The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1913-02-07
OPPOSITION MIseovERNMENT
And Resistance to Oppression in Its
Rudiments
Ocala, Fla, Feb. 3, 1913.


cite, made this remark: Let us have
twenty years of peace and we will
come to such a degree of power and
wealth that we will be able, in a
great cause, to defy whatever power
on earth"
I'm just cause!" Well said 1t
may be silenced by military power,
but it cannot be conquered. Peace is
inconsistent with oppression Is in
! justice peace? Drudgery and starva-
tion peace? The echo from our fore
fathers says no, no! Lord Mansfield
in parliament, May the 9th, 1870, says
that true liberty can only exist when
justice is equally administered to all
to the king and to the beggard-the
law is the same for both. He says:
Where is the justice, then, or where
is the law, that protects a member of
parliament, more than any other man.
from the punishment due to his
crime?"
The laws of this country allow of
no place, nor any employment, to be
q sanctuary for crimes, and, where
have the honor to sit as judge, neither
royal favor nor popular applause shall
ever protect the guilty. That has
the true ring. Have you all forgotten
how King George tried to force the
American colonies to pay a revenue?
My friends, civic rights, associated
with the government our fathers
fought for, will unite the people, and
they will pull together. These ties,
which, though light as air, are as
strong as links of iron. But let it
once be understood that your govern
ment may be one thing and their priv
ileges anOther-the cement is gone,
the cohesion is lOOsened! Do not en-
terrain so weak an imagination as
that your registers and your bonds,
your affidavits and your sufferance,
your cockets and your clearances. are
what form the great securities of your
| commerce. These things do not
make your government. AS Burke
says: 1T is the spirit Of the American
constitution, which, infused through
the mighty mass, pervades, feeds,
unites, inyigorates, WHITES every part
of this glorious republic, even down
TO the minutest members" Webster
said: every encroachment, great or
small, is important enough to awaken
attention of those who are intrusted
with the preservation of a constitu-
tional government"
We are not to wait till great public
| mischief comes, till the government is
overthrown, or liberty itself put in
extreme jeopardy. We should not be
worthy sons of our fathers were we so
to regard great questions affecting the
general freedom Our fathers accom-
question of principle. The amount
of taxation was trifing, but the claim
itself was inconsistent with liberty.
They went to war against preamble.
They fought seven years against a
| declaration. They poured out their
treasures and their blood like water
in contest, in opposition to an asser-
ton which those less sagacious and
not so we'll schooled in the principles
OF civic liberty have regarded as bar
rem phraseology, or mere parade of
words. They saw in the British par
lament a seminal principle Of mis-
chief the germ of unjust power
Again, speaking of opposition to
misgoyernment: "All the evils which
afflict the country are imputed to OPP
position" This we all know 1t is
said to be owing to opposition that
war became necessary, and owing to
opposition. also. that it has been pros
ecuted with no better success. This
is no new strain; it has been sung a
thousand times. 1t is the constant
tune OF every weak and wicked admin
\ lSIIdIlOA. ~ On lCIIICIlOCl tlAC tANA-
ministration Of Lord North? 1t was
not the tea act, the stamp act, the
Boston port bill, that severed the en-
pire of Britain. Oh, no! 1t was ow-
ing to the fault of administration. 1t
was the work of opposition. 1t was
the impertinent boldness of Chatham,
the idle defamation of Fox. the I'M
seasonable sarcasm of Barre These
men, and more like them, would not
join the minister in his American war.
Again, he says: 1T is the ancient
and constitutional right of this people
to canvass public measures, and the
merits of public men 1t is home
bred right, flreside privilege. 1t has
ever been enjoyed in every house,
cottage and cabin in the nation. 1t
is undoubted as the right of breathing
A. o0d xroIly;no IN ho Pp-