The national Republican., 1861-07-06


ing general, in proper cases, according to his
discretion, to suspend the privilege Of the writ
OF hdbeas corpus, or, in other words, to arrest
and detain, without resort to the ordinary pro.
cesses and forms Of law, such individuals as
he might deem dangerous 10 the public safety.
This authority has purposely been exercised but
very sparingly. Nevertheless, the legality and
propriety Of what has been done under Il are
questioned, and the attention Of the country
has been called to the proposition that one who
is sworn to "takc care that the laws be faith.
fully executed" should not himself violate
them. Of course some consideration was
given to the questions Of power, and propriety,
before this matter was acted upon. The whole
Of the laws which were required to be faithful.
ly executed, were being resisted, aud failing Of
execution in nearly one.third of the States.
Must they be allowed to finally fail Of execu.
ton, even had it been perfectly clear, that BY
the use Of the means necessary to their execu.
tion, some single law, made in such extreme
tenderness Of the citizens liberty, that practi.
cally, it relieves more Of the guilty than of the
innocent, should, TO very limited extent, be
violated2 To state the question more directly,
are all the laws but one to go unexecuted, and
the Government itself 60 to pieces, lest that
one be violated3 %. '"a
Even IN suCn case, WOulu not tne Onc1AI 0atn
be broken, If the Government should be over
thrown, when II was believed that disreg garding
the single law, would tend to preserve It? But
it was not believed that this question was pre-
sented. It WAS not believed that any law was
violated. The provision Of the Consultation that
the privilege Of the writ Of ha6eds corpus shall
not be suspended unless when, In caaes of rebel.
lion or invasion, the public safety may REQUIRE
it," 10 equivalent to provison-is provision
that such privilege may be suspended when, Ia
cases Of rebellion or invasion, the public safety
does require 1t. 1t was decided that we have a
case Of rebellion, and that the public safety 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 Ex-
ecutive, is vested with this power. But the Con
sttu ion itself s silent as to which, who, is to
exercise the power; and as the provision was
plainly made for dangerous emergency, 1t can
not be believed the trainers of the instrument In
tended that, In every case, the danger should
run its course, until Congress could be called to-
yether the very assembling Of which might be
prevented, as was intended in this case, by the
rebellion. ..-
No more extended argument is now offered, as
an opinion, at some length, will probably be pre-
sented by the Attorney General. Whether there
shall be any legislation upon the subject, and If
judgment of Congress "
The forbearance of this Government had been
so extraordinary, and so long-oontinued, as to
lead come foreign nations to shape III cir action
as If they supposed the early destruction of our
National Union was probable. While this, on
discovery, gave the Executive some concern, he
is now happy to say that the sovereignty and
rights Of the United States are now everywhere
practically respected by foreign Powers and q
general sympathy with the country is manifested
throughout the world. ~ ......... -...
The reports Of the secretaries Of the Treas
ury, War, and the Navy, will give the informa
ton in detail deemed necessary, and eonvenien
| for your deliberation and action while thu
Executive, and all the Departments, will stand
ready to supply omissions, or to communicate
new facts, considered important for you tc
know.
1t is now recommended that you give the
legal means for making this contest shor
and decisive one that you place at the con
troll Of the Government, for the work, at least
| four hundred thousand men, and four hundred
millions Of dollars. That number of men j,
about one.tenth Of those Of proper ages within
the regions where, apparently, all are willing t.
engage; and the sum is less than twenty
third part Of the money value owned by tn
men who seem ready to devote the whole.
debt of six hundred millions of dollars noao, i
a less sum per head, than was the debt Of ou
| revolution when we come out Of that struggle
and the money value in the country now, bear
even q greater proportion to what it was the
than does the population. Surely each ma
has as stong motive no,o to preserve our lib
critics, as each had then to establish them.
A right result, at this time will be wort
more to the world than ten times the men, an,
ten times the money. The evidence reachip
US from tho country, leaves no d0ubt, that tn
material for the work is abundant and tha
it needs only the hand of legislation to give
legal sanction, and the hand of the Executiv
to give it practical shape and efficiency. One Q
the greatest perplexities of the Government
to avoid receiving troops faster than it can pre-
vide for them. In word, the people will say
their Government, if the Government itself wi
do its part only indiferen,ly well.
1t might seem, at first thought, to be of littl
difference whether the present movement at tn
South be called "secession or "rebellion.
The movers, however, well understand the di
ference. At the beginning, they knew the
could never raise their treason to any respec
able magnitude by any name which impie
violation of law. They knew their people po!
sessed as much of moral sense, as much of d.
votion to law and order, and as much pride il
and reverence for, the history and Governmer
Of their common country, as any other civilize
and patriotic people. They knew they coul
make no advancement directly in the teeth {
these strong and noble sentiments Accort
ingly, they commenced by IN insidious d.
bauching Of the public mind. They invente
an ingenious sophism, WHICH, IL conceded, wa
followed by perfectly logical steps, through a
the incidents, to the complete destruction Of tn
Union. The sophism itselfis, that any State
the Union may, consistently with the nations
Constitution, and therefore lawfaliy and peac
fully, withdraw from the Union, without tn
consent of the Union, or of any other Stat
The little disguise that the supposed right is I
be exercised only for just cause, themselves I
be the sole judge of its justice, is too thin I
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