St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1861-07-18

neutrality, that is, an arming of those
States to prevent the Union forces pas.
sing one way, or the disuniOn the 9TH
er, over their soil. This would be dis
union completely figuratively speak
ing, it would be building an impassa
bic wall along the line of separation
and yet, not quite an impossible one
for, under the guise of neutrality, i,
would tie the hands of the Union mer
and freely pass supplies from among
them to the insurrectionists, which il
could not do as an open enemy. At
stroke it would take all the trouble of
the hands of secession except only
what proceeds from the external block
adc. 1t would do for the dsunionists
that which of all things they most dc.
sire, feed them well and give them
disunion without a struggle of their
own. 1t recognizes no fidelity to the
Constitution, no obligation to main
tain the Union. While very many
who have favored it are doubtless 10y
al citizens, it is nevertheless very in
furious in effect.
Recurring to the action of the Gov.
ernment it may be stated that at first
a call was made for IS, 900 militia, and
rapidly following this, proclamation
was issued for closing the ports of the
insurrectionary districts by block
adc. So far all was believed to be
strictly legal
At this point the insurrcctionists
announced their purpose of entering
upon the practice of privateering
Other calls were made for volunteers
to serve three years unless sooner dis
charged, and also large additions tC
the regular army and navy. These
measures, whether strictly legal ol
not, were vcntured upon what appear
ed to be popular demand for public
necessity, trusting then, as now, that
Congress would ratify them. 1t is be
lieved that nothing has been done be.
yond the constitutional competency OF
Congress. Soon after the first call fol
militia, it was considered a duty to
authorize the commanding general, in
proper cases, according to his discre.
tion to suspend the privilege of habeas
corpus, or in other words to arrest and
dctain without resort to ordinary
forms of law such individuals as he
might deem dangerous to the public
safety. This authority has purposely
been exercised very sparingly never
thcless, the legality and propriety Of
what has been done under it are
questioned, and the attention of the
country has been called to the propo
sition that one who has sworn to tax,
care that the laws be faithfully cxccu
ted should not himself violate them
Of course some consideration was
given to the questions Of the power
and propriety before this matter was
acted upon. The whole of the laws
which were required to be faithfully
executed, were being resisted and fail
ing of execution in nearly one-third
of the States. Must they be allowed
TO finally fail of execution, even if i,
had been perfectly clear that by tho
use OF the means necessary to theil
execution some single law made il
such extreme tenderness of the cit
izcn's liberty that practically it relev
es more of the guilty than the limo.
cent, should, to a limited extent, be
violated To state the question more
directly, are all the laws but one to
go uneXccuted, the Government itself
to go pieces lest that one be violated
Even in such case would not the of:
fetal oath be broken if the Govern
mcnt should bc overthrown when il
was believed that disregarding the
single law would tend to preserve it
But it was not believed that this
question was presented. 1t was no
believed that any law was violated
the provision of the Constitution be
ing that the privilege of the Aabea,
corpus shall not be suspended except il
cases of rebellion or invasion the pub
lie safety does require it. 1t was de
cided that we have case of rebellion
and the public safety does require G
qualified suspension of the privilege
of the writ-which was authorized t.
be made. Now it is insisted tha
Congress, and not the executive, i:
vested with this power. But the Con
stitution itself is silent as to whicl
or who is to exercise the power, an,
as the provision was plainly mad,
for dangerous emergency, it canno
be believed that the trainers of th'
instrument intended that in every cas-,
the danger should run its course unit
Congress should be called together
the very assembling of which nigh
be prevented, as was intended in thil
case, by the rebellion. No more ex
tended argument is now offered, a
an opinion at some length will proba
bly, be presented by the Attorney Gen
eral. Whether there shall be any leg
islation on the subject, and if sc
what, lis submitted entirely to the be,
ter Judgment of Congress
The iorbearancc of this Government
has been so extraordinary and SO Ion;
continued as to lead some foreign na
tions to shape their action as if the
supposed the early destruction of ou
National Union was probable. Will
this, on discovery, gave the executiv
some concern, he is now happy to sa
that the sovereignty and rights of tn
United States are now practically rt
spected by foreign powers, and a gen
eral sympathy with the government i
manifested throughout the world.
The Reports Of the Secretaries G
the Treasury, War and Navy, wi
give the information in detail deem
ed necessary and convenient for you
action, while the Executive and De
partments will stand ready to suppl
omissions, OF to communicate ne,
facts considered necessary for you t
know. 1t is now recommended tina
You give the legal means for maxim
this contest short and decisive one
that you place at the control Of til
Government for the work, at lcas
100000 men and 100000, 900. ThG
number of men is about one tenth {