The daily Green Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1861-1865, 1861-07-06

|
of the Union men to freely pass supplies from
among them to the insurrectionlsts, which 1t
could not do as an open enemy, at a stroke. 1t
would take all the trouble off the hands OF the
secession lists except only what proceeds from the
external blockade. 1t would do for the dlsu-
Mon, that which of all things they most desire
feed them well give them disunion. without
a struggle of their own. 1t recognizes no hdel-
ty TO the Constitution, no obligation to main
tain the Union and while very many who have
favored it are doubtless loyal citizens, it is, new
ertheess. very injurious in effect.
Recurring to the action Of the Government,
it may be stated that at first call was made
for SO, 900 militia, and rapidly following this,
IL proclamation was issued for closing the ports
of insurrectionary districts by proceedings in
the nature Of blockade. So far all was be
ieved to be strictly legal. At this point the
nsurrcctionlsts announced their intention to en-
ter on the practice of privateerng Other calls
made for volunteers to serve for three years,
unless sooner discharged, and also for large ad-
dtions to the regular army and navy. These
measures, whether strictly legal or not, were
ventured upon, under what appeared to be
popular demand and pu bic necessity, trusting
then as now, that Congress would regularly rat
| ify them. 1t is believed that nothing has been
done beyond the constitutional competency of
Congress. Soon after the first call for militia,
it was considered a duty to authorize the COM
handing General in proper cases according to
his discretion, to suspend the privileges of the
writ of hadeas corpus, or in other words to ar
rest and detain, without resort to the ordinary
processes and forms of law such as he mi ht
deem dangerous to public safety.
This authority has purposely been exercised
but very sparingly, nevertheless the propriety
and legality of what has been done under it have
been questioned, and the attention of the coun-
try has been called to the proposition that one
who has been sworn to take care that the laws
should be faithfully execu tied should not himself
| violate them. OF course, some consideration
was given to the questions OF power and proprl-
ETY. before this matter was acted upon. The
whole of the laws which were required to be
faithfully executed, were being resisted, and
failing of execution in nearly one-t third Of the
States, must they be allowed finally to fail OF
execution, even had it been perfectly clear that
| by the use of the means necessary to their ex
ecution some single law would in such extreme
tenderness Of the citizens liberty, that prac-
tlcally 1t relieves more Of the guilty than the
innocent should, to Il very limited extent be
violated? 10 state the question more directly,
are all the laws but one 20 go unexecuted, and
all the Government go to pieces lest that one be
official oath be broken if the Governments should
be overthrown, when it was believed that disre-
gaTdinG the single law would tend to preserve
it? But it was uOt believed that this qu stion
Was presented Ii was not believed that any
la" was violated. The provision Of the Con-
s5ltutlon that the writ Of habeas corpus shall not
be suspended except in cases of rebellion or in
vaslon, as the public safety may require is equiv
alent to provision that such privilege may be
suspended when III cases Of rebellion or invasion,
the public safety does require it. 1t was de-
cided that we have II case of rebellion and that
the public safety does require the qualified sus-
pension of the privilege of the writ, which was
authorized to be made, and now it is insisted
that Congress and not the Executive is vested
with this power But the Consttu ton itself
Is silent as to who is to exercise, and as the pro.
vision was plainly made for IL dangerous emer-
gency, it cannot be believed that the trainers
OF the instrument intended that in every case
the danger should run its course till Congress
should be called together, the very assembling
of which might be prevented as was intended
IN this case, by the rebellion. No more extend
ed argument is now offered, as an opinion, at
some length will probably be presented by the
Attorney General, whether there shall be any
Legislation on the subject, and if SO, what, is
submitted entirely to the better Judgment of
Congress?
The forbearance Of this Government has been
SO extraordinary and 50 long continued as to
lead some foreign nations to shape their action
as if they supposed the early destruction of our
national Union was probable. While this one
discovery gave the Executive some concern, he lie
now happy to say that the sovereignty and rights
OF the United States are now everywhere prac-
tica!ly respected by foreign powers, and gen
eral sympathy is manifested throughout the
world.
The reports of the Secretaries of War, Treas
ury and Navy, will give the information in de-
tail deemed necessary for your elaboration and
action, while the Executive and all the Depart
ments will stand ready to supply omissions, or
to communicate new facts considered important
for you to know.
1t is now recommended that you give the le-
gal means for making this contest short and
decisive one. That you place in the control of
the Government at least 100000 men, and
$500, 000 900. That number of men is about
one tenth of those Of proper age within the re-
gions where apparently all are willing to engage,
and the sum of money is less than u twenty
third part of the money value owned by the
men who seem ready to give the whole. A
debt of $500 900 900 now Is less sum per head
than was the debt of our revelation when We
came out OF that struggle, and the money value
IN the country bears even Il greater portion
to what it was then than does the population
Surely each man has strong motive to pre-
serve our liberties as each had then to establish
them. A light result at this time will be worth
more to the world than ten times the men and
ten times the money. The evidence reaching
us from the country leaves no doubt that the
material for the work is aim ndant and that !,