to sustain and protect rulers in their outrageous acts their tyranny would not be endured for a single day. Hence the first step towards establishing a despotism, is to raise a subservient army. Our tyrants have profited by the example and experience of others in this respect.

APPLICATION FOR TRIAL-NO TRIAL GRANTED.

The cases of Messrs. Mahony and Sheward, of Iowa, are so connected together by circumstances, that they will be so referred to, except where there is something distinct and peculiar in them. On the second day after reaching the Old Capitol, Mr. Sheward addressed a note to the Secretary of War, requesting to be informed of the charges against him, and to have a trial set at as early a period as possible for a hearing, to which no reply was ever made by the Secretary. At the same time I wrote a letter of similar effect to the Secretary, and to the President of the United States, in which I took the position that my arrest was illegal and arbitrary, and that if such violations of the Constitution were continued, there would probably be a revolution in the Northern States. I advised the President, as a friend of the Government, to desist from making arrests in an illegal manner, and to conform to the well known and long established customs and forms prescribed by law and practiced universally under Constitutional Governments in dealing with political offenders.

In my letter to the Secretary of War, I took the same ground, and reminded the Secretary that if he (the Secretary) should be judged by charges made against him without trial or investigation, he would be subjected to a punishment which he

might think to be arbitrary, unconstitutional and oppressive.

These letters had no other effect than to gall the tyrants to whom they were addressed, and goad them into a still more virulent determination to treat the prisoners without mercy. Every effort of the prisoners to be informed of the charges against them, to have these charges investigated, and to have a judgment of some kind passed upon them, were in vain.

Judge Mason, who volunteered to act as counsel for the Iowa prisoners, made application at the War Department to have a copy of the charges against these prisoners furnished to them, but in vain. The following statement, prepared by Judge Mason, will show what disposition there was among the officials, to give the prisoners a hearing, as it will convince every reasonable person that there was some other motive for arresting and detaining these offenders against the Administration, than the well being of the country.

STATEMENT OF JUDGE MASON, FOR MAHONY AND SHEWARD.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25th, 1862.

HON. E. M. STANTON, SEC'Y. OF WAR:

SIR: On the 14th instant, D. A. Mahony, the senior editor of the Dubuque Herald, a daily paper, published at Dubuque, in the State of Iowa, was arrested by an officer professing to act by your order, and on the 17th David Sheward, the editor of a weekly paper called "The Constitution and Union," published at Fairfield, in the same State, was arrested in like manner. Both of these gentlemen were brought to this city by the United States Marshal for the State of Iowa, and on Thursday 21st

instant, were lodged in the Old Capitol prison, where they now remain.

Learning from the officer by whom they were brought hither, that the charges on which their arrest and detention were founded, were filed in the office of the Provost Marshal, I called at that of fice on the 23rd, as the friend and counsel of those prisoners, and requested permission to see those charges. This was refused me, unless I could bring an order from the War Department granting such permission.

He

I then applied for this purpose to the Hon. P. H. Watson, Ass't. Secretary of War, who declined granting me that privilege, it being contrary, as he stated, to the rule observed in such cases. however intimated to me that if I could present a case, showing that they were not guilty, it would be considered. I am now endeavoring to avail myself of this privilege.

I feel, however, no little awkwardness in making an effort to show the innocence of these prisoners, as I have never before made or witnessed such an attempt, especially, as I am not permitted to know what is the accusation against them. I mention this, not by way of raising any legal technical question to the course which has been pursued, but because I am assured by both the prisoners that they have never been informed of the cause of their arrest and detention, and have no suspicions of that cause, except such as have been created by floating rumors, or irresponsible newspaper paragraphs. I have, however, addressed myself to my task in the best manner I could.

Having obtained the necessary permission, I called to see the prisoners. My interview being limited by the officer in charge to precisely fifteen minutes, I could do nothing more than obtain brief verbal information from them. In fact I was

informed that I would not be permitted to take a written communication from them, addressed even to the War Department, without presenting a previous order to that effect.

Both these prisoners most positively assured me that they had never uttered a disloyal word; nor harbored a disloyal thought; that although they frequently had occasion to differ with the Adminis tration in regard to measures of policy they had endeavored to confine themselves within the limits of legitimate discussion, and had never, as they believed, transgressed those limits, that they had never said or done anything intended to discourage enlistments in the army, or which, as they believe was calculated to produce that result; that they had always been in favor of fully maintaining the Constitutional power of the Government under which they lived; that they were entirely opposed to disunion in any of its forms, and to all those acts and things which were calculated to produce or promote any such result, and that when they had occasion to differ with those who now control the Government, it was because they conscientiously believed the course they were pursuing was calculated to produce the very result which all were desirous to prevent.

I assure you, sir, that I fully believe the statements made to me by these gentlemen to be true. I have been well acquainted with them both for many years, and I feel sure that they are men of integrity. If desirable, I will, with your permission, obtain their affidavits to statements substantially like that above set forth, to be filed in your office, and used as you shall direct.

With regard to one of those gentlemen, (Mr. Mahony,) I can speak with more confidence, founded upon my personal knowledge. In October of last year, in my presence, and in that of many

other persons, he expressed a willingness to raise a regiment of Irishmen in Northern Iowa, and was only prevented from making the effort (as I believed) by an unwillingness to ask from the Governor of Iowa what the latter was in the habit of regarding as a great favor, and which would therefore probably be refused to a political antagonist.

His daily paper has been sent to me for the last nine months, and although many of the numbers have failed to reach me, I think I may safely say that his paper has not, as I believe, expressed any sentiments for which he should be visited by the material displeasure of the Government. His views will undoubtedly be deemed very erroneous by many of his fellow-citizens; I myself differ very materially from him in many of the opinions he has expressed. But in a country where so wide a latitude has always been given to the right of free discussion-where even error of opinion has been justly said to be safely left essenti lly untrammeled so long as truth was free to combat it, I trust there has been nothing said by him that should call for the interposition of the Head of the War Department of the Government. I have never believed his errors fraught with danger to the country.

In order to show the grounds of the opinion above expressed, I send here with several numbers of the Dubuque HERALD, which will speak for themselves. They consist of the 9th and 24th of July, and of the 3d, 5th, 7th, 9th, 16th, 12, 13th, and 14th of August, which last was printed on the day of his arrest. I have preserved no file of these papers and those I now send comprise every one that, after a careful search, can now be found. I think they will give you a just idea of the general course of, the editor. I particularly refer you to the leading editorials in the numbers of the 3d, 7th, and 10th of August not because I suppose you will fully