The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1861-06-14

OG
OF the States.
So, too ibis powers in relation to the civil du.
ties and authority necessarily conferred on him
are carefully restricted, as well as those belong.
ing 10 his military character He canno, ao-
point The ordinary officers of government, MOI
make treaty with foreign nation or Indian
Tribe, without the advice and consent of the
Senate, aud cannot even appoint even in
ferior officers, unless he is authorized by an acl
Of Congress to do so. He is not empowered 10
arrest any one charged with an of-nce alasg
q the United States, and whom he may, ffoal the
evidence before him, believe TO 5e guIty nos
can he authorize any officer, civil or m. lnary,
to exercise this power, for the 9TH article to The
amendments 10 the Constitution expressly pro-
vldes that person shall be deprived of life.
liberty or property, without due process OF Iaw''
! that is, judicial process.
And even If the privilege OF the writ of Aa-
6eas corpus was suspended by act of Congress,
and party not subject to the rules and articles
OF war was afterwards arrested and imprisoned
by regular judicial process-he could Lot be de-
/ tanned 10 prison or brought to trial before mil
Itary tribunal, for the article 10 the Amendments
to the Constitution immediately following the
one ABOVE referred to--thal IS, The 6ch aitIcie--
provides TINT In all CT imina prosecutions the
accused shall enjoy the right TO speedy and
public trial by an impartial jury OF the State
and district wherein the crime shall have been
committed, which district shall have been pre-
Viously asceftained by law, and to be informed
OF the nature and cause of the aecusatian TO
be confronted with the witnesses against him
to have compulsory process for obtaining wit
neSses in his favor, and 10 have the assistance
OF counsel for his defence
And the only power, therefore, which the
President possesses, where the life, liberty or
property" Of private citizeu is concerned, is
the power and duty prescribed in the third sec
ton OF the second article, which requires t" THAI
he shall take care that the laws be faithfully ex-
ec1ted." He is rot aut horzed to execute them
himself, or through agents or officers civil or
military, appointed by himself, but be Is 10 take
care that they be faithfully carried into exrcu-
ton, as they afr expounGed and adjudged by
the co-ordnatebFanch OF the Government to
which that duty IS assigned by the Constitution.
1t is thus made his duty to come in aid of tie
judicial authority, If it shall be resisted by
force too strong to be overcome without the as-
ssstaaco Of tho executive arua- gst ~ S.Ssrcss-
ing this duty be acts in subordination to judicial
authority, assisting it 10 execute It's process and
enforce its judgments.
With such provisions in the Constitution. ex-
pressed IN language too clear 10 be msunGer-
stood by any one, I can see no ground whatev-
er for supposIng that the President, in anv
emergency or in any state OF things, can author
lze the suspension Of the privilege Of the writ
OF habedS corpus or arrest a citizen, except in
aid ol the JUDICIAL power. He certainly does
not faithfully execute the laws if he takes upon
himself legislative power by suspending the
writ of habeaS corpus-and the judicial power
also by arresIing and imprisoning person with
out due process OF law. Nor can any argu-
ment be drawn from the nature OF sovereignty,
or the necessities of government, for sel-de-
fence in times oftumult and danger. TIE Gov
ernment of the United States is one of delegated
powers. 1t derives its existence and authority
altogether from the Constitution, and neither
of its branches, Executive, Legislative or Judