American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-02-03
Words of Warning Bravely Spoken.

to the people, calling upon them in
clarion notes to arouse to sense OF
their duty, shake off their worse
than criminal apathy, and reassert
their liberties, now trampled on by
an arbitrary, tyrannical Congress
and President.
Taking the suspension of the
hdbeas corpus as text, he gives ex'
precision to his views in the following
terms:
Such a condition of affairs could
never have been apprehended by
the fathers of the republic, having
before them the experiences of the
past generations and past nationals
ties, and actuated by the most pro-
found regard of the liberty of tie
citizen as well as the efficiency of
the government. With a foresight
amounting almost to prescience,
they formed our government for
perpetuity. They omitted no prin-
ciple necessary to its preservation,
and they included none which prop
erly administered could work its
destruction. The absorption of the
powers and functions of the States
by the Federal Government was as
foreign to their design as the multi
fcajion or Reputation of the FEEDER
al authority by the individual action
Of States, for the triumph of either
involved the destruction of the
Union: and yet, between these fatal
extremes, secession on the one hand
and Capitalization on the other, we
have been oScillating since the foun-
dation Of the government. We have
passed the terrible ordeal Of attempt
ed secession, but the recoil has car
ried us to the other extreme, and the
dangers which menaced the nation
in 1861 are finding a parallel in 1871.
Power is ever grasping after power;
its insatiate nav is never cloyed !;
it climbs by fraud and holds by cor
ruption. Its sol.citude for perpetu
alton exceeds that for the public
veal, and it is tostered at the cx.
pensc of the people. When venal,
ily triumpLs in our public places
and the insidlous approaches of
tyranny are unheeded bythe masses;
when at a legal election Federal
soldiers, by order Of Federal Off
GERS. with loaded muskets and fixed
bayonctS, surround the polls, or Fed
eral batteries, with shotted guns,
beleaguer city to overawe its clti-
zens in the free exercise of the elect
i've franchise; when imbecile and
corrupt local governments are forced
upon a people, and then punished
for the inetliciency and rottcnnesS
of these very governments by the
arbitrary deprivation Of all civil
government, all rights, and all lib.
erty; arrested by thousands, with
cut warrant of law, and driven to
prison like cattle to the SHAMELESS,
it is time that the alarm.bell was
sounded and the people awakened
to a sense Of the dangers impend.
lug. They alone can apply the cor
receive. 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 rec
ognized, and the original and inhe-
rent sovereignty of States, and the
strict administration of the powers
granted by them to the Union, shall
again he acknowledged. Let them
demand the inviolability of the
hdbcas corpus, the subordination Of
military to civil authority, the main
tenance of public faith, State and
national, untarnlshed honesty in the
administration eff public affairs, the
publication and reduction of tariffs
and taxation to the lowest degree
consistent with the maintenance of
the public credit; free education to
all, fostering care, encouragement
and elevation of labor, and, tinally
and permanently, universal amnesty
and impartial suffrage. 1t is in no
partisan spirit that | utter these
words Of warning to you. | 81 ouId
be derelict in the execution of the
high trust imposed upon me did |
not make known tn You the perIs
which surIound us, and indicate the
course which, in my Judgment, it is
wise TO pursue. | wOuld | could
present less sOmbre picture; that
| could congratulate yOu on the
complete restoration of the national
government to its pristine purity
and excellence, strong in the ailec
ton Of the pee pie and the just exc
cution Of their sovereign will but |
as affection is not begotten of force,
MOI honesty of corruption, so liber.
ty is not nun cared by tyranny, nor
peace by violence. Not until the
people rise in their majesty and re-
assert their liberties, now trampled |
on; not until kindness has super
ceded hate ; not until patriotism has
superseded partisan selfishness, may
We look for the Inauguration of an
era OF good feeling. Let us hope
that patriots, statesmen, good men,
aud Christians everywhere, and
throughout the land, regardless of
past associations, will unite in an
honest and earnest effort to redeem
the nation from this unnatural and
condition of affairs, to
the end that peace and harmony be
again restored among the people, so
that the nation, united, purified aud
harmonized, may march onward to
the grand contamination of the
mighty destiny which awaits it,"
The st. Louis Times says of this
message, that it has called down