The Patriot. (La Grange, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 28, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 12, 1863 Page: 1 of 2
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Fayette County Area Newspaper Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Fayette Public Library, Museum and Archives.
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Vol. 1.
V
ry commander, of any Department
to a discharge from our false imprig-
ose
in a small buggy ;but before we had
extent, no more.
We were notcall-
enlarged and comprehensive opin
they are obnoxious to the criminal
KM
necessity of the pad. Thus
ded our way towards the
as constructive treason could be laid
at our door. . Wo-therefore felt no
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» !»■ a ■ I ^>^1 * •
No 28.
contemplate any vague, wandering,
undefnable sort of right of defen-
ding that, at
ular liberty involved in his action.
In announcing that he "took the
prepare to rake up the line of march
for Houston, the military Head-
Quarters, of the State, there to be
dealt with, ot as the law directs ;
(for we were wholly unconscious of
the violation of any law; or of sub-
jection to any other than the laws of
but one pomer, m theory,or in praq- . „
tice, which has the right tdispense g1Vang aid & comfort, to the enemy,
with the fundamental law of a Gov- • ' " ' l x~ L 1
bundled up to be taken to Head
Quarters to undergo the farther
scrutiny of the military officials of
that there were secret enemies ar
mong us, forming combinations hos-
tile to-the interests of the Govern-
ment, he thought proper to have us
arrested. This was the head and
custodians of our persons.. When
we arrived at Houston, we were ta-
ken by our guard to the office of the
Provo Marshall General of the State,
axe only seeking so. to shape, guide
and direct public affairs as to-secure
i
security of the safety of his army,
upon the universally conceded right
M
Withthe general spirit and tone,
and even, reasoning, of the article
on Military Power, in the Galves-
ton News, which seems to have been
ecial reference to
stop there : for after the thorough
search of our persons, "damidHary
visits were made within the sacred
precincts of our families, and every
nook and corner of our households
comapH ing, plot i ing misokietagai net
the State, it is-an offense against
the State, with which the State
must deal. And if no one else than
the military commander has had
the sagacity to discover it, he would
certainly have the right to turn over
theState criminal, with the evidence
with popular liberty, wherever reg-
ulated by law, under every phase of
its development; and nothing can
be more agonizing to the heart of
the patriot than to see it wounded
in thehouse of its friends. It would
have been better, therefore, if those
persons were guilty agents, that
they should have been dealt with
without resort to arbitrary power.
We had written the article above,
which lead to his detection, to the.
municipal aufhority to be disposed
of as the laws enaoted by the su-
preme authority had prescribed.
W e again repeat, we ave .in favour
responsibility," he makes the ac-
knowledgement that he was treads
ingon debatable ground. It was
an extorted homage to that great
principle of popular liberty, whose
voice, though almost hushed in the
indited, with spi
this unusual and extraordinary ac-
ntended jealously to guard. 'With
the merits or demerits of the par-
ties involved in this proceeding, we
have nothing to do. Wo know,
nothing of their crimes, or their fol.
and unaccustomed office in a land
of freemen. They were but doing
the bidding of their military com-
mander; and implicit obedience is
due from soldiers to their chief.—
We wen-
place of
ed upon to admit, or deny the charge
of these base and infamous iifform-
ers, in order to determine the dis-
position to be made of us by milita3
ry authority. But we here take oc-
casion to say, they have borne false
witness against their neighbors.—
suspension of the publication of the
. above'article, which we now publish.
Having made a foil examination of
’our-persons, our pockets and our
household gods, we were ordered to
of self-defence granted by the laws
of native. But it would be push-
ing the principle to a most danger-
ous extremity to claim the right of
controlling the entire policy of the
State, in order to accomplish this
duty. ' Well may it be said in Such
cases, "thejudgment of the Gener-
al and the instincts of the people
ought not to he, far apart.” Their
temporary contiguity ight work
the very mischief against which the
frame work of sur institutions were
can be brought to operate upon
them. And if, at any time, they
present, impersonal
sort of thing, called the State; ex-
the grounds of our arrest It ws
substantially, that Gen. Magruder
had received a letter from some man,
(from whom, we have not yet been
advised, though we were promised
leased. When that release was made, ‘
the Provost MarshallGenera, Maj.
Hyllested, and Judge Advocate, Ma]
jor Cone, entered our prison and an, ...
• nounced =6ftaf we were discharged,
the Marshall stating at the same
M
n- ‘
UA--L
or two hands. But it exists in
many. If there be a glory and
mors! heroism in one, in assuming
the responsibility, others may be
emulous of the renown of so illuss
triots an example, & ardently covet
the glittering prize ofabolute pow-
er.
