Year: 1862

Government. The radical press could not


do the country greater service than insist
upon trial, even now, for the late Prisoners
of State. We, one and all, challenge the
ordeal will venture to say that neither
the Administration, nor any ofits minions or
parasites will dare to meet me in any court Of
justice.


What then do these Abolition and Repub-
lican papers mean by gnashing their teeth at
my "honorable discharge 2" | notice that
some of them are SO fanatical in their rage
that they recklessly assert should have been
hanged So should have been, were gull
ty of the 1.-THE Of the disloyalty which they
impute to me but why did not the Admin
istration convict me of this alleged dislsyalty?
Had it not the testimony of credible witnesses
of the disinterested patriots, and Of loyal
gentlemen ?l of Dubuque, whose only object
in accusing me of disloyalty, if that be what
they did accuse me Of was to render ser
vice to their country. But it seems that the
Administration was afraid to trust itself in
court with even this sort of evidence. 1t
served the purpose ofspiriting me away to
Washington, and of keeping me there pris-
oner pending the election campaign in Iowa.
and Of securing the election to Congress in
the Third District of the State, of mnion
and parasite Of the tyrants and despots who
violated the Constitution, subverted the Gov
ernmcnt, dismembcrcd the Union, and involv-
ed the Nation in financial ruin. But the
election over, and the purpose Of my arrest
and imprisonment being accomplished, tho
afidavits Of my accusers were regarded by
the A administration as SO many perjurics. II
otherwise, why did not the Administration
dare to 60 into court with this evidence =? So
much for that.


And now of another aspect Of the case
presented by the comment of the radical
press on these discharges. lsit or not the
purpose, intention and expectation of the
party in power to substitute the will of a
ruler for the stipulat,ons of tho Constitution
Is it the purpose Or desire Of this party to





of the judgment of court and the verdict of
a jury. ESQ, let it be SO proclaimed so un-
derstood, SO agreed upon. Let us who have
understood the Constitution of the United
States to be the rule of the Federal Govern
ment and the standard by which our respect
i've rights were estimated and our respective
duties prescribed and who have hithert"
conformed and subjected ourselves to that
have fair warning that the Con-
ft;tution is no longer the rule by which the
Federal Government shall be administered.
bat that the will of a despot shall be the
supreme law, and the accusation Of an enemy
be the Judgment ofths desp,t.upon aay one
accused that being SO warned and informed
of the charge which has been made in our
system of Government, we, Constitutionaiists,
know better how to conform and sub.
ject ourselves to the new system. In the
course of human events it might become our
turn to be in the ascendent, and though |
have advocated the exercise of arbitrary
power, the system being once established,
who knows but those wko have advocated
in these our days, without tri.
al, and punishment without gvilt, might be
in their turn to an application of
the despotic power which they nurtured into
This is a matter not entirely un-
worthy of the consideration both of the rul-
ing powers and the fanatical radical press
which sustains and champions ther nrhitra-
~ course.


Ifpatriotism is to be known by that pc
culiar devotion to ones country which mani
tests itself in appropriating to ones self the
property Of the Government, and ene's loyal
ty is to bo tested by the fact of his holdin.
a Government Office, as appears to be tho
case in the days of Abraham Lincoln, why,
the sooner we all turn plunderors of the Gov
the better for US, not only pccuniari-
ly, but socially. As the more one steals from
the Government in these, in the more esteem
Is he held by his fellow citizens, the more is
he credited with patriotism, a virtue which
was once understood to mean love of country,
It would not be surprising if every one should
become patriot of the Lincoln cede of poll
tics and morals. Had been one Of that
school of patriots, secured an Office in which
light have plundered the Government and
,aken advantage of my position to make a
fortune, instead of being made prisoner Of
State" and subjected to the hardships and
Dutrages inflicted on those, who like myself
believe that the Constitution of the United
States, and not the will of Abraham Lincoln.
Or of any other man, was the supreme law of
our country, should not be to-day the sub
ject Of such disparaging comment as appears