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THE (fcONSTITUTION AND "the'laWS'tHE' GUARDIANS OF OUR LIBERTY.
Vol. XLV. . HILLSBOROUGH, N. C JULY 20, 1864. No. 2255 '
Freedom of the Press In New York State.
A n Important Utter from Gov. Seymour.
8tate of New York. Executive Department,?
Atony, May 23, 1IG4. J
To A. Oakley liatl, Esq., District Attorney of New
York t
Sir: I am advised that en the 12th in
tint, the office of the Journal of Commerce
and that of the New York World were en
tered by armed men, tha property of the
owaers seized, and the premise held by
force for several days. It is charged that
these acts of violence were'done without
the sanction of the State or nations! law.
Jf this 'be true, the offenders must be
punshed. .
In the month of Julv list, when New
York was a scene of violence, 1 gave warn
in; that " the laws of the State must be en
forced, its peace and order maintained, and
the property of its citizens protected at
every hazard." I lie laws were enforced
at a fearful cost of blood and life.
The declarstito then made was not in
tended merely lor that occasion, or- against
any class ol men. It is one of an enduring
cluracter, to be asserted at all times and
against all conditions of citizens, without
favor or distinction. Unless all are made
to bow to the law, it will be respected by
none; unless all are made secure in their
rights of persoo and property, none can be
protected. If the owners of the above
journals have violated State or national
laws, they must be proceeded against and
punished by these laws. Any action agaiast
in cm, wuuiue,oi irgu preceuure, is cntni
nal.
At this time of civil war and disorder
the majesty of the law roust be upheld or
sueietr wifl sink into anarchy. Our sol
diers in the field will battle in vain for
constitutional liberty, if persons, or pro
pcrty, er opinions are trampled upon at
nomc. tie must noi give up nome iree
dom, and thus disgrace the American
character, while our citizens in the army
are pouring out their lifebtood to maintain
the national honor. They must not find,
wtirn they come back, that their personal
and fireside rights have been despoiled.
la additional the general obligation to
enforce the laws of the land, there arc !
cal reasons why ihey must be upheld in the
city'ol New York. II they are not its
commerce and greatness will be broken
uown. u the great centre of tealtb.busi
nets, and enterprise is thrown into disor
der and bankruptcy, the national govern
tnent will be naulyz'ed. What makes
New York the heart of our country? Why
are its pulsations felt at the extremities of
oar land Not through its position altnc,
nut because of the world-wide belief that
property is safe within its limits f rom waste
by mobs and spoliation bv Government
The laborers in the workshop, the mine and
in the field, on this continent aud in every
part of the globe, send to its merchants, for
ale or exchange, the products ol their toil.
These merchants are made the trustees of
the wealth of millions living in every land,
because it is believed that in their hands,
property is safe under the shield of law ad
ministered upon principle, and according
to known usages.
This great confidccrc has grown up in
the course of many years by virtue of a
painstaking, honest performance of duty
by the business men of your city. In thi
they have been aided by the enforcement
f lavs based upon the. solemnly recorded
pledges that the right of the people to be
secure in their persons, houses, papers and
tUcts against unreasonable searches and
seizures, shall not be violated, and that no
rie shall be deprived of liberty cr property
without due process of law. For more
thin eighty yea-s have wc as a people been
building up this universal faith in the sane
tity of our jurisprudence. It is this which
carries our commerce upon every ocean,
and brings back to sur merchants the
ealt ef every clime. It it now charged
that, ii utter disregard of the sensitiveness
f that faith, at a moment when the nation
at credit is undergoing a fearful trial, the
crgans of commerce are seized and held in
violation of constitutional pledget; that
this act was done in a public part of your
great cejy, and was thus forced upon the
uvuic ui me commercial agents i tne
woria, ana they were shown in an offensive
way, that property is seized by military
orro inu arnurary orders.
These things are more hurtful to the na
tional honor and strength than the lost of
battles. The world will confound such acts
with the principles of our Government, and
the folly and crimes of officials will be
looked upon as the natural results ef the
spirit of our institutions. Our State and
local authorities must repel this ruinous.
intenerence. It the merchants ef New
Verk are not willing to have their harbors
sealed up and their commerce paralyzed,
they must unite in this demand for the
security of persons and property. If this
is uot done, the world will withdraw from
their keeping its treasures and its com
uierce. History has taught that all official
violation of law in times of civil war and
disorder goes before acts of spoliation and
other measures which destroy the safe
guards of commerce.
1 call upon you to look uto the facta
connected with the seizure of the Journal
ef Commerce and of the New York World.
If these acts were illegal, the offenders
most be punished. In making your inqui
net and in prosecuting the parties indicat-
ed, you will call upon the. sherttt or tne
county and the heads of the police depart
ment for any needed force or assistance.
