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Old 03-14-2006, 03:34 PM
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Jerry D Jerry D is offline
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I ran across an old newspaper article from March 11, 1863 that I wanted to
share with y'all. It pretty much tells it like it was.

From "The Crisis" Columbus, Ohio, Wednesday, March 11, 1863

INDIGNATION AT THE MONSTROUS DOINGS OF CONGRESS
(From the New York World)

The Complete Overthrow of the Public Liberties

This is the darkest hour since the outbreak of the rebellion. Congress, by
the act passed yesterday authorizing the President to suspend the writ of
habeas corpus throughout the whole extent of the country, has consummated its
series of measures for laying the country prostrate and helpless at the feet of
one man. It was not enough that Mr. Lincoln has been invested with the
purse and the sword; that, with an immense power to raise or manufacture money,
he has unrestricted command of the services of every able-bodied man of the
country. Congress has thought it necessary to give the finishing stroke to its
establishment of military despotism, by removing all checks on the abuse of
the enormous monetary and military power with which they have clothed the
President. What assurance has the country that we shall ever have another
Presidential election? None whatsoever, except what may be found in the
confidence, reasonable or unreasonable, reposed in the rectitude and patriotism of Mr.
Lincoln. If any person, in any part of the country, shall think it his duty
to resist unconstitutional encroachments on the rights of citizens, Mr.
Lincoln is authorized by what purports to be a law, to snatch up that individual
and immure him in one of the government's bastilles as long as he shall see
fit, and there is no power anywhere in the nation to call him to account. He
can send one of his countless provost-marshals into the house of a Governor
of a State, or any other citizen, in the dead of night, drag him from his bed,
hustle him away under the cover of darkness, plunge him in a distant and
unknown dungeon, and allow his friends to know no more of the whereabouts of his
body than they would of the habitation of his soul, if, instead of
imprisoning, the provost-marshal had murdered him. With this tremendous power over
the liberty of every citizen whom he may suspect, or who he may choose to
imprison without suspecting, the President is as absolute a despot as the Sultan
of Turkey. All the guarantees of liberty are broken down; we all lie at the
feet of one man, dependent on his caprice for every hour's exemption from a
bastille. If he wills it, the State Governments may continue in the discharge
of their functions; but if he wills it, every one of them that does not
become his submissive and subservient tool can be at once suspended by the
imprisonment of its officers. Considering the enormous power conferred on the
President by the Finance and Conscription Bills, a reasonable jealousy would have
erected additional safeguards against its abuse. Instead of that, Congress
has thrown down all the old barriers and left us absolutely without shelter in
the greatest violence of the tempest.

So far as the detestable act passed yesterday is an act of indemnity to
shield the President from the legal consequences of past exertions of arbitrary
power, it is a confession that he, his secretaries, provost-marshals, and
other minions have been acting in violation of the law. It annuls all laws
passed by the State Legislatures for the protection of their citizens against
kidnapping; it provides for taking all suits for damages out of the State courts
and transferring them to the Federal tribunals, and before those tribunals
that fact that the injury complained of was done under color of executive
authority is declared to be a full and complete defense. It even inflicts
penalties on persons coming before the courts for redress of injuries, by declaring
that if they are not successful the defendant shall recover double costs. So
that the aggrieved party must take the risk of this penalty for venturing to
ascertain, in a court of justice, where his oppressor was or was not acting
under the authority of the President. To this alarming pass have matters
come, that not only does every citizen hold his liberty at the mercy of one man,
but he is liable to be punished for inquiring whether the person arresting
him really possessed, or only falsely pretended to possess, that man's
authority!

The attempt to disguise the odious character of this detestable act by a
sham provision in its second section is an insult to the intelligence of the
people. "The Secretary of State and the Secretary of War," so it reads, "are
directed, as soon as may be practible," to furnish to the judges of the courts
lists of the names of the persons arrested, that they may be presented to a
grand jury for indictment. And who is to judge this practicability? Why,
the Secretaries themselves, or the President for them. They will furnish such
lists whenever it suits their pleasure, and not before. There is not only no
penalty for neglecting to do this altogether, but the main purpose of the
act is to protect these officers, and all persons acting under their
directions, against all legal penalties for all arrests wherever made, and all
detentions in prison, however long protracted.

