Year: 1861

Edward Everett on the Rights and Du-
ties of War.


Mr.. Everet;'s last paper in the New York
Ledger discusses the rights and duties of war,
with especial reference to the proper distinc-
ton to be observed between the ordinary
uSages Of law and the necessities of military
authority in time of war. We copy part of
Mr.. EVerett's remarks on this subject:


sECEssIoNIsT JOURNALS.


There are presses, for the most part in the
Border States, though some of them are found
in cities more remote from the scene of action
which are daily pleading the cause of the
enemy, mlsrepreSenting and yiifying the
Government Of the United States, ,exaggerating
every article Of unfavorable intelligence, and
exerting themselves to the utmost to disheart
en- the friends and defenders of the Constitu-
tion and the Union. But such is the all but
superstitious devotion of the people to the
liberty of the press that these pernicious
Journals have, with the exception Of single
instance In St Louis. never been interfered
with. 1t seems to have been thought better
by those in authority to tolerate the mischief
OF these unpatrlotlc presses than to elevate
them to greater Importance by prosecution, or
to encroach in the slightest degree upon that
freedom of public discussion which in ordinary
times is justly regarded as one of the great
safeguards of liberty. But it is prepos ferrous
tc sacrifice the end to the means. We should
in this respect learn wisdom from the enemies
of the Union.


While we regard as unbecoming our Chris
tan civilization that resort to Lynch law by
which every expression of opinion adverse to
the popular sentiment is suppressed in the
seeding States, we ought 10 remember that
in tolerating atraitorous press among
we practice liberality which awakens no
gratitude at home, and is never recprocated
by the opposite party. 1t is in fact an absur
dity in terms, under the venerable name Of
the liberty OF the press, to permit the systo-
matte and hcentOus abuse Of government
which is taSked to its utmost in defending the
country from disiutegration and political
chaos The Governor of Malta was once
censured in Parliament Tor some alleged Sc
verify toward the editor of a journal in that
Island, and the liberty of the press was de-
clared to be in danger. The Duke of Wei
hngton said he was as friendly as anybody to
the liberty of the press in London, but free
press in the Island of Malta was as much cut
Of place as it would be on the quarter deck Of
a man-of war. We suppose the most enthu-
siastic champion Of the liberty of the press
would hardly think it right to publish jour
nal within the walls of Fort McHenry, in
which the officers Of the garrison should be
daily advised to desert and the men be con
stantly exhorted to mutiny and whose col !
umns should be flied with persistent abuses /
Of the Government and all engaged in its /
defence. W by should journals of that |
description be allowed to diffuse their poison |
beneath its walls, amidst the excitabIe pOpu-
!atlon of large cityH


FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN DEBATE.


So, too, with reference to the freedom of !
speech in debate, one of the vital conditions |
Of republican liberty The late session of
Congress has witnessed magnaaiHity on the |
part of the majority in both Houses of
truly romantic cast. The acts and the motives |
of the Government, in the suppression Of an !
insurrection admitted by one of its most I
distinguished chiefs to proceed mainly from (
the disappointment of leading aspirants to !
offce), have been assaiied from day to day |
with virulenee and persistence which |
would be harmless in time of peace, but which |
in time of war can have no other effect on the /
popular mind than to perplex and dishearten |
those VINO are stalking life and fortune in the .
cause of the country. This generosity excites /
no gratitude on the part of those to whom it |
is practised, and so far from being reciprocal /
ted, the member of the Confederate Congress /
at Montgomery or Richmond who should |
assail the conduct and policy of that body as
the Government of the United States has been |
assailed by the sympathizers with secession |
at Washington, would not reach his hotel in /
safety. He would swing from the next lamp
post.


Not merely is all freedom of speech and of
the press prohibited in the seeding States |
but the most quiet and the humblest
rights of citizenship are interdicted When
the Ordinance of Secession was about to be
submitted to the vote of the people of Vir
ginia, distinguished Senator of that State
in Congress; and who in that capacity was
under oath to support the Constitution of the
United States, published letter, signed with
his name in which he declared that such cit
izens of Virginia as did not approve the ordi
nance must leave the State; summary SEN
tence of banishment and confscatiOn against
about third part Of the ancient Common
wealth a sentence which the seeding major
ity are now attempting to enforce at the point
of the bayonet, to illustrate the principle
that the right Of government rests upon the
consent of the governed
Speech of Hon. John ]. Crittenden, at