible
ordeal OF attempted secession, but the
recoil has carried US to the other ex-
treme, and the dangers which menaced
the nation 10 1861 are finding parallel
in 1871. Power is ever grasping after
power; its insatiate nav is never cloy.
ed; it climbs by fraud and holds by
corruption. Its solicitude for perpetual
ton exceeds that for the public veal,
and tits fostered at the expense Of the
people. When venality triumphsin our
public places and insidious approaches
oftyranny are unheeded by the masses;
when at a legal election Federal sol,
diers, by order OF Federal officers, with
loaded muskeis and fixed bayonets, sur
round the polls, or Federal batteries
with shot,ed guns beleaguer city to
overawe its citizens in the free exercise
of the elective franchise; when imbecile
and corrupt local governments are
forced upon people, and then pun
ished for the inefficiency and rottenness
of these very governments by the arbi.
trary deprivation of all civil government,
all rights and all liberty; arrested
BY thousands without warrant OF law
and driven to prison like cattle to the
shambles, it is time the alarm bell was
sounded and the people awakened to
sense Of the dangers impending. They
alone can apply the corrective. They
have the means OF redress in their own
hands; let them insist that the doctrine
Of the indestructibility of the Union as
the fathers framed it shall be recog'
nized, and the original and inherent
sovereignty OF States. and the strict ad-
miuistration OF the powers granted by
them to the Union, shall again be &C
knowledged. Let them demand the
inviolability of the habeas corpus. the
subordination of military to civil au-
thority, the maintenance Of public faith,
State and national, untarDished honesty
in the administration Of public affairs,
the publication and reduction Of tariffs,
and taxation to the lowest degree con-
sistentent with the maintenance OF the
public credit; free education to all, a
fostering care, encouragement and ele'
walton of labor, and finally and perma-
nently universal amnesty and impartial
suffrage. 1t is in no partisan spirit that
| utter these words Of warning to you.
| should be direlict in the execution OF
the high trust imposed upon me did !
not make known to you the perlls which
surround us and indicate the course that,
in my judgement, it is wise to pursue.
| would | could present less sombre
picture; that / could congratulate you
on the complete restoration of the ma
tional government to its pristine purity
and excellence, strong in tn. attectio"
of the people and the just execution o.
their sovereign will; but as affection is
not begotten Of force, nor honesty Of
corruption, so liberty is not nurtured 10y
tyranny, nor peace 10y violence Nor
until the people rise IN their majesty
and reassert their liberties. how tram
pied on, not until kindness has super
ceded partisan selfshness may we look
for the Inauguration OF an era OF coed
feeling. Let us hope that patriots,
statesmen, good men and Christians
everywhere and throughout the land,
regardless OF past associations or
Affiliations. will unite in an honest aud
earnest effort to redeem the nation
from this unnatural and dangerous con-
dition OF affairs, to the end that peace
and harmony be again restored among
the people, SO that the nation united,
nprified and harmonized. may march
onward to the grand contamination OF
the mighty destiny which awaits it,