Macomb Eagle
HENRY CLAY DEAN,
of Iowa,
Will address the people of McDonough Co.,
At Macomb, Saturday, July 4th,
on the political questions of the day. Mr. Dean has been persecuted and imprisoned for righteousness’ sake, by officers under the Lincoln administration. He is one of the ablest orators in the West, and he should be heard by every citizen of the county. Let everybody come!
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Arbitrary Arrests – The Issue Squarely Made.
On the 12th of June the President addressed a letter to Erastus Corning and others of New York, in reply to one from them transmitting resolutions of a Democratic meeting asking for the release of Vallandigham. In this letter (which is too lengthy for our columns), Mr. Lincoln shoulders the whole responsibility for the arbitrary arrests which have so justly caused so much alarm among the friends of our constitutional government. The issue is thus squarely made. Mr. Lincoln can see in all the expressions of popular attachment to the Constitution, the habeas-corpus, liberty of speech and of the press, the right of trial by jury, and similar sacred rights, nothing but a desire to give aid and comfort to the rebellion. We now believe that he has a bad, wicked heart, as well as a befogged brain. Certainly he cannot understand what public virtue, what patriotism is. His moral darkness is deeper than that which enveloped the Middle Ages, and the Cimmerian gloom through which he gropes is thicker than that of Egypt which “could be felt.” He says that rebel sympathizers pervade the country, and under cover of liberty of speech, freedom of the press and habeas-corpus, hope to “keep on foot among us an efficient corps of spies, informers, suppliers, and aiders and abettors of their (the rebel) cause in a thousand ways.” This is insulting as well as wicked, and comes with an exceeding ill grace from a man who for five years at least has been openly bending all his energies to make the people believe this nation “cannot permanently exist” on the principles of our Constitution. He cannot get it through his wool that the country is full of honest old and young patriots who, failing to see why the laws and ancient privileges of freemen should be set at naught, still think and talk of them with strong affection, though without any more sympathy with the rebellion than Lincoln himself has. Thus sweeping is the condemnation with which the President visits all those who oppose the extraordinary acts of his administration. Do the conservative men of the country propose to accept the insult, or surrender their heaven-born privileges at King Lincoln’s word? By what right does be override the Constitution? By what faculty can he suppose the freemen of America will become abject serfs at his imperious bidding? Let Mr. Lincoln beware; if sows the wind he shall reap the whirlwind.
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→ It is reported that Vallandigham has escaped from the Confederate States, and will shortly land in New York. It may be true.
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Touched them on the Raw.
The magnificent donation of the Democracy of Illinois, some $47,000, the relief of the sick and wounded soldiers from this State, has had the effect to thrust our the hyena character of certain republican journals a little stronger than it was ever before exhibited. They have all the time been swearing that Democrats hated the soldiers, and wanted them to suffer uncared for and die unknown. Gov. Yates prevented the Legislature from making an appropriation for this purpose out of the revenue of the State; but the Democrats were unwilling that this shameful act should deprive sick and wounded soldiers of the relief which money could procure them. The contribution was made freely and almost spontaneously. It needed but a statement of the facts to open the fountain of Pactoias. We venture to say that never was a public collection made for a nobler purpose or with better motives. One would think that this generosity would be commended by everybody, and that it would be hailed with universal gratification. There are, however, and we blush for humanity to record it, persons whose political prejudices have so completely blinded them to every honorable feeling or generous emotion, that they can only gnash their teeth in sullen rage at the prospect of sick and wounded soldiers being relieved by Democratic contributions. Furnishing no aid themselves, they are maddened because others have hearts to relieve the suffering. Words are not adequate to the task of portraying the devilish wickedness and black malignity of such totally depraved specimens of human nature. They are a libel upon humanity and a mockery of the beneficent God that made them.
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Why Don’t They Go?
