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have never v olated any law, I shall never cringingly ask any favors, much less admit, by implication or otherwise, any guilt; but insist that my rights as an American citizen shall he dealt out to me. The Government should not demand more; my sense of honor will not allow me to accept less. If my rights will not be granted, then I am at the further disposal of the powers that be, to execute upon me what they see fit, and have the power to do. Yours respectfully,

(Signed)

DAVID SHEEAN."

The following editorial comments are a just tribute to the spirit shown in the foregoing letter:

From the Galena "Daily Democrat" of December 24.

"NOBLE SENTIMENTS.

"In our last issue we placed before the readers of the 'Demoerat' a letter, written by David Sheean, Esq., just after his release from Fort Lafayette, and addressed to a personal friend of his in this city. We to-day print a letter written by him on the 13th instant, and addressed to the Judge Advocate, in reply to an official intimation that he would be discharged on his parole, by taking an oath similar to the one which has been adminisred to others in like circumstances.

"As will be seen, he indignantly spurned the proposal, fair enough on its face, but evidently intended to entrap an innocent man into that which might be construed to his disadvantage. But Mr. Sheean, conscious of his innocence, and determined to come out of the furnace into which he had been cast without the smell of fire upon his garments, rebuked the insolence of office, and stood firmly and defiantly on his integrity, and boldly vindicates his patriotism and his manhood. From our heart of hearts we thank him for his manly display of moral courage, and we put it on record, as an example worthy of being imitated by the young men of our State and nation. In a few hours he will be with us, 'honorably discharged,' and spontaneously honored by his friends and fellow-citizens. Let it never be forgotten that he refused to bow the knee to Baal, or worship at the bloody shrine of Moloch. If guilty of any crime, let him be fairly tried and justly punished, but until confronted by his

accusers, let him be held as innocent as Cæsar's wife—'not only free from guilt, but above suspicion.' O liberty! what crimes are perpetrated in thy name!"

On the following day after this letter was written, Mr. Sheean was unconditionally discharged. He was set at liberty in New York, to make his way home as best he could. No trial or examination was ever offered him. No charge was ever made against him. He was never informed who conspired against his liberty or by what means his arrest was brought about; all this he was left to surmise. Without even an apology for his four months' incarceration, he was turned out of the Bastile, injured in health and ruined in business, with a feeling of genuine hatred for the cause that demanded the sacrifice, and sharpened to recklessness by the wrongs he had endured.

The arrest of Mr. Sheean operated the reverse of what was intended. Instead of intimidating, it stimulated his political and personal friends. He who dared to justify was quickly silenced. They declared themselves ready to follow him his cause was theirs, and they openly became his champions.

The City Council of Galena unanimously passed resolutions condemning the act, and requesting of the Government a speedy examination of his case and that of Mr. Johnson. One thousand citizens of Galena, including a company of volunteers, signed a petition of the same purport. A request for an examination of the cases was extorted from the Govcrnor of Illinois. General Rawlings sent to the Secretary of War a similar request as to Mr. Sheean, indorsed by General Grant, but all to no purpose.

The sullen despot at Washington heeded not prayers, petitions, or appeals for justice. That piece of loyal corruption Washburne was at "Court," and his ends were not yet accomplished. His will had imprisoned, and his will alone could release. It is a fact worthy of note, that out of twentyfive letters written by Mr. Shecan, while imprisoned, con

taining denunciations against Washburne, none ever reached the persons to whom they were written; and it is supposed that Washburne to-day is the possessor of them.

After Mr. Sheean's return to Galena, the Democrats, being determined to rebuke his enemies and reward him, induced him against his desire to be their candidate for Mayor of the city, and elected him by a vote of two to one for his Republican opponent, it being the largest vote ever given for a municipal officer in Galena.

GE

GEORGE W. WILSON.

EGE W. WILSON, of Upper Marlboro', Maryland, was arrested for the publication of an article in the Marlboro' Gazette, of which paper he was the Editor. The article in question was a criticism upon the unjustness of the apportionment of the population of his State, which included white and black, freemen and slaves, in the basis for a draft.

The apportionment made three-fifths of the slaves and free colored population a part of the militia of the State, when the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and the acts of the Legis. lature distinctly declared the militia of the State shall consist only of that portion of her free white citizens who are between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years.

On the morning of the 15th of October, 1862, his house was searched in his absence by a Government Detective, who said that he was searching for Government stores, but failed to find any. He was supported in his nefarious work by a squad of soldiers, under the command of a Captain Bullock.

Upon Mr. Wilson's return to Marlboro', at noon, he reported himself to the Captain, who at once put him under arrest. After a private and informal examination of his case before the Provost Marshal of the County, the Detective, and the Captain, during which time these functionaries had quite a sharp discussion as to who had the greatest power in the case, a parole of two hours was granted the prisoner, when he was to report, and hear what disposition had been made of him.

At the expiration of the allotted time, he found a horse in readiness, and was told that he was to be taken to Washington. Thither he was conducted, and arrived safely at the Old Capitol, at 9 o'clock P.M., where he was lodged, with ten

or twelve other prisoners, in room No. 16. At the examina tion in Marlboro', the Marshal and Detective acquitted him fully of the charge alleged, but the Captain arraigned him upor the editorials published in that morning's "Gazette.' He read and re-read them, torturing the language into an "interference with the draft," and charging him (Wilson) with sarcasm, in calling his soldiers "the sons of Abraham." He defended himself by asserting that it was a cognomen of their own choosing, and quoting in support a popular air of the day. His escape from the civil authorities, (the Marshal and Detective,) and his arrest by the military, brought to mind the situation of the Irishmen in 1798:

"Them were hard times for an honest gossoon;

If he missed of the judges, he met a dragoon :
And whether the judges or soldiers gave sentence,
The devil a short time they gave for repentance."

During the few days Mr. Wilson was an occupant of the Old Capitol, and an inmate of room No. 16 of the famousinfamous, rather - Bastile, he made his room-mates forget, most of the time, that they were victims of despotism. His bon-mots and witticisms seemed inexhaustible, and the vivaciousness of his temper tended to dispel the ennui which had settled upon them.

Nor did his interest in the well-being of his fellow-prisoners cease with separation from them. No sooner did he reach home, some twenty miles from Washington, than he despatched a large box of provisions, which he knew, by his six days' experience of the treatment of prisoners of state by the Administration, they much needed. Mr. Wilson's genial nature and liberal and gentlemanly conduct will ever be held in grateful remembrance by his fellow-victims of despotism of room No. 16, Old Capitol Prison.

After remaining in the modern Bastile for six days, his case was taken up, and he was discharged, mainly through the exertions of the Hon. Charles Calvert, representative in Congress from his district.

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