. .ire*
minded us but too palpably that we
were mortal, and that the reason of
loyal and treasonable santiment*.—■
But after allthis investigation had
been made, and such information as .
base informers had lodged before
them had been duly weighed and
considered, the military authority
even, were constrained to say, we •
find no fault against these men, let
them be released. And we were re-
Truth and Justice—liberty and Law.
LaGRANGE,TEXAS"HURSDAY,NOV‘R.12,1863.
without even demanding the exhi-
bition of the authority for so extra-
orginary a proceeding. Very soon
after our. arrest, some other quiet
citizens of our community were also
arrested by the same authority,; and
in a short time, some six of us in all,
to wit, G. W. Sinks, F. W. Grasmey-
er, C. Harwell, A. Jungbecker, W.
B. McClellan and L. Lindsay, were
all quartered in our office, under an
armed guard. When thus put un-
der duress, the procfess of searehing
our persons commenced, and every
paper found in our possession was
rigidly scrutinized and noted, and
other time)‘stating that in May last
he was in LAGrango and heard a
conversation between us and. Col.
destiny than their own narrow, con- front of our offending. It has this
tracted and ignorant prejudices.—
But not a cheek among us was blan-
the essential ends of all good gov-
ernment,‘the happiness and welfare
of the people, and consequently do
not think and speak after their
own narrow and cntracted mans
ner of thinking and of speaking.—-
We only pity their insignificance;"
and weat least, never should hvn
dignified them with the sligliestnbr
tice, but for the temporary impor-
tance they receive fom the official
sanction given them by the notice
our destination, running the gaunt-
let of curious gazers, many of whom
no doubt, in the strange and unac- Magruder having grounds to believe
Caldwell of Navasota, in which very
disloyal sentiments bysomhor all
of us were expressed : angthatGen.
I bow in adoration before theirthrone.
Lewis the XIV of France, then the
i most absolute prince in Europe,made
this declaration; “Let it not be said
that the sovereign is not subject to
the laws of his State, since the con-
trary proposition U ogcoflhe truths
of the law of nations, which flattery ।
has sometimes attacked, and which
good princes have always defended,
j as a tutelar divinity of their State.”
I It should be borne in mitd by allin
authority, whether civil,or military,
that in disregarding the fundamen-
I tal law of their country, they are
I knocking' from under them the very
and the sole prop whi ch sustains their
own authority. The example is con-
tageous. • It may teach others insub-
; ordination. .In the face of such a
knowing, that his confinement waa '
illegal and.wrongful, and awaiting |
with, placid composure the denouc-
ment of- the drama. Time passed,
somewhat tardily, we confess, from
the uncomfortable quarters in which
we were located, and from the in.
lies, if they have committed them, our country regularly ordained and
farther than ie developed in. the ad- ........
dress of GenMagrnder. - Upon that
alone we base our opinion. Take
tnemalter asko states it, andther
travelled very far,’ the kindes of the names of the informers at some
friends relieved us by sending on an-
other vehicle to save us from the
ponment. We were thus detained,
is we suppose, (for we could only con-
jecture) to give the military bureau
an opportunity to overhaul and ex-
amine all the papers, (among which
was our half-composed manuscript)
gathered up by our capturing guard,
with the particularity and scrutiny'
necessary for the detection of dis-
■^1
THE
—r ■ -------------------
tion of Gen Magruder; in the mein,
we most heartily concur. It-is
certainly true the Commanding
general has nothing to do with the
administration of the criminal law
of the State. It is equally true, he |
is fully authorised to take suck
mcasues as wil prevent the endan-l
geringofthe safety of himself, or
his army, in time of war. Thislat-
ter, is one of the natural laws of
war. It is founded on, the right of
self-defense. And whatever means
may be necessary for that object, he
has a right to adopt. But this
right is Confined to the ' defence" of
himself and his army. It does not
man, and not his instinct, must pro-
vide against its diseomforts. We 4
demanded no trial, because we saw
N e will not rail. Let them pass.—
Many such false accusers existn all
troublous times; some actuated by
personal malignity some carried as
way by false conceptions of the
for publication in last week’s paper,,
and one half of it had been set up
in type, when a squad of armed sol-
diery, under the command of Col. or
Lieut. Forrester, entered the office,
and through the. commander an-
nounced to us, that by special au-a
thority from Gen. Magruder, we 8
were put under arrest. Of course
we submitted, with as mueh grace
as we could to this armed force,
cept so tar as'the defence of him-
self and his army operates for the
protection of the State. In other
words; the guardianship of the State
and people, under our form of Gov-
ernment, is not directly in the keep-
ing of t he Commanding General. If
there is a jealousy of any thing man-
ifested in the spirit of our institu-
tions, it is of that very thing milita-
ry rule. That guardianship was
intended to be. in some other hands.
