Who is S. Corning Judd, who testifies before the Commission that "the organization (Sons of Liberty) was being used in Indiana and Missouri for improper purposes"? Who is he that says the organization in Chicago "was looked upon by many of the leaders with great distrust; many of those connected with the order in Chicago were radical, extreme men, and understood to be men of little standing or character"? that one of the delegates from Missouri stated his belief that the order in that State was in favor of "giving aid and comfort to the Confederates"? When Judd made these statements upon the stand, all loyal papers, with one accord, declared that the evidence fully warranted the arrests, in the manner and at the time they were made. No fair-minded man then could come to any other conclusion. Who, we ask, is S. Corning Judd? Stump-speakers, last fall, would have said that he was the "Democratic" candidate for Lieutenant Governor—and so he was. The Gubernatorial ticket bore the name of James C. Robinson for Governor, and S. Corning Judd for Lieutenant Governor—the former a man who, in Congress, voted against "fighting, crushing, and destroying" the rebellion. Both Robinson and Judd were Sons of Liberty, and to them Copperheads fondly turned, and had they carried the State, anarchy and bloodshed would have been the consequence; and, indeed, in the expressed opinion of Judge Morris, "had they carried the State, he cared not who might be President, for they would possess the reins of the General Government." S. Corning Judd sought to serve his own ends by controlling the Sons of Liberty, and failing in this, he gave the cold-shoulder to his Brig.-General (Walsh), when, in consequence of executing the edicts of the order, he found himself a close prisoner for the horrid doctrine of secession; he must be tried and convicted, but the Grand Commander, S. Corning Judd, and the Supreme Commander, C.L. Vallandigham, and the Past Grand Commander, or Major-General, Amos Green, each, severally appear upon the stand against him, and they permitted to go scott free. O, cursed doctrine of secession!
"So stretch'd out huge in length the arch-fiend lay,
Chain'd on the burning lake; nor ever thence
Had risen or heaved his head, but that the will
And high permission of All-ruling Heaven
Left him at large to his own dark designs;
That with reiterated crimes he might
Heap on himself damnation, while he sought
Evil to others."
If Vallandigham, if Judd, if Green, if Barrett, and if the many equally guilty persons released from custody go unpunished, then "Justice, thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason." Not that we would contradict Judd in the least in aught that he has said against the Chicago temple, but we would tell him that we know the Chicago temple, so far from taking the lead in radicalism, was behind the order in Peoria, in Bloomington, in Dubuque, in St. Louis, Louisville, and many other places. Give the devil his due. In some places the boldness of Copperheadism induced prominent members of the Sons of Liberty to approach members of Congress, with their base proposals to enter the order.
CHAP. XIX.
EXTINCTION OF SLAVERY—NO CONCILIATION WITH TRAITORS—DOWN WITH COPPERHEADS AT HOME.
In a publication of this character, it will not be expected we should review either the causes which led to the great rebellion, with its hydra heads and its sad consequences; but in closing, and especially in view of the terrible tragedy which has plunged a nation in deepest grief, we cannot refrain from saying, that the last most diabolical deed was not the act of individual madness, of personal hate and passion, it was the culmination of the hatred by the slave power of the principle of liberty, and the champion of freedom. It was not because the assassin felt in his heart a hatred of Abraham Lincoln, but because he, and the people at whose instigation he acted, hated the apostle of liberty, and the instrument in the hand of God for the accomplishment of a great and mighty work. Although it was the purpose of this band of murderers to assassinate the President and the whole Cabinet, it was not from personal malice against them as men, but the enemy sought by the destruction of the exponents of a free government, to give new life to the expiring representation of the slave power. So antagonistic was freedom to slavery that it was impossible to permanently embody the representatives of these principles with a republican government, which should be perfect in its formation, wise and just in its action, the hope of the liberty loving people throughout the world, and the pride and glory of American citizens. Every year since the adoption of the old Constitution, have discordant elements cropped out, and incidents transpired, which demonstrated to every rational mind, that as time rolled on, the accumulation of combustible elements would ultimately explode, and shake the civilized world to its center.
The facts that Northern teachers, Northern clergymen, Northern mercantile agents, Northern men upon business or pleasure, travelling at the South, and unwilling to stultify themselves, or become passive approvers and admirers of the "peculiar institution," were treated with all possible indignities, and might count themselves fortunate if they escaped with their lives. So complete was the universal devotion to slavery in all sections of the South, and so baneful its effects upon the people, that all other considerations were made subservient to this. For slavery, friends were alienated, hatred established, so bitter in its extent that only death could appease it. It demoralized the entire people; it found its way with all its horrid moral deformities, into the very capitol; it caused the murderous assault of Brooks upon Charles Sumner in the Senate, and the many altercations and bitter harangues which have from time to time disgraced our National Congress; it was its cropping out that caused the fearless and noble President Andy Johnson, to threaten to hang Jeff. Davis—and which he may yet be called upon to perform;—it was slavery that devised the doctrine of secession; that has led to the deadly conflict upon hundreds of battle fields, and has spilled the best blood of our nation, and caused mourning and gloom all over the face of our once happy land. What wonder then, that the noble Lincoln, who, in the sincerity of his heart, and in the dictates of superior wisdom, who, seeing and appreciating the encroachments and horrors of slavery, not only to the people in bondage, but to the citizens of our country in every section—who wonders that Lincoln, whose name is immortal, especially for his extirpation of this curse, should be singled out by the demon of slavery, and assigned by Davis, his prophet, for a violent death. Thank God, the cancer is extirpated so thoroughly, that its fibres of death can never again form to threaten destruction to our land. True, the operation has been most painful, and no anesthetic agent has been employed; the suffering has been fearful, and the country has, to its extremities, trembled with anguish; but it is over now.
The assassination of the President was the will of Jeff. Davis, whispered in the temples of the Sons of Liberty or American Knights, into the ears of those of the members of the Orders, who had made the most proficiency in their teachings, and these beings, true to their oaths, went forth upon their mission of blood.