The latest Northern news received here brings the rumor that
Mr. Vallandigham has been sentenced by the drum-head court that tried him to two years imprisonment at hard labor on the
Dry Tortugas, Florida.
The
Herald discredits the rumor on the ground that the rigid rule of secrecy prevailing in such courts as tried him would prevent its decision from gaining publicity until made public by the court itself.
The same paper takes occasion to say that such a sentence would make certain Mr. V.'s election as
Governor of
Ohio in the fall.
In the meantime there are indications of some popular excitement on account of
Mr. Vallandigham's arbitrary arrest and trial — especially in New York, where a large meeting had been held on the subject.
Mr. James Brooks, of the
Express, made a very strong declaration in his speech to that meeting.
He said, "In my judgment and belief it is not so much the intention of the Administration to subjugate the
South as it is to subjugate the
North!"
Mr. Brooks is mistaken in this much.
That it is the intention to subjugate the
South, and the execution of that intention renders it necessary to subjugate the
North!
The very process demands the exercise of arbitrary power that is utterly inconsistent with freedom at the
North.
Both North and South must be free, or neither.
It is impossible that the
Southern States can be conquered and held as provinces by the
Washington Government, while the
Northern States retain their independent sovereignties under the
Constitution.
The Federal Administration is certainly not more humane in its purpose towards the
South than the
North.
It merely ignores the
State and personal rights of the
North as a means to make more complete the crushing of all right, all justice in the
South--the general subjugation, robbery, and ruin of the
Southern people.
But
Mr. Brooks is bold in his language, and may have to follow
Mr. Vallandigham to
Tortugas, if
Lincoln has the courage to send him there.
Will
Lincoln order the sentence of the
Burnside court martial to be carried out, if that sentence has been correctly reported?
Whether he does so or not, be must suffer damage.
If he sends him to punishment, he must arouse a deep sense of outrage in the public mind, except amongst his own immediate party.
If he fails to approve it, he will appear as too timid to enforce the natural and unavoidable decrees of the tribunal he has had the hardihood and tyranny to establish.
To what other termination could such a court, with such accusers, under
Burnside's death order, arrive, than that of the cruelest imprisonment, or death itself, for publicly opposing the measures of the
Government?
He must have known that such would be the result when he ordered such a court to try and punish such an offence.
If he now remits its sentence he will betray a fatal indecision — the sceptre will tremble in his hand — a woeful sign for the despot, and one which is sure to lead to his downfall.
Mr. Brooks is certainly right as to the purpose of the Administration to subjugate the
North--and to-day the
Northern people are more in danger of permanently losing their liberties than are the people of the
South.--That gentleman said that New York and
New Jersey were the only free States in the
North.
The honorable gentleman may speak a little too fast.
It certainly has not appeared yet. The tyrant has not tried conclusions with them.
Those States have not yet failed to respond to his demands for troops to crush the
South' and no issue has been fully presented.
When one is, if they prove their claim to be regarded "free and independent States," it will raise them high in the estimation of the world, and very much surprise us of the
South!.
