The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-11-22


ted States, whenever its correct decision de
ponds on the construction of either" -Story.
Com. on the Con-, S. S56-'7, 8.
III. The District Judge has jurisdiction ana
| can exercise judicial pOicer only achere then ar
gtcen by the United States Constitution anc
laos Of Congress-.
This Federal officer derives his Office. anC
power to act in the same, not from anything
found in the Constitution, laws bills of rights
OF the States, or the common law, but from
what is found in the United States Constitution
and the laws of Congress: his jurisdiction il
the premises is limited by these-they present
barriers to his relentless doings as well as iu
dlclal acts, and the voices which echo from
their pages teach him, THUS FAR SHALT THOU
GO, AND NO FURTHER. The element to which
the laws have restricted his power as we'll a.
pastime is known; its specific gravity has beer
measured, and its component parts been wei
ascertained.
The judicial power of the United States Gov
eminent is vested in one Supreme Court, ant
IN such inferior Courts as Congress may fron
time to time ordain and establish Con, art
ui, sec. l. Congress established the Circus
Court and Districts Courts, and, by the Judi
ciary Act of 1887, prescribed the powers anC
duties of the Judges thereof, as well as of the
Justices of the Supreme Court To show the
reader the source of the power and authority
exercised by this and the other Federal Judges
to issue writs, and all the warrant which ex
lists for issuing hdbeas corpus by these Judges
! as Courts, or as Judges off the bench, out o.
Court, as such, at chambers, mere commission
ers for a prescribed duty or purpose, acting
rather Enthusiastically than judicially, we here
transcrlbe section l4th OF that act, and ask the
candid reader to point out the part, para graph
III .,bi oh Oh a.
went forth from Kane to Williamson. Within
Its few lines, if anywhere, will be seen all and
the only grant to issue this process by thai
flnctionarv:
And DC 1t further, enacted, That all the be
aforementioned COURTS of the United States
shall have power to issue writs of feri facias
hd6eds corpus, and all other writs not specially
provided for by statute, which may be necessa
ry for the exercise of their respective iurisdic
tons, and agreeable to the principles anC
usages of law. And that either of the Justice.
of the Supreme Court, as well as Judges of the
District Courts, shall have power to grant writs
of ha6eds corpus, for the purpose of inquirine
into the cause of commitment. PrOvided, thai
writs of habeas corpus shall in no case extend
to prisoners in gaol, unless where they are in
custody under or by color of the authority OF
the United States, or are committed for trial
before some Court of the same, or are necessa.
ry to be brought into Court to testify"
Here we have the boundaries of the power OF
these Judges to issue process, clearly marked
BESIDES this, Just as clearly is there n marked
distinction In respect to their powers, an Court
and ont Of Court, over the writs known in the
law; in respect to what writs may issue, while
they, or either of them, are sitting and holding
Court, as such, in term and in respect also to
what writ, and under what circumstances il
may be issued by Judge in vacation of term.
out of Court, in chambers, so called. Now. the
hdbeds corpus, which issued in the matter of
these slaves of Wheeler, was not put forth in
or Of any other Court, but went forth from a
Judge in vacation of term; having had bas-
tard paternity, and a bantling parturition out
side of ourthalls, Court-houses, and Court
customs, being born in chambers, a legal MsuS
nature, the hybrid progeny of the unholy ALI
ance of Slavery and q descendant of the COM
mon law, and adopted as child into his fami.
ly by that civilian, because of his long and ten
der affection for the father and the paternal
ancestors?
To change our figures of rhetoric, and to use
other language, it is painful, in the extreme to
witness the wrestling from its ancient and es-
| tablished uses to the pfostituting purposes of
slavery OF that old prerogative writ, which
dates its origin and advent in the times that
developed Magma Charta, and has secured,
more than all other appliances known in the
law, the liberty of the subject or citizen from
the trespasses of power. The grea; liberator
has become the great ensiaver. This jewel of
Magma CAdrsa has been subjected to the vul-
can fires and FORCES of internal gods, whose
workshops, of late, have been the Court-halls
and law.chambers of Federal justiciaries and,
by their "pecular" processes Of t-ansmuiation,
has been manufactured inso corroding hand
SE..s and dungeon keys.
We feel justified in appropriating here the
sad and sorrowful reflection upon the mutabil-
ito Of things, of Hamlet, the nozzle Prince of
Denmark, g" % wpat ease uses we may return,
| ftofatiol Why may not imagination trace the
noble dust of Alexander, till we find it stopping
bung hole!" The knell of Liberty has been
rung, and its funereal sounds have reached our
ears! The charnel-house of Slavery hath been
flung open wide, to receive its hallowed re-
mains "Alas, poor Yorickln
The spirit of Liberty, which animated the
fathers of the Republic, seems to have departed
with them. What Colonial Judge ever dared
to put to such use, SO to debase It's high mis-
sion, as is now done with habeas corpus by
Federal Judges? 1t might as well have been
used to enforce the enormities of the odious
Stamp Act. 1t is now the miserable man-trap
of Slavery
". The District Judge he'd 30 pv,ocr to com
mn TOR contempt ~ tie proceedings under the
aa6eaS corpus.
Let US surrender all the foregoing PROPOSE.
tons, for the sake Of the argument allow the
Judge the benefit of iuriSdiction OF the subject
matter jurisdiction Of the person; and grant
that the complaint before him made such
cease as is contemplated by the Constitu-
tion-was even triable on hd6edS corpus in
fine, that there appeared sufficient on the face
OF the proceedings on hdbedS corpus, to show
that the Judge had complete jurisdiction, in all
respects, of the affair of which he took cogni-
Zance.
IL is clear, from the language of the Consti-
tuition and laws of Congress, that the Federal
Judges have had assigned to them positions
differing in power and purposes-the one Judi
cial, the other ministerial and collateral; the
one to be exercised in court, the other out OF
court; and that while in court they are clothed
with Judicial power, while out Of court they
have none.
This difference of power and purpose, ac-
cording to the position occupied by the Judge
at the time OF his exercise Of the same may be
seen running through all the laws instituting
and regulating the courts and the Judges there
of. We might instance cases, almost dd inf
nituna, where the Judge acts only as a commits
sioner, wholly Invested of judicial authority
but we will cite only the following, {Er parte
Beatty, II Wepd., 299,) which was case of
habe6s corpus, and where our Supreme Court
have made the same distinctions which we have
above, and expressly declare that the habeas
corpus, when not granted by the Court is
granted " by one of the Justices thereof acting
a. commissioner" Again: In our own State,
all the Judges of the Supreme Court, besides
those OF some other courts, are empowered to
hear and determine all applications of insol-
vent DISCHARGE under what IL callad the Twn