What is the necessity for the enrollment that is now being made, preparatory to the conscription? Are not all the “loyal” men already enrolled in the “loyal leagues” of the country? – Why not draft them from these at once and save time? The President wants one hundred thousand men in a hurry – and these intensely patriotic leaguers now have a splendid opportunity to make good their loud and frequent professions. Why don’t they volunteer or conscript themselves in a body, and relieve Abraham from his terrible scare? They are so patriotic and approve the war policy so fervently, that we are at a loss to understand what secret reason prevents their rushing to the battle-field at the call of their beloved President. For months they have boasted that their
“Souls are in arms,
And eager for the fray.”
Now that the President has got another “big scare on,” and calls for men by tens of thousands, why don’t these loyal leaguers go? Don’t stand on the order of your going, but go at once. Your beloved President will furnish a negro for each of you. Oh, do go. – The President don’t want the “secesh Democrats,” the “copperhead sympathizers with secession,” nor the lukewarm supporters of his war policy. – He wants the earnest loyal leaguers, the patriotic stabbing brothers, and those who are for the Union even under a monarchy – those who support him under all circumstances. He wants you, “Mister” loyal leaguer. – Don’t you feel “comfortable” at the prospect?
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The Great Mass Convention at Springfield.
$47,400 for the Soldiers!
The great mass meeting of the Democracy of Illinois, at Springfield on the 17th inst., was probably the greatest political assemblage ever gathered in the western country. The honest yeomanry, the bone and sinew of the State, were there in almost countless numbers. It was the grandest, the most enthusiastic, the most effective and important assemblage of the people that has been witnessed the present year. The unanimity and earnestness of the vast throng was only equaled by its numbers, and its patriotic and deliberative wisdom will secure for it the full and perfect respect of the country.
Speeches were made by Messrs. Voorhees of Indiana, Cox of Ohio, Kribben and McKinstry of Missouri, Dean of Iowa, Dickey, Robinson, Johnson, Bryan, Merrick, and numerous others of this State.
A collection was taken up for the relief of our sick and wounded soldiers, and it was found that the sum for this purpose amounted to Forty-seven Thousand Four Hundred Dollars! This magnificent donation will relieve an incalculable amount of suffering. Its judicious distribution will soothe many a fevered brow, will lighten the pain of many a wound, and under the blessing of God will save thousands of lives.
The resolutions adopted are as follows:
The democracy of Illinois, in mass convention assembled, in view of the alarming encroachments on popular and individual rights by the Federal and state administrations.
DO DECLARE:
1. That the constitution of the United State is the supreme law of the land, as well in time of war as in time of peace. We will obey it on all occasions, and in that obedience we will exercise all the privileges, and claim all the Immunities, guaranteed by that instrument. Prominent among these guarantees are the following:
“Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or the right of the people peacefully to assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances.
“The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.
“No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger.
“In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the state district shall have been previously ascertained by the law.”
Which guarantees have each been repeatedly violated by the Federal administration in the exercise of arbitrary power, without sanction of law, but in direct conflict there with.
2. The Federal administration has, through its agents and subordinate officers, issued and enforced orders abridging the freedom of speech, and has assumed to limit its exercise to those only who would slavishly laud its policy and indorse its measures.
3. It has sought to restrain freedom of the press, by making use of the military power to suppress the publication of public journals in loyal States, for the only offense of differing from the administration on measures of public policy of vital interest to every citizen.
4. It has with indifference and without rebuke seen the military power attempt to deny the people of the loyal States the right peaceably to assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances.
5. It has permitted the issuance and enforcement of military orders preventing the people of the loyal States from keeping and bearing arms.
6. It has caused citizens of loyal States, where courts of justice were in full and unobstructed operation, to be seized without warrant of law, and, for pretended offenses, transported out of the State and beyond the district wherein such offenses were charged to have been committed.
7. It has caused citizens who were not in the land and naval forces, or the militia when in actual service, to be held to answer for pretended offenses, without indictment or presentment of a grand jury, and denied them the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the offenses were charged to have been committed.
