lican form of government," a power in Congress to impose upon a State a government that is not republican.

This would be a plain breach of the guarantee under pretext of its fulfillment. Whatever difference of opinion there may be as to what was precisely meant by "republican government," there can be none that self-government by the people of the State was indisputably a part at least of what was meant. A permanent form of government, dictated by Congress or any extraneous power, was certainly not intended, as it certainly would not be republican or self-government.

So, also, as to the antirepublican idea of giving to one-tenth the government of the other nine-tenths of the people of a State.

The rule of the majority is a fundamental requisite, according to all American ideas of a republic.

After the rebellion is subdued, the nation will not tolerate any protracted arbitrary government of the rebel States, even if Congress has the right so to govern during the rebellion.

It would be the accumulation of vastly too much power in the Federal Government, leading to rapid consolidation and the overthrow of the most necessary safeguard of the nation's liberty.

Suppression of Free Ballot.

President Lincoln has caused or permitted the suppression, by military force, of free ballot in four loyal States. In despite the clearest proof of this, his party in the House of Representatives have given him the distinct sanction of their approval by voting in solid body, with a few honorable exceptions, to retain the representatives of the bayonet and exclude the representatives of the people. There can be no greater outrage than this upon the rights of freemen. If military violence or intimidation is allowed to control our elections, there is an end to even the semblance of liberty among us. As there is not a more traitorously pernicious crime against the nation than the military suppression of free ballot by a President, by a general, or by a subordinate under or without the orders of a superior officer, so there can be no baser betrayal of popular trust than the perjured sanction of such crime by members of Congress.

Whether this crime be that of actual, plain treason, when perpetrated by a President or a subordinate, as believed by some, or only felony, as thought by others—whether its legally assigned punishment be the gallows, or only the penitentiary, every intelligent patriot must concur in its denunciation as one of the gravest, most pernicious crimes that can possibly be perpetrated against the liberty of the people or against the permanent welfare of the nation. There is no throb of a true American heart in any man's bosom who does not feel for the crime an unstinted abhorrence. If there is any crime by officials better calculated than any other to incite insurrection, it is this. It is better calculated than any other to remind the people of their plain legal right to prevent, by force, the perpetration of treason or felony, to exhaust their patience and induce an armed resistance.

While the nation has carefully tied its own hands, as to any enlargement of the powers of the Government, by requiring a two-third vote from both houses of Congress and a three-fourth vote of the States, this man of yesterday, the mere foundling of a party convention, elected to the Presidency by far less than even a majority of the popular vote-this man, who has never done anything to signalize his claim to confidence in either his capacity or his integrity, has the transcendant modesty to "avow" that he has enlarged and means to enlarge his official power at his own will and pleasure, or, which is the same, to usurp such power as he may choose to say is, in his opinion, "indispensable." With such an unscrupulous avower of unscrupulous principles wielding such tremendous power for mischief, there is no need to wonder at the patriotic fear now thrilling every patriot mind, that he may be insane enough to attempt to secure his re-election by further efforts at the suppression of free ballot. This apprehension has been increased by his very recent interference with the election in Kentucky-the proclamation of martial law over the whole State, under a false, fabricated pretext, and then ordering the judges of the election not to receive votes in favor of the Chief Justice of the State, who was a candidate for re-election. military order was not published until three or four days before the election, not giving the Conservatives time, as they hoped, to combine on any one candidate, so as to defeat the election of their tool. The Chief Justice has been compelled to seek in exile an

This

asylum from arbitrary arrest and incarceration in a loathsome prison, and perhaps from banishment, for no offense whatever but that of holding political opinions in accordance with those of the members of this Convention, and of the million and a half of loyal men who will vote against President Lincoln. Is the forbearance of such a man our only trust against the direful catastrophe of another civil war; and that, too, in the midst of the loyal States? There was a time when the undebauched tone of popular sentiment would have afforded a much surer trust-his fear of the loyal hearts and strong arms of his liberty-loving countrymen. The time is now, when the people, not trusting to his forbearance, will take care, with proper preparation, for repelling force by force, to prevent him from receiving his re-election by the aid of the bayonet. Should civil war ensue, the fault will be his, not theirs. They will but exercise their plain legal right to protect themselves against armed treason by armed resist

ance.

