The Great North-Western Conspiracy in All Its Startling DetailsAyer, I. Winslow
History
The Great North-Western Conspiracy in All Its Startling Details
Ayer, I. Winslow
Knights of the Golden Circle; Northwestern Conspiracy, 1864
He was a wretch, of whom a press said, but yesterday, that he was
sincere in thinking he should rid the earth of a tyrant, by slaying the
President, this sincerity must place him on a level with John Brown.
[Hisses and cries of _The Times_.] This was said yesterday, and read
by thousands, and I know of no steps taken to prevent the utterance
of similar insult and outrage to-morrow. For this tolerance we are
responsible, and tolerance like this killed the good President. When
a far-seeing military commandant ordered the suppression of published
treason, there were men in high places, and men all over the land, who
outraged the loyal masses by interfering to prevent the execution of
that order, on the ground of disturbing the freedom of the press; but
when our ministers went into Richmond they were muzzled, and the
result has been that treason has been littered, the good man called an
_imbecile_--the generous man a _tyrant_--the restraint of traitors has
been referred to as, _usurpation_ of power, and prisons have been called
_Bastiles_. All this has been, and we have tolerated it. This has given
aid and comfort to treason in the South, and traitors in the North, and
this has killed the good President.
The measure of our responsibility is the amount of our connivance at
these things. No man is free from guilt who has winked at this wrong,
who has interfered to prevent the punishment of wrong-doers, who has
apologies for treason, who has not done all in his power to rebuke,
denounce and punish the foes of the nation, at home and abroad. We
stand, to-day, as though in the presence of the nation's dead, and here,
on the tomb of our chieftain, let us swear eternal enmity to treason
and to traitors. Nor let us, when the assassin shall be arrested and
punished--oh! let us not then think we have done our duty. I had rather
the profane wretch who has done this deed were never taken, than that
his execution should relieve our minds from one thought of our personal
responsibility. No; rather let the wretch be a fugitive and vagabond,
with the mark of Cain upon him. Let none slay him, for we ourselves are
not guiltless. And as he flies from men, with hate in his eyes and hell
in his heart, let every home be an asylum from which he shall be barred,
and every honest, loyal heart a sanctuary where no thought of complicity
with him, or sympathy for him may enter. Let us bow before God to-day in
humble penitence; let us ask of Him forgiveness--Father forgive us, for
we knew not what we did--that His hand be stayed, and the measure of our
responsibility be canceled."
In this connection, we may with propriety, introduce the following
extract from President Johnson's recent speech to the Indiana
delegation:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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