The law of our governmental being i
places it in other hands, wherever it
may now be temporarily lodged.
We agree, in its fullest sense, with
the News, that Gen Magruder has
the amplest power by the laws of
Published emay Thursday Morning by
BtB.Wc€leHan,
THRMs or SUBsORIPTION
oNE YEAR $4—ONEQUARTER $1 00
All postmaster* in the State are author-
izd to act as Agents. s
■ ie Subscriptions, in all cases, invarta-
ily in advance.
rummaged and pried into to ascer-
tain, we suppose; the nature of the «J- v-vu,auu me
household Gods whom we worship- clemency of theweather, which
ped. For all this we complain not
of the armed soldiery who were en-
gaged in the performance of this new
nation to all rightful authority, that
. _ -g - , -____- — we could not find it in pur heart to
of the largest liberty, to the milita- Complain of thqse who were sen-tout _________________
ry commander, of any Department^ on this mission. No doubt it was a misgivings as to our absolute right
pest, or elation, being indulged, in- disagreeable service to some, if not "" *
to all, of those persons who were re-
quired to perform it. But duty i
a sacred obligation ; and it would be
both unreasonable and unjust to
complain of those who discharge it,
when required ' to do so by th'
placed in authority over them. The
consequence of this arrest was the
countable perversities of human na-
ture, are always ready to take sus-
picion, or accusation, for guilt, and
need no other evidence to doom their
fellow men to infamy and a felon’s
ernment, and make innovavions up-
on it. That power is the people
2 themselves, for whose happiness &
g . advantagedhe Gprernment is or-
gan12edad for whose protection.
2 dispensation to any delegated aus
•a. thority, is expressly set forth in the
fundamental law itselt. The mot
___ absolute of the potentates of Europe
mA" who are vested with the manage-
ment and direction of both the civil
and military powers of their Gov
L ernmnts,are forbidden to violate the
[ fundamental laws of their country
I They are as much bound “by -those
j )aws M the humbloat aubjocts who
established) but as military authori-
in its.wisdom, in its policy, in
its humanitv:might deem expedient. _
. Assoon as we> make our pre- time thatMajor Cone would explain
is obviously a great principle of pop- parations for transportation, and ’
even before • they were completed,
we did take up the line of march
thitherward; some on foot, and some
no jurisdiction to which we were as,
metable. We knew, of no erimesir
against the laws, to which we wir^- '
Such is our regard for due subordi- amenable, of which we were guilty.
We were satisfied that not so much
PA MB ggmm ■ Ama ■■■
ATRIOT
ched by the gaze of the curious : nor
not a muscle quivered at the half-
suppressed jeers of an occasional
brute along the way-side. W e com-
plain not, however, of the constraint
* 2
asc —er-
war, to adopt whatever means
may be adequate for the safety of
his army. That power is only lim-
ited by theexten of his necessity.
He cannot go beyond that necessity.
P-zwuvy,usssonastegoes heyond
it, he vivlates that very law of na-
tute upen which hisright to secure
। that safety is founed.’ Ifany trea-
sonable plots, or comhinatinof
i men, are formed in the State, for
laws of the country; and if the civil
functionaries of the country will
discharge their sworn duties, such
cses oan be reached & dealt with in
___-„u.0 wauov paouIUI, the manner contemplated and pro-
negation of all such power of Tided for in the forms of our govern-
, ment. If there be insurrectionary
or rebellious movements any where
in the State, the laws of the land
should become too strong for the
civil power in such localities, the
aid of the military power, with con-'
stitntional propriety, might ho in-
voked for their suppression. When
overt acts of domestw enemies are the country. The scrutiny did not
-- *
thus taken of them by Gen Magruo.