The ninety days during which Congress has now been in session are the last
ninety days of American freedom. Our liberties had previously been curtailed
and abridged by executive encroachments, but the courts remained open for
redress of wrongs. But this Congress has rendered their overthrow complete, by
first putting the purse and the sword in the hands of the President and then
assuring him of complete impunity in all abuses of this enormous, this
dangerous this tremendous power.
:cd:
a legal precident for future Presidents to use to their advantage with the whim of Congress "E Pluribus Unium"
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Old 02-01-2007, 06:50 PM
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This letter from a Union Lt from the Bay State useing the language of the day during the War Between the States. Today this LT would be charged with several crimes but because the North Won the War the Victor never punishes its side for crimes.Unlike todays Military over in Iraq!
-Jerry

The Yankee Letter - THE STATESMAN, an Alderson, West Virginia newspaper

"Camp near Camden, S. C., Feb 26, 1865.

My dear wife--I have no time for particulars. We have had a glorious time in this State. Unrestricted license to burn and plunder was the order of the day. The chivalry [meaning the Honourable & Chivalrous people of the South] have been stripped of most of their valuables. Gold watches, silver pitchers, cups, spoons, forks, &c., are as common in camp as blackberries.

The terms of plunder are as follows: Each company is required to exhibit the results of its operations at any given place--one-fifth and first choice
falls to the share of the commander-in-chief and staff; one-fifth to the corps commanders and staff; one-fifth to field officers of regiments, and two-fifths to the company.

Officers are not allowed to join these expeditions without disguising
themselves as privates. One of our corps commanders borrowed a suit of rough clothes from one of my men, and was successful in this place. He got a large quantity of silver (among other things an old-time milk pitcher) and a very fine gold watch from a Mrs DeSaussure, at this place. DeSaussure was one of the F. F. V.s of South Carolina, and was made to fork over liberally.. Officers over the rank of Captain are not made to put their plunder in the estimate for general distribution. This is very unfair, and for that reason, in order to protect themselves, subordinate officers and privates keep back every thing that
they can carry about their persons, such as rings, earrings, breast pins, &c., of which, if I ever get home, I have about a quart. I am not joking--I have
at least a quart of jewelry for you and all the girls, and some No. 1 diamond
rings and pins among them.

General Sherman has silver and gold enough to start a bank. His share in
gold watches alone at Columbia was two hundred and seventy-five. But I said I could not go into particulars. All the general officers and many besides had valuables of every description, down to embroidered ladies' pocket
handkerchiefs. I have my share of them, too. We took gold and silver enough from the damned rebels to have redeemed their infernal currency twice over. This, (the currency), whenever we came across it, we burned, as we considered it utterly
worthless.

I wish all the jewelry this army has could be carried to the "Old Bay
State". It would deck her out in glorious style; but, alas! it will be scattered all over the North and Middle States. The damned niggers, as a general rule, prefer to stay at home, particularly after they found out that we only wanted the able-bodied men, (and to tell the truth, the youngest and best-looking women). Sometimes we took off whole families and plantations of niggers, by way of repaying secessionists. But the useless part of them we soon manage to lose; [one very effective was to "shoot at their bobbing heads as they swam
rivers" after the army units crossed over], sometimes in crossing rivers,
sometimes in other ways.

I shall write to you again from Wilmington, Goldsboro', or some other place in North Carolina. The order to march has arrived, and I must close hurriedly. Love to grandmother and aunt Charlotte. Take care of yourself and children.
Don't show this letter out of the family.

Your affectionate husband, Thomas J Myers, Lieut.,

P.S. I will send this by the first flag of truce to be mailed, unless I have
an opportunity of sending it at Hilton Head. Tell Sallie I am saving a pearl
bracelet and ear-rings for her; but Lambert got the necklace and breast pin of the same set. I am trying to trade him out of them. These were taken from the Misses Jamison, daughters of the President of the South Carolina Secession
Convention. We found these on our trip through Georgia."
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