The failure to give this by any official un
der my control will be deemed a sufficient
cause for his removal.
Very respectfully, ysurs, kc,
HORATIO SEYMOUR.
TALLANDIGHAH'S SPEECH.
Aniexed we give Vallandigham's speech
delivered by him ta his retirn to Ohio
from Canada.
wes or uhm - a e-uay i am agaia in
your midst and apon the soil of ray native
State. I o-oay I am once more in the die
trict, which for ten years extended to me
the highest confidence, snd three times
honored tne as its representative to the
Congress of the Jim ted states. 1 was ac
cused ef no crime against tke Constitution
or laws, and guilty of none. But whtsever
and wherever thus charged upon due pre
cess of law, I am now here, ready te an
swer before any civil court of competent
jurisdiction, to a jury of my countrymen ;
and meantime, te give bail in any sum which
any judge or court, State er Federal, assy
afht ; and you, the hundred and eighty-six
thousand Democrats of Ohio, I offer as my
sureties. .Sever for one hour have I re
mained in exile because I recognized any
obligation of obedience to the unconstitu
tioaal and arbitrary edict. Neither did
personal fear ever restrain me. Aid to-day
I return, ef my own act and pleasure be
cause it is my constitutional and legal right
to return.
Only by an exertion of an arbitrary pow
er, itself against Constitution and law, and
consummated by military force, I was ab
ducted from my heme and forced into baa
ishment. The assertion er insinuation o
the President that I was arrested" because
laboring with some e fleet to prevlnt the
raising of troops and to encourage deser
lions fro 9 the army, and was responsible
for numerous acts of resistance to the, draft
and to the arrest of deserters, causing as
sassinatioi, maiming and murder or that
at any time, in any way, I had disobeyed
or tailed to counsel eocoience te lawtu
suthoritv, er even te the semblance ef law
is absolutely false. I appeal for the proo
in every speech I ever made uporf these
questions, and te the very record of the
mock military commission! by the trial tad
sentence ef which I was outraged.
Mo, the sole elTence then laid , to uy
charge was words of criticism of the pub
lie policy ef the Administration, addressed
te an open and public political meeting of
my fcUeW'Citizens ef Ohio, lawfully and
peaceably assembled And to-day, my on
ly " crime" is that, in the way which they
call treason, worship I the Constitution of
ay fathers. But far new mere than one
year no public man has been arrested, and
ne newspaper suppressed within the State,
adhering still te the Union, for the expres-
siwu vi pouuem opinion , wnuo nunureus in
Rudiic assembly and throegh the press,
aye with a license and violence in which
I never indulged criticised and condemn
ed the acts and policies of the administra
tion, and denounced the war, maintaining
even the propriety and necessity ef the re
cognition of Southern independence.
ineorsed by nearly two hundred thou
sand freemen ef the Democratic party of
y native State, at the late election, and
still with the sympathy and support of
minions more, l do not mean any longer to
be the only man ef that party who is to be
the victim ef arbitrary power. If Abraham
Lincoln seeks my life, let him so declare ;
but he shall not restrain me ef my perse-
nai liberty, except upon "due process of
law." i he unconstitutional and monstrous
Order Thirty-eight," under which alone
I was arrested thirteen months age, wasde
tied and spit upon at your State convention
or lew, by the gallant gentleman who bare
the standard as your candidate for lieu
tenant governor, and by every Democratic
press and public speaker ever since. It is
dead. , From the first it was against the
Constitution and laws, and without validi
ty ; and all proceedings under it were ane
are utterly null and void, and of bo effect.
Ine indignant voice of condemnation
long since went forth from the vast roajeri
ty ef the people and press of America, and
from ill free ceutries in Europe with ea
tire unanimity. And more recentlv, too,
the platform' of an earnest, numerous
and most formidable convention of the sin
cere republicans, and still further, the em
phatic letter of the acceptance by the can
didate'ef that convention, t5en. John C.
Fremontthe first candidate also of the
Republican party or the presidency eight
years ago, upon .the rallying cry of tree
speech, and a Iree press give renewed
hope that, at last, the reign of arbitrary
power is about to be brought to an end in
the United States.
It is neither just nor fit, therefore, that
the wrongs inflicted under "Order thirty
eight," and the other edicts and acts of
such power, should any longer be endured
certainly not by me alone. But every
ordinary means of redress has first been
exhausted; yet either by the direct agen
ey of the Administration and its subordi
nates, or because of want of jurisdiction in
the civil courts to meet a case which no
American ever in former times conceived
to be possible here, all have failed. Coun
sel applied in my behalf to an unjust judgi
for a writ of h'abcat corpus. It was deni
ed; and now the privilege of that writ it
suspended by act of Congress and Lxecu
live order, in every State. The Demo
craiic convention of Ohio, one year ago, by
a resolution formally presented through a
committee of your best and ablest men, in
person at Washington, demanded of the
President in behalf of a very large minori
ty of the people, a revocation of the edict
of banishment. Pretending that the public
safety then required it, hje refused, saving,
at the same lime, that it would afford him
pleasure to comply as soon as he could by
any means be made to believe that the pub
lie safety would not suffer by it.
