East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1861-07-11

cording to his discretion, TO suspend the priyi-
lege of the writ of haJeaS corpus; or, in other
words to arrest and detain, without resort TO
the ordinary processes and forms OF law such
individuals as he might deem dangerous to the
public safety This authority has purposely
been exercised bat very spiringly. Neverthe-
less the legality and propriety of what has been
done under it are questioned, and the attention
of the country has been called TO the proposition
that orc who is sworn TO take care that the laws
be carefully executed, should not himself violate
them. OF course some consideration was given
to the question of power and propriety before
this matter was acted upon. The whole of the
laws which were required to be faithfully ex-
ecuted, were being resisted and failing of execu-
ton, in nearly one-third Of the States. Must
they be allowed to finally fail Of execution, even
had it been perfectly clear that by use of the
means necessary to their execution, some single
law made in such extreme tenderness of the
citizens liberty that practically it relieves more
of the guilty than the innocent, should to a
very limited extent be violatedY To state the
question more directly, are all the laws but one
TO 90 unexecuted and the government itself to
90 to pieces lest that one be violated? Even in
such a case would not the official oath he broken
If the government should be overthrow, when
it was believed that disrcgarding the single law
would tend to preserve it. But it was not be-
lieved that this question was presented. 1t was
not believed that any law was violated The
provision of the Constitution that the writ of
haJeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless
when in case of rebellion or invasion the public
safety may require it, is equivalent to pro
vision that such privilege may be suspended
when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the pub
lie safety does require it, 1t was d eided that we
have n case of rebellion, and that the public
safely does require the qualified suspension OF
the privilege of the writ, which was authorized
TO be made Now it is insisted that Congress
and not the Executive, is vested with this
, mower. But the Constitution itself is silent as
to which or who is TO exercise the power, and
, as the provision was plainly made for danger
Gus emergency, it cannot be believed that the
trainers of the instrument intended that III every
case the danger should run its course until Con
gress could be called together the very assem-
blmr of which might be prevented, as was in
tended in this case by the rebellion. No more
extended argument is now afforded, as an
, opinion of some length will probably be pre-
, seated by the attorney general. Whether there
, shall be any legislation on the subject and il
, so, what, is submitted entirely to the better
Judgment of Congress. The forbearance of
, this government had been so extraordinary and
so long continued as to lead some foreiga ma
tons to shape their action as if they supposed
! the early destruction of our national Union was
| probable While this on discovery, gave the
f Executive some concern, he is now happy to
D state that the sovereignty and rights of the
{ United States are now everywhere practically
f respected by foreign powers. And general sym
E patty with the country is manifested through
, out the world.
The reports of the Secretaries Of the Treas
, ury, War and Navy will give the information
| in detail deemed necessary and convenient toi
$ your dclberation and action, while the eXecu
tive and all the departments will stand ready
f TO supply omissions or To oonlhunoote new
+ facts considered important for you to know.
G 1t is now recommended that YOU give tho
0 legal means of making this contest short ant
decisive one; that you place at the control o
. the government for the work at least 100000
5 men and 800 900, 600. That number OF mel
: is about one-tenth of those of the proper agc
. within the regions where apparently all ar,
e willing to engage, and that sum is less than
Y twenty-thrd part Of the money earned by thu
. men who seem ready to devote the whole. a
. debt of six hundred millions of dollars now il
Y a less sum per head than was the lebt of ouI
Q revolution when we came out of that struggle
G and the money value in the country bears
n even greater proportion to what it was then
:, than does the population Surely, each mar
g has as strong a motive now to preserve ou
g liberties as each had then to establish them.
T. A RIGHT result at this time will be wortl
c more to the world than ten times the men ant
. ten times the money. The evidence reaching
/ us from the country leaves no doubt that The
material for the work is abundant and that il
. needs only the hand of legislation to give i
G legal sanction and the hand of the executive
j. to give it practical shape and efficiency. One
. of the greatest perplexites of the government
+. is to avoid receiving troops faster than IL car
G provide for them. In word, the people vii
{ save their government, if the government vii
: do its part only indihercntly well 1t might
0 seem at first thought to be Of little difference
: whether the present movement at the Soutl
D be called secession or rebellion; the movers
5 however, well understand the difference. Al
b the bcginning,they knew that they could never
. raise tn cir treason to any respectable magni
/ tude by any name which implies violation Of
: law they knew their people possessed as much
s of moral sense, as much of devotion to law ant
= order, and as much pride in its reverence for
G the history and government of their common
i country as any other civilized and patriotic
0 people They knew that they could make nc
r advancement directly in the teeth of these
S strong and noble sentiments, accordingly they
y commenced by an insdous debauchng Of the
; public mind they invented an ingenious soph
It ism which if conceded, was followed by per
c fectly logical steps through all the incident,
n Of the complete destruction Of the Union. TIL,
n sophism itself is that any State Of the Union
s may, consistently with the nations Constitu
Il ton, and therefore lawfully and peacefully
It withdraw from the Union, without the consent
;. of the Union or any other State. The littl,
L disrllise that the slnnosed rirht is To be exer