Besides the object of controlling the election in Kentucky and aiding forcible emancipation, the recent proclamation of martial law over that State was probably induced with the hope of persecuting her citizens into open rebellion, when an apology would be furnished for the military chastisement of their contempt for and aversion to President Lincoln. To this end they have been robbed of their slaves and horses; they have been arrested and banished for their political opinions, without any form of trial or even of investigation, except what belongs to information obtained from hireling detectives or equally base secret informers. The whole trade of the State has been wantonly placed under the most unnecessary regulations, serving only to enrich their officials by bribes. Her traders are required to obtain a military permit to import from the North and sell within the State. Before obtaining that permit they are required to take an oath, framed expressly to prevent its being taken by Democratic or Conservative men.

Not content with kidnapping her citizens for their political opinions, and incarcerating them at the Dry Tortugas in the dogdays, they kidnapped and banished women and children to Canada for the opinions of their husbands and their fathers, making, at the same time, arbitrary seizure of their property, under pretext

of intended confiscation. Under a former martial law in Kentucky they permitted their Provost-Marshals, all through the State, to wantonly harass her citizens, and enrich themselves by notorious bribes and extortions.

Still better to judge what these men are capable of doing for the purpose of retaining power, it will not do to omit all notice of what they have done in Missouri, omitting, for brevity, what they have done in Maryland, Delaware, and the subdued portions of the rebel States. They permitted with impunity the inauguration of the terrible domestic civil war which has raged in Missouri, by three massacres perpetrated in the streets of St. Louis, by their soldiers wantonly firing into crowds of unoffending men, women, and children. When grand juries attempted to have these murders investigated, they would not permit their officers to be summoned as witnesses. They permitted citizens of Missouri to be kidnapped, incarcerated, or banished at the arbitrary caprice of their officers, and arbitrarily suppressed freedom of speech, of the press, and of the ballot. They required military license for men to carry on their business, and, before granting it, required a testoath, authorized by no law but of their own prescribing. They arbitrarily confiscated the property of some for the pretended indemnity of others, and raised large sums by forced contributions. They desolated three or four entire counties, burning every house, and carrying off for their own use or destroying all the movable property. This was done in the midwinter of that rigorous climate, leaving the aged, the infirm, the women, and the children shelterless wanderers, without sustenance. This fiendish atrocity, so disgraceful to our country, so dishonoring to human nature, if not perpetrated by the order of President Lincoln, he has made himself responsible for, as an accessory to the crime, by his equally guilty connivance.

Such is the detestable tyranny under which we live—such the men who inflict that tyranny on the nation. Are they to be trusted not to try to retain power by any and every means, however infamous? They cannot be watched with too much care; the nation cannot be too careful in its efforts to prevent them. If such be their conduct now, what will it be if President Lincoln be re-elected, when they will no longer have the fear of popular censure to restrain them? The people must arouse themselves to

the necessities of the great emergency, or they will suffer themselves and their posterity to be yoked under a despotism.

Conscription.

The Constitution says, "a well-regulated militia is necessary to the security of a free State," meaning it is necessary against domestic usurpation as well as against foreign enemies. It gives Congress power to "call forth the militia, to execute the laws, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions," but expressly reserves "to the States respectively the appointment of the officers."

The conscription act puts the whole militia of all the States under the control of the President, enabling him to call them out at will for the suppression of the rebellion, and to appoint their officers. This is in conflict with the obvious intention of the Constitution to keep the militia under the control of "the States respectively," and makes the constitutionality of the act more than doubtful.

Its policy is equally so. If the war had not been turned into an abolition crusade, there would have been no need for conscription. Volunteering, so consonant to the true theory and spirit of a republic, would have supplied ample number of willing soldiers; or, if not, they could have been legally obtained, as in the last war with England, by drafts from the militia, with its regularly appointed officers.

Our Armies

have added, by their gallantry, largely to our martial renown, elevated the character and repute of the nation, and secured the admiring gratitude of our country. Their deeds will be exultant themes for proud national song and story during long future generations. It will be a cherished debt of national honor fully to comply with all promises to our maimed soldiers, and in behalf of the widows and children of such as have met or may meet glorious deaths in the service of our country. In behalf of the nation, the survivors are tendered most cordial thanks, and exhorted to a continuance in their gallant well-doing.