The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-05-10

THE WRIT OF HABEAs CORPUS" SECURITY
FROM UNREASONABLE SEARCHES AND SEiZ
URES.'
To the Friends of american Liberty:
In my last letter / insisted that the leading
and characteristic features of the United States
Constitution, AS exhibited in its principal and
specific provisions, were in accordance with its
delared objects in its Preamble. / remarked
that my fellow-citizens in general, who boast
themselves of their Constitutional rights y
and free institutions" would cry out against
me, if should say otherwise. l then under
took to show that these leading provisions Of
the Constitution, which give it its character,
and which, in the eyes Of the people, constitute
it the bulwark of their liberties, are provisions
which stand there without restriction or limita-
ton, and are as potent for securing the liberties
of black men as of white men, making no dis
tinction of race, condition, or color. ! brought
forward the provision amendment W which
declares, that No person shall be deprived of
life, liberty, or property, without due process OF
law" and showed that this was equivalent to
an act of liberation to the enslaved.
l now proceed to notice another provision.
II. THE HABEAs CORPUS.
The provision concerning educ process of
this appears in the original instrument:
"The privileges of the writ of habeas corpus
shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases
of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may
require it."-Art. !, Sec. 9, Clause 2.
"Habeas corpus shave the body
is "a writ delivering person from false i'm
prisonment," (duress, confinement, or depriva-
ton of liberty, cor for removing person from
one court to another."-N Webster.
The object of the writ is to bring the body of
the person who had been restrained of lber-
ty' into court, "who shall determine wheth-
or the cause of his commitment be just, and
thereupon to do as justice shall appertain."-
l6 Charles 1, C. 10; Btackstones CON-, b. /,
l35. 1t is directed to the person detdining
another, and commanding him to produce the
body Of the prisoner, with the day and cause of
his capture and detention" &C., "to do, submit
to, and receive whatsoever the Judge or court
awarding the writ shall consider in that be-
half.''-Bldckstone, III, l3l.
This account of the writ of habeas corpus is,
by Blackstone, connected with the language of
the Great Charter, that "no freeman shall be
taken or imprisoned, but by the lawful judg-
ment of his equals, or by the law of the land"
And many subsequent old statutes expressly
direct that "no man shall be taken or impris-
oned by suggestion or petition to the King or
his Council, unless it be by legal indictment, or
the process Of the common laio. "-Bldckstone,
], l35.
1t will be noticed here, that Blackstone cor
roborates the authorities cited in my last letter
in proof that educ process of law means Gle
gal indictment" The "process of the common
law =" includes this, and the trial by Jury. And
it is evident that the act of habeas corpus, ex-
torted from Charles i, was designed to secure
the due "process of law the indictment and
jury trial, extorted from King John. This is
the view taken by Blackstone, who thus couples
the habeas corpus with the "Bil Of Rights"
as carrying out the provisions of Magma Charta.
This writ of habeas corpus" says Blackstone,
lis the most celebrated writ in the English
law.-(H, 1927 And again, in treating of
the subsequent abolition of the slarish" lieu
dal) "tenures," after the restoration of King
Charles III, he adds GAN additional security
of his 1.-THE subject's) person from imprison-
ment was obtained by that great 6ulpark of
oar Constitution, the HABEAs CoRPUs act"
"These two statutes, with regard to our prop
erty and persons, form second Magma Charta,
as beneficial as that of Runnymede.' Mag
ma Charta only in general terms declared that
no man shall be imprisoned contrary to law.
The ha6eds corpus act points out the effectu-
al means, as well to release himself, though
committed even by the King in Council, as to
punish oil those who shall thus unconstitution-
ally misuse him."-B. ", 43S, 439.
Mr.. Christien, the annotator of Blackstone,
says that "it is this writ that makes Slavery
impossible in England" 1t was this writ that
liberated James Somerset, and terminated Sla-
very in England, in l772, by decision of Lord
Chief Justice Mansfield
And now, after all this, and with the full
knowledge of it all, with the Magma Charta,
the habeas corpus act, the Commentaries of
Blackstone and the decision of Lord Mansfield,
all before them, and with the applauding pub
lie sentiment of our forefathers in both hemis
pheres, 1.-THE College of William and Mary. in
Virginia, having conferred her highest honors
on the Abolitionist, Granville Sharp, who had
procured this decision,) the greatest statesmen,
civilians, jurists, and lawyers, in our Western
Hemisphere, with theireyes open on law and
history, our Hamilton, King, Franklin, Madi-
son, the Pinckneys, and their associates, come
together and draft Constitution. And with
out any hesitancy or demur, that we know of,
they all agreed in putting into it this "habeas
corpus" act, which had made Slavery impos-
sible in England )" the act that provides for the
liberation of all who are not adjudged by "due
process of law to have forfeited their liberties
accOrQanCe
with "J,astice;" an act that renders it imposs.
BILE even for "the King and Council" of Eng
land so to deprive a man Of liberty that he can
not be thus reached and liberatedi
And the people-Northern and Southern
accepted and ratified the Constitution. Not
only so, they insisted on adding the "due pro-
cess of law" amendment, considered in nv
last letter. lest the power of the habeas corpus
should fail of being understood in its full scope.
1t included, indeed, by fair implication. the
"due process of law" for the reaching of
which the writ was devised. But our fathers
would leave nothing for inference. in SO vital a
matter. The nail must not only be driven. but
must be clinched.
What did our fathers do in all this? It will
be said-and said truly enough-that in no
other way could they have secured their oUn
Liberties. say so too. l insist upon it, that
it IS so. But insist, further that, in doing it,
they did 1t for all the people of the United
states; In other words, they provided as eff
fectually for the liberation of the enslaved. IA
they did for the security of their own personal
freedom. If it will not answer in the one case.
it will not answer in the other. And some ,clite
people are beginning to find it so, in the enforce
ment OF the Fugitive Slave Bill The Constitu.
ton provides 81 abeas corpus" and a " due
process OF law" for all of us, or for none of u.s.
There can be no help for that. If Won surren-
der it for the cotored man, you surrender it for
the rhtte man. If you surrender it for your
neighbor, you surrender it for yourself The
Fugitive Slave Bill ESQ called) saws nothing Of
slaves. 1t says nothing of color. So far as
TAO is concerned, there is no more security
noic, for one person than for anotherl A pretty
predicament for American citizensl
If you say that the stakeholder can hold
| slaves under the habeas corpus, you say he car
do that which the British King and Council