The advocate., 1895-05-22

Tis thew who stand for freedom and GODS laws
LOWELL.
The uprising was not limited TO Worcester county,
but became general throughout central and western
Massachusetts, and even spread to adjoining states.
In September the General Court was called together
IN special session. and an act was passed granting
amnesty to all in rebellion who should take the oath
Of allegiance before January, 1787 and be Of good
behavior in the meantime; while the Governor was
authorized to prepare for vigorous resistance to the
rebels If the revolt should not Immediately cease.
The Legislature passed some other measures which
are interesting to the student of social affairs in
dicating how very much alike all governments be-
come when they begin to fear the supremacy of the
common people.
IL viii be remembered that one of the grievances
set forth in the Declaration of Independence, only
ten years BEFORE was that the wicked King of Eng
land transported coonists beyond the to be tried
for political offenses for 1t of the rights ofa
British subject to be tried by his peers in the county
whore the offense was alleged to have been commit
ted, and where he was well known. The Massschus-
etts General Court of 1887 provided that persons &C.
cused Of treason or sedtion in connection with the
rebellion then in progress, might be tried in any
county in the Commonwealth from home and
friends, and where jury could be easily got to con-
Wet
Another grievance set forth by the former ReVolu-
tlonists in their immortal Declaration was that the
same tyrannous King had ''affected to render the
military independent of the civil power" The Mas
gachusetts Legislature suspended the writ of habeas
corpus, so that the Governor could have men ar
rested upon his simple order charging them with no
crime, and no court could even inquire into the
legality Of their Imprisonment; so that, in short, the
Governor could shut men up in prison whenever he
chose, precisely as Louis XVI. could immure men In
The Bastile Thus, the new revolutionary govern
inent, when menaced in turn by another revolution
took against its rebels the very same measures which
ats founders had complained so loudly ten years be-
fore that George III. had taken against his.
From this fact, and from some other historic les
aOns, / deduce the moral that, whether arbitrary
acts Of authority are iniquitous praiseworhy and
whether treason is odious or laudable, depends en-
tirely upon whether you chance to be a loyal de-
fender of the established order or rebel seeking its
overthrow The difference is in the point of view
AT Bunker Hill, in 1875, reVolutionist was pa
txiot; at Worcester in 1885, a reVolutionist was a
f'Wicked rebel" Governor BoWdoin, at Boston in
17B6, was a repetition of George III. in London in
1775 while Worcester was e-enacting Lexington. o.,
onyl One of the demonstrations of the later rebel
lion occurred at old Concord-the scene of one Of
the earliest demonstrations Of the former rebellion;
and not few of Sydney Stones men were 'rebels'
0n both occasions.
The rebels declined to take advantage of the act of
amnesty, but on the contrary, they made more Wig
rgous preparations for carrying on the war; and,
after the first of January, the Governor lost no time
la using the arbitrary authority given him by the
Ieaslature. force of mounted men was secretly
raised and equipped to seour the rebellious counties
and seize all the leaders and incarcerate thsm at
Boston, where they could be securely guarded On
their first expedition, these mounted policemen, who
were the sons of rich men, and bound by no law but
thea own Wills arrested two men, after committing