One year has elapscdf yet this hollow
pretence is still tacitlyfssertej, aHd to-day
I am here to prove it unfounded in fact. 1
appeal te die Spreme Court of the United
States, and because Congress had never
conferred jurisdiction in behalf of a citi
zeit tried by a tribunal unknown for such
purposes to the laws, amd expressly forbid
den by the Constitution, it were powerless
to.rcdress tfce wrong. I he time has there
lot e arrived when it becomes me as a citi
zenof Ohio and of the. Units J States, to
demand, and by my own act to vindicate
the rites, liberties and privileget which .
never forfeited, but of which lor so many
months I have been deprived.
Wherefore, men of Ohio, I am again in
your midst to-day. 1 owe duties to the
State, and am here to discharge them ; I
have rights as a citizen, and am here to
assert tlicni ; a wife and child and home,
and would enjoy all the pleasures which
are implied in these cherished words. But
I am here for peace and net turbulancej;
for quiet, not for convulsion; for order and
law, not anarchy. Let no man ol the
Democratic party, begin any act of violence
or disorder; but let none shrink from any
. :u:t:. i j i
rcspousiuuuj, iiuwTer urgent, u lercea
upon him. Careful of the rights of others,
let him see to it that he fully and fearlessly
exact his own. Subject to rightful author
ity in all things, let him not submit to excess
or usurpation in holding1. Obedient to
constitution and law, let him demand and
have the full measure of the protection
which law and constitution secure to him.
Men ef Ohio! Yen have already vindi
cated your right to hear; it is new my du
ty to assert my right to speak. Wherefore'
as to the sole ef dense for which I was
arrested, imprisoned and banished free
speech in criticism and condemnation ef
the Administration an Administration fit
ly described in a recent public paper by
one ef its early supporters, as " marked at
home by its disregard of constitutional
rights, by its violations of personal liberty
and the liberty of the press; and as its
. . ...
crowning sname, oy us aoanaenmentot the
right of assylum, a right especially dear to
all nations abroad," I repiat it here to-day,
and will, again, and yet again, so long as I
live, er tne uonstitutten and our present
e f x mi
lorm oi government snau survive, ine
words then spoken and the appeal at that
time made and now enforced by one year
more of taxation and debt, and or blood and
disaster, entreating the people to change
the public servants and their policy, not by
force, bnt peaceably, throngh the ballot
box. I now, and here, reiterate in their
utmost extent, and with all their signifi
cancy, I repeat them, one and all. in no
spirit of challenge or bravado, but as earn
est, sobers solemn truth and warning to the
people.
NORTHERN DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
This Convention, (to nominate a candi
date for President and Yice President of
the so-called United States,) will not as
semble at Chicago until the 20th August
next. It is thought that through the in
fluence of Vallandigham, the postponement
of the meeting of that body till so late a
day, has been effected. His return to Ohio
has certainly caused great commotion, and
that he will exercise great influence over
the deliberations of that body, no one can
donbt. The policy that dictates a post
ponement of the meeting of the Convention,
until so late a day in August next, is, in
our judgment, if we do not mistake it, a
wise one. The Democratic, pgace party
of the North and West, are well aware that
Lincoln's defeat depends upon the defeat
of his butcher. Grant. Upon this they look
as confidently as we do, time only being all
that is required for bringing about so im
portant a result. The defeat, in fact, of
either Grant or Sherman, will suffice to
defeat Lincoln. Either event will give
double strength to the Democratic Peace
Party, and they will proceed to nominate
their candidates with a boldness in the as
sertion of their principles, and a confidence
in their success, such at have not been
manifested since the war commenced. Dai
ly the confidence of the Lincolnites is de
clining. Wall street has become alarmed.
Capitalists have become frightened, Gold
is rising, and greenbacks arc fast becoming
mere trash. The only salvation ef the
North from general baakruptcy, is in peace.
The only salvation for Lincoln and his
statellites, is in a continuance of the war.
The cootest will be a fearful one. We
predict that great civil commotion will at
tend, if blood do not flow from it. The
leaders of the Detnociacy. tr peace party,
arc and will defiant. I hey will not be
put down by Jrca ol
prove themselves c.;.4
permit their pre
Ithey will belie t
not permit Wi .
or they nil ;
Seymtur ol
claimed Vh
( K
ms, or they will
. 'IVy wi:l not
o ? : , jcd, or
V. y till
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