8. It has, under pretence of military necessity, assumed the powers, and asserted the right to proclaim and extend martial law over States where war does not exist, and has suspended the writ of habeas corpus in direct violation of the Constitution. It has, in loyal States, pursued in general a policy the direct tendency of which is to render the civil subordinate to the military power.
9. In condemnation of these several acts of usurpation, we adopt the language of the Ohio State Democratic convention, and declare that the arrest, imprisonment, pretended trial, and eventual banishment of Clement L. Vallandighan, a citizen of the State of Ohio, not belonging to the land or naval forces of the United States, not to the militia in actual service, by alleged military authority, for no other pretended crime than that of uttering words of legitimate criticism on the conduct of the administration in power, and of appealing to the ballot box for a change of policy (said arrest and military trial taking place where the courts of law are open and unobstructed, and for no act done within the sphere of active military operations in carrying on the war), we regard as a palpable violation of the foregoing provisions of the Constitution of the United States, and we further denounce said arrest, trial, and banishment as a direct insult offered to the sovereignty of the people of Ohio, by whose organic law it is declared that no person shall be transported out of the State for any offense committed within the same; and we unite with our fellow citizens of Ohio in their call upon the President of the United States to restore C. L. Vallandigham to his home in Ohio.
10. That the recent suppression of the publication of the Chicago Times should receive the rebuke of all law abiding citizens, and will receive the condemnation of impartial history.
11. That the arrest of Hon. Chas. H. Constable, Judge of the 4th judicial circuit of the State of Illinois, for a mere judicial opinion, expressed whilst in discharge of his sworn duties under the Constitution of the State, was a daring and dangerous exercise of arbitrary power, and, if persisted in, will strike down the noblest and safest department of the government, and the only sure shield of the citizen from the assaults of arbitrary and despotic power.
12. We, in like manner, particularly denounce the arrest and present imprisonment of Wm. H. Carlin and other peaceful citizens of this State, and demand their release, or, if charged with crime, their trial according to course of civil law.
13. That the numerous arrests, by mere military power, of citizens of Illinois have been so many violations of both our Federal and State constitutions, and a direct insult to the people of the State.
14. That the right to elect public officers and decide questions of policy at the ballot box, derives its value from freedom of speech and of the press; that, as these are both natural and constitutional rights, and their exercise dangerous to tyrants only, we will as a duty to ourselves and to our country, defend and maintain them against all the demands of power.
15. regarding the state of Illinois as a sovereign power, subject only to the constitution of the United States, we declare that the people of this state have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent state, and do, and forever shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right which is not, or may not hereafter be, by them, expressly delegated to the United States, or prohibited to the States by the Federal constitution.
16. That, as one of the leading objects in good government is the recognition and protection of individual rights, therefore we assume that no person in this State can, in any case, be subjected to law martial, or to penalties or pains by virtue of that law, except those employed in the army or in the military in actual service.
17. That the declaration of martial law, and consequent prohibition of all redress for wrongs in the courts, in places where war does not exist, will not be tolerated in this State; and that martial law cannot and ought not to be, declared except in States or parts of States in which beyond controversy, the civil law is utterly powerless, either for protection or punishment.
18. That the safety of our State depends upon the strict confinement of each department of our State government to the discharge of its appropriate duties under the constitution; that any attempt on the part of one to wield the powers vested by the constitution in another of these departments, is revolutionary in character, destructive of our representative form of government, and, if persisted in, productive of anarchy and civil war.
19. That we condemn the recent act of Gov. Yates, on assuming the power to dissolve the General Assembly and disperse the representatives of the people, as a high handed usurpation and exercise of arbitrary power subversive of liberty and destructive of self government, — an act producing a practical suppression of the legislative department of government, and intended to concentrate in the hands of the Executive the powers vested by the constitution in the legislative branch.
