Outside of the room, however, the utmost contrariety of opinion existed.
The streets were filled with heated disputants, and there was danger of
rioting throughout the day following the suppression of the newspaper.
In the evening of June 3, a great meeting of persons opposed to
Burnside's order was held in the Court-House Square, which was addressed
by General Singleton, Moses M. Strong, of Wisconsin, B. G. Caulfield,
and E. G. Asay, Democrats, and by Senator Trumbull and Wirt Dexter,
Republicans.
In the mean time Judge Drummond was hearing the arguments of Storey's
lawyers on the question of making permanent the injunction that had
already been disobeyed. While the proceedings were going on, a telegram
came from Burnside to Ammen, dated Lexington, Kentucky, June 4, saying
that his order for the suppression of the Chicago _Times_ had been
revoked by order of the President of the United States. The soldiers
were accordingly withdrawn and Mr. Storey resumed possession of his
property.
The Chicago _Evening Journal_ published the following outline of
Trumbull's speech on this event:
The point of Judge Trumbull's speech was to show the importance
of adhering to the Constitution and laws in all measures
adopted for the suppression of the rebellion. He contended that
they furnished ample provisions for dealing with traitors in
our midst; that the Administration and its friends were
weakened by resort to measures of doubtful authority against
rebel sympathizers where the law furnished adequate remedies;
that while no one questioned the authority of military
commanders in the field and within their lines where the civil
authorities were overborne, to exercise supreme authority, the
right to do this in the loyal portions of the country, where
the judicial tribunals were in full operation, was very
questionable. He held that by its exercise in such localities
the enemies of the country were given a great advantage, by
alleging that their constitutional rights and privileges were
arbitrarily interfered with. He insisted that the Constitution
and laws were supreme in war as well as in peace, and that the
denial of this proposition was an acknowledgment that the
people were incapable of self-government--an admission that
constitutional liberty and the rights of the citizen,
guaranteed by fundamental laws, were of no value except in
peaceful times, so that in tumultuous times personal liberty
regulated by law, to establish which the Anglo-Saxon race had
been contending for centuries, must give way to the discretion
of any man who might happen at the time to be at the head of
the Government; that this, the American people are not prepared
to admit, nor was it necessary they should; that the right of
free speech and a free election should never be surrendered;
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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