The Arkansas banner., 1844-03-13
SPEECH OF MIR DOUGLAS,
DE ILLINOIS.

.f
 lS41-H, Committee er hc IFho1r.
 The question being on the amendment :, or
 fered by Mr STEPHENS. of Geoggia, 'o '''c :
 bill introduced by Mr c. J. iSGERspii, 2. ooo o,
 PennsvIvania. to refund the fine oi Si'VoV
 assessed mon General Jackson by Judge
 Hall, in l815-
 Wle, ,b;s bill was introduced by inc
 loarned oenrleman from Pennsylvania, Mir.
 cI Ingersoll. l entertained the hope that
 il would be permitted to pass without dis cnssion and without opposition But the character of the amendment submitted by the gentleman from Georgia, AIr. Stephens, and ihe tei,ate which has taken place upon Il and the original bill, have been Of such na- tufe as to justify and require the friends of the bill to 90 into a discussion of the whole subject For one, l am not disposed to| shrink from the investigation of any question connected with this subject; nor am pre- pared 10 acqulesce silently in the correctness of the imputatlons cast upon the friends of this measure by gentlemen in the opposition. They have been pleased to stigmatlze this act of justice to the distinguished patriot and hero as a humbug-a party triek-a pollt- Ndi iipftlHtul JilttUttu iO oljNisttC ulloii next Presidential election. These imputa- tions are as uniounded as they are uncourte- ous; and hurl them back, in the spirit which they deserve, upon any man who is capable of harborng--much less expressing such sentiment. Ii i'll becomes gentle men to profess to be the real friends of Gen. Jackson, and the exclusive guardians of his fame, and to characterize our efforts as snis- ter and insinccre,-while, Tn the same breath, they charge him with violating the Constilu- ton and laws, and tranipling with ruthless violence upon the judiciary of the country. They seem to act upon the principle that the most successful mode of blackening the cha rac!er of great and good man, is to profess to be his friends, while making uniounded admissions against him, which, if true, would blast his reputation forever. If these are to be taken as the kind offerings of friendship, well may the old hero pray God to deliver him from the hands of his friends, and leave him to take care of his enemies.
 l insist that this bill has been brought forward and supported in good faith as an act of justce-strict, rigid, impartial justice to the American people, as we'll as their bravest defender The country has an in- tcrest in the character of her public men :; their msullied fame gives briliancy to her glory. The history of General Jackson is so inseparably connected with the history of his country, that the slightest blot upon the one, would fix all indelliblc stain upon the other. Hence the duty, the high and patri- otic duty, of the Representatives of the peo- pie, to eflace every unjust stigma from the spotless character of that truly great man, and transmit his name to posteriiy adorned with all the charms which the light of truth will impart to il.
 The charge of exerting arbitrary power and lawless violence over courts, and Legis- latufes, and civil institutions. in derogation of the Constitution and laws, and without the sanction ef rightful authority, have been so often made and reiterated for political eff feet, that doubtless many candid men have been disposed to rcpose faith in their cor rectness, without taking the pains to examine carefully the grounds upon which they rest. question involving the right of the country to use the means necessary to it's defence from foreign invasion, in times of imminent and impending danger, is too vtally important to be yielded without al inquiry into the nature and source of that fatal restriction which is to deprive a nation of the power of self pre- scrvation. The proposition contended for by the opposition is, that the general in command, to whose protection are commit ted the country, and the lives, property, and the liberties of the citizens within his dis trict, may not declare martial law, when it is asceftained that its exercise, and 1t alone, can sale all from total destruction. It Is gravely contendcd that, in such an awful con unc- ture of circumstances, the general must aban- don all to the mercy of the enemy, because he is not authorised to elevate the military above the civil authorities; and that. too, when it is certain that nothing but the pow CT of the military law can save the civil laws and the Constitution of the country from complete annihhilation. If these are not the positions assumed by gentlemen in so many words, they are unquestionably the conclusion to which their positions necessa- rily and inevitably conduct us; for no man pretends to venture the assertion that the city of New Orleans could, by any human agen- cy or effort, have been saved in any other manner than the declaration and enforcement ot martial law. For one, maintain that, in the exercise ol this power, General Jackson did not violate the Constitution, nor assume to himself any authority which was not ful- ly authorised and legalised by his position, his duty and the unavoidable necessity of the case. Sir, l admit that the declaration of martial law IS the exercise of summary, ar biirary, and despotic power, like that of a judge punishing for contempt, without evi- dence, or trial, or jury, and without any oih- CT law than his own will, or any limit to the punishment but his own diseretion The power Tn the two cases is analogous il rests upon the same principle, and is defivable from the same source-eXtreme necessity
 The gentleman from New Y ork, Mr. Ba- nard, in his legal argument to establish the right of Judge Hall 10 fine General Jackson one thousand dollars for contempt of court, without the forms of trial, has informed us that tllls power is not conferred by the com mon law, nor by statute, nor by any express provision of the Constitution, but il is inhe- sreM Tn every judicial tribunal, and every le- lS hpflx -..