The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-07-01
[Concluded from Yesterday

.7une Sd, 4tt, and 5M, 1874. 10 the
Public at Large Of the United States o.
america.
IConcluded from yesterday.
There is yet another and hieher than
mere financial issue which W. propose to
submit to the people of the whole country.
II IN that of personal liberty. The princi-
pie of the sovereignty the individual was
wears ago ANNOUNCED by an esteemed Mas
sachusetts philosopher, whose very defni.
fion Of the term was accepted and embod-
led in systems of philosophy by eminent
European thinkers. The spirit Of that
principle breathes forth in every line Of
our own immortal Declaration Of Indepen-
dence. 1t is the same which urged on and
fed throughout the Northern States the
increasing agitation against negro bondage
in the South and led to its final abolition.
Upon that same principle we make the is
sue now. A man shall own himself, be
his own master, be owned or controlled by
nobody else, have no master or overseer
put over him, so long as he regards the
like right to individual sovereignty in 9TH
ers. That was the sole aim established by
the success of the American revolution,
and it ought at last, through the results Of
our great war, to become the rule p every
section of our Union of States This right
to personal liberty no man, and no commu-
nifty of men, has any legal power to inter
fere with. The Estate" being a corpora
ton Of thousands or millions of people, has,
by the very cause of its existence, the
power and duty to protect its members
gard all rights Of persons and of property
nd Ne.
punish these is the sole object of criminal
legislation. That is the whole extent of
it, and it can no further go. The right to
pursue any honest calling or trade, to
change from one to another, to move from
place to place, to live where and how one
pleases, are but corolary to this incontes-
tible right to personal liberty. The enjoy
ment of ones tastes and habits is alike an
unassailable right, personal to each indi-
dual, and if he be but one in community
of one hundred thousand the other 80, 1893
have no just authority to prohibit or re-
strain him from the full exercise of that
right. Whoever, by his acts, offends
against public order, becomes amendable
to the penal rules for its protection. But
he who keeps within the strict limits of his
own right stands upon the broad foundation
of the sovereignty of theindividual, and has
all the bright principles of true American
republicanism, and all whose faith in a
higher manhood is still aglow to guard and
defend him.
These fundamental principles we ask
the friends of liberty in every city, county
and State to urge upon the people at every
suitable opportunity, and insist upon their
spirit being introduced into every political
platform, every candidate to be caused
firmly to pledge himself to their enforce
ment, and a strict test to be made upon
them at the polls. 1t were a sad day for
this free land of ours should it ever come
to pass that after having given the black
man back to himself, and endowed him
with the power to govern the country along
with his fellow III sn, we in the North should
be retracing our steps, become recreant to
the very principle of personal freedom that
broke the chains of slavery in the South,
and legalize among ourselves another
equally reprehensibe and unjust system Of
bondage, by which the right to his indiv
dual sovereignty could be denied to an un-
offending citizen by any combination Of
men or women, large II small.
The opponents Of personal liberty being
leagued together and acting in concert
through every State in the Union, it will
become necessary for its friends to dc like
wise Men of all pursuits, professions and
callines must be aware that their individ-
ual freedom being once curtailed in one
direction, the meddlng spirit that melted
the first step will not rest satisfied with its
partial victory. Fiercer and fiercer will
its onslaught grow, and concession after
concession will it demand to its domineer-
ing ambition. The foe cannot be fought
piecemeal He must be engaged in all his
strength and laid at rest forever. A com
pact union of all the friends of liberty,
determined not to sheath the weapons of
offence until victory be lastingly secured,
will accomplish it at the first trial. The
times are propitious for such a movement.
Political parties, as they were once known,
with their iron grasp and stern discipline,
holding their followers in close subsection,
are in a state of more or less disintegration.
And after all, the friends of liberty aim
not only not at the destruction but will
strenuously work for the enhancement of
those principles of either party, which are
truly salutary to the common veal, and 10
every essential, republican. We believe
that there is a majority of voters in every
village and hamlet, in every town and city
in the Continent, ready to join in leagues
of freedom for the defence of the credit of
the United States and for the protection of
personal liberty.
We appeal to every we'll minded journal
in the country to aid us by disseminating
these views and advocating their pur-
poses
We appeal to those in every place in the |
land whittier our voice can reach, who be- |
heve that the financial honor of the nation
should be maintained uutarnished and that
the right of an American citizen to be a |
sovereign on the soil of his own country is |
not to be intringed either by specious leg |
lslation nor by mob violence-to gather to- |
getber and form into local leagues, express
ing for their objects the principles here pre- |
scented, aud communicate their organiza- |
ton to our Secretary, and from these incini I
ent organizations State councils sssy speed
lily follow,
We appeal to men in all stations of life
to come forward in aid of this great move
ment TO save the treasury of the nation |
IRON pillage by unreasoning fanaticism,
and to protect themselves in the full enjoy |
ment of their God given rights.
We appeal to the women of the land 10 |
give US their succor, for it is to preserve |
the liberties OF true manhood TO their child |
ren that We labor, and that their sons NAV |
not cry out tor shame when the name of |
Ahelr country IS mentioned in their hear
ing.
We appeal to all our feIlow-citizeus not
TO lag behind in the coming struggle to
preserve what the fathers have bequeathed |
b AS, and to make lasting true those de- |
clSkatlons of the rights of man, which |
alacRrlfed the world with their GLORY 70