20. That it is the sworn duty of the Governor of the State to protect her citizens in the exercise and enjoyment of all their constitutional rights, and we have beheld with indignation, not only the failure of Richard Yates, Governor of Illinois, to perform his duty in that respect, but his total participation in the violation of those rights.
21. That, as citizens of the United States and the State of Illinois, we will obey all laws whilst they remain on the statute book. If right in our judgment, we will endeavor to perpetuate them; if wrong, we will endeavor to effect a remedy in a constitutional manner by procuring their repeal. When doubts exist as to their validity, we will appeal to the proper judicial tribunal for a decision, and cheerfully abide the result.
22. That we denounce, as heretofore, the ruinous heresy of secession, and declare that we would hail with joy the manifestation of a disposition on the part of the seceded States to return to their allegiance to the constitution, in which event we would cordially cooperate with them in procuring a recognition of their rights and such guarantees as would secure to them an equality with the other States under the Federal Constitution.
23. That the further offensive prosecution of this war tends to subvert the constitution and the government, and entails upon this nation all the disastrous consequences of misrule and anarchy. That we are in favor of peace upon the basis of a restoration of the Union, and the accomplishment of which we propose a national convention to settle upon terms of peace, which shall have in view the restoration of the Union as it was, and the securing by constitutional amendments such rights to the several States and the people thereof as honor and justice demand.
24. That we denounce as libelers of the Democratic party, and willful instigators of mischief, those fanatics who are engaged in representing the Democracy as wanting sympathy for our soldiers in the field. Those soldiers are our kindred, our friends, and our neighbors, whose interests are identical with our own, whose prosperity is our pleasure, whose suffering is our pain, and whose brilliant achievements are our pride and admiration. Promptly rushing to arms, as they did, in answer to the call of their country, they merit our warmest thanks, our sympathy, and our support, and we earnestly request the President of the United States to withdraw the proclamation of emancipation,, and permit the brave sons of Illinois to fight only for the Union, the Constitution, and the enforcement of the laws.
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A Provost Marshal. – It is asserted on the street that a provost marshal has been appointed for this county. It may be true – it may be not true. If not appointed, we presume one soon will be. This officer is considered a necessary adjunct of this unpopular and unnecessary war, and the man filling the place should be one of great calmness, discretion, and prudence, or trouble may be expected to ensue. The republican politicians of Macomb will control the appointment of provost marshal, and we trust they will select some one whose character will furnish a guarantee that nothing shall be done rashly or through passion or prejudice. If they permit or procure the appointment of a man whose conduct will lead to trouble, they must not expect to escape responsibility. Democrats will not violate the law – they will inaugurate nothing that may tend to disturb peace and order; but at the same time they will submit to nothing that free men should not submit to.
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Found. – A “puss” has been left at this office, with the request that it be advertised. – It evidently belongs to somebody, and we doubt not the owner is almost disconsolate at his loss. We cannot describe it, for fear some person other than the rightful owner might claim int. We do not think it is prized on its intrinsic value, but as a heirloom – a relic that may have descended from sire to son for generations. Its appearance – style – workmanship – finish, and ornament, all go to show that it has “come down to us from a former generation.” Still we shall not positively assert that the “puss” ever belonged to Antiquity or any other woman. Those who have lost a relic of the kind indicated can send us a description, because we anxious that it should be restored to its owner.
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→ The dry weather still continues. The wheat crop will be somewhat shortened in consequence, while the grass is almost an entire failure.
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→ All the business men of Macomb have signed an agreement to close up their stores and shops on the Fourth.
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Look Sharp!
On or about the 9th of this month the undersigned found, near his residence, six miles southwest of Macomb, a POCKET BOOK, containing some notes of hand and some other papers, the most of the papers drawn at Bushnell and in favor of M. T. Rutledge. The owner, proving the above property and paying for this advertisement, can have the same.
T. B. McCORMICK.
June 27, ’63. 30tf
The Eagle and The Journal 