der But after hearing their cona-
plaints, Gen Magruder now bears f—
testimony against the infamy of 3 nue
such informers by discharging us-
from the false position in which gwe
were placed by their base and ma*
lignant accusations. We make no
loud professiongigfloyaly to oar
governments be jysh A-
bout as becomaing and a* proper n*
and potty annoyances under which
we were compelled to travel. We
thank our stars, we are sufficiently
imbued with the spirit of philoso-
phy to bear with becoming resigna-
tion,; temporary ills to which we -g. -g ____-g2
may be wrongfully subjected, with- views of those who may have more
out degrading the dignity of human <_______ ___-______ 6
nature bxsilly and petulant repin- ions of the issues and principles in-
ings. OftKkeepers consequently^had jyolved in national struggles ; who
as little cause to complain of us for
any trouble or. Inconvenience’ to
which we subjected them, as the
tumult of the times, is yet acknowl-
edged with formal respect by all
who have ever kneeled and worship-
ped at its shrine. Though opposed
from the very nature of dur mqal
organization to all insubordinatih
to a properly constitatedauthority.
we acknowledge with unfeigned
sincerity our unshaken allegiance
to, and our devotional sympathy
From thence we were takkn to the.
Court house, where we were assign-
ed quarters in a room without fire,
our guard relieved, and a new gtard
substituted iv(s place, whose duty
it was -to patrol the hall before our
door, watch against any projected
escapes (which weare very certain
none felt inclined to make) and at-
tend to all our indispensable person-
al wants, while thus undef confine-
ment. In this condition, we con-
tinued from Thursday night until
Sunday evening, without murmur-
ing, aiid without knowing the reas-
ons, or grounds ofourimprisonment,
and each one, in his own bosom, ens
joying the pieasing satisfaction of
i
—--u
r
- L r
srcicae ■ ■ ' /
* r
k
committed in the reach of the mili- i
tary, they are properly dealt with ।
as public enemies,^ and it needs no :
nice discriminations of law, muni-
cipal or milirary, to dispose of such
cases. When domestic enemies are :
• Gen Magruder has sent some per-
sons, as we understand, out of the
tate from Houston, for alleged
treasonable combinations, conspira-
ces, or practices, which were’n some
way endangering his military ope-
rations in the defence of Wie’ State.
Who the partieular individuals are,
or wht is the precise nature, of their
offending,’ we are not prepared to
announce to the public we wish ,
we had it in our power to do so: so precedent,, that
that all other citizens might have a | authority be enforced against a Sub-
chance to eschew, the ev for, which I altern violator? Military force may
they are now making atonement, gilenee all clamour. But military
But we see instated in the General’s force doe: not exist imply in one
puhlic address, that among the pec-
cadilloes, which they have been com-
mitting, was a rather too free use of
their tongues, a rather too indepen-
dent avowal of their private senti-
ments, and the manifestation of a |
most unjustifiable sympathy for
that abominable despotism of the
North. These opinions and senti-
ments; or rather, the expression of
' Nthem, (for no human laws can take
cognizance ofthe consciences of men,)
4 by these military victims, was not
only exceedingly imprudent; but in
ourjudgement, waspositively wrong.
For, if their consciences could not
erdorse .the justice and divine right
g of our Government; and yet they
had been constrained, by a sort of
na. moral necessity, -to remain under
its authority, t|ie duties of good cit-
izonship duumtracd' aTTACir mincR’a i
■ silent acquiescence in its power, and
the fulfilment of all engagements it
might require .of them, while they
remained in the country. Whatev- !
er may be the conscientious convic-
1 5 tions'of men, of thejusticc or injus
tice of the Government under, which
« fortune may place tbem, those con~
3 »victiofs cannot absolve them from
| the just penalties imposed upon acts
of treason, or infidelity against it.
—-ou..
guBe . - ■' -- - »
trvrn
-ese e
Such men necessarily' exist in every
change of Government, and if they
will rightly regard their destiny, it
is their province to endure and suf-
fer, and not to become active agents
ft) disturbing the order of society.
Btt labile we entertain this opinion
of thbligations of thosiwho were
anti; Revolutionists, and were oppo-
•ed to the disruption of the Govern-
— , ment, we confess our inability to see,
* either in the Constitution ofour
Government, the mnnidpal law of i
S • the country, or in thelawsof war,
any authority for this summary |
■ 5: . dispensation of justice, if justice it
be, by any Commanding General.
We cannot extirpate from our mind,
without doing violence to our whole
moral nature, the primary idea,
that there is a fundamental law in
• all civilizeg Governments, which no
। authority, civil or military, can vio-
late, without a total subversion of
” the Hovernment itself; and by such
85 an example, imauguruteamrnureny
! as limitless and as uncontrallable as
kk----2 l-t:ta poocivus of men, which all
» governments were instituted to
| check and restrain. We know of
—
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• mi
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The Patriot. (La Grange, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 28, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 12, 1863, newspaper, November 12, 1863; La Grange, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1582615/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Fayette Public Library, Museum and Archives.