The proclamation of Fremont.
The law officer of the Crown, in the old U. States--
Attorney General Bater--is said, when asked whether the
President had power to proclaim martial law, to have answered that he could do so ‘"to preserve the
Constitution."’ As the papers say he is now in
Missouri, it is fair to infer that
General Fremont has availed himself of his advice, in issuing the atrocious proclamation to which his name is appended, and which, so far from preserving, absolutely annihilates the
Constitution.
We know not where to find a parallel to this proclamation, except in that issued by the
Duke of
Brunswick, upon his invasion of
France in 1793, for the purpose of putting down the revolution.
That proclamation has received the execration of the whole civilized world, and it will continue to receive it, as long as any portion of the world remains civilised.
It threatened with death all Frenchmen who should be taken with arms in their hands, taken up for the purpose of defending their native soil against invasion.
This is exactly what
Fremont threatens to the citizens of
Missouri.
There was this excuse for the
Duke of
Brunswick; he was an absolute monarch, and a General in the service of an absolute monarch.
He had been taught to be have from his childhood, that the monarch derived his claim to rule directly from Heaven, and that rebellion against him was rebellion against God.
His opinion was, that the country and the people belonged in every instance to the
King or
Emperor or reigning
Duke, as the case might be, and that they enjoyed the privilege of breathing only by sufferance.
He had, probably, never heard of popular rights, or conceived that such things ever existed.
The doctrine that all power is derived from the people, and must be exercised only for their benefit, must have been heard by him for the first time since the commencement of the revolution in
France, although he had married a sister of George Ill, He, doubtless, regarded the revolutionists of
France as rebels against the
Most High, and supposed it to be the duty of every good Christian to exterminate them with fire and sword.
There was some palpitation, therefore, for the atrocious document which he put forth upon this occasion, the sentiments of which all the courts of
Europe made haste to disavow.
But
Fremont and his adviser can offer no such excuse.
They were raised in a country professing to be governed by a Constitution.
They have, no doubt, read that Constitution, and they know that in proclamation martial law, and shooting men for no other offence than taking up arms to defend their country against invaders, they utterly overturn it from its very foundation.
They know that nobody but Congress can proclaim martial law, and that Congress can only do it under certain definite restrictions.
The name of
Brunswick has come down to posterity loaded with the curses of millions, who regard him as an enemy of human rights and the human race.
It the serious events with which they are connected should prove able to save the actors in this farcical tragedy, or tragical farce, from that oblivion which is the usual, as it is the best reward of small men, what will posterity say of them?
Will
Fremont carry his threat into execution?
Will he murder the prisoners that may fall into his hands?
Will he assassinate the patriots whom he may happen to detect in the act of defending their country?
We have no doubt he would do it if he dared.
But he dare not. His proclamation is mere brute thunder.
There is not a spark of the electric fluid in it. He knows that we would retaliate, and he dare not risk the trial.
In the meantime his proclamation will have the same effect that
Brunswick's proclamation had upon
France.
It will arouse the whole population.
It will confirm the wavering, and drive the most resolute Union men into our ranks.
His declaring free the negroes of all ‘ "rebels,"’ (as the tools of power habitually call all patriots,) will alienate the whole native population, not only of
Missouri but of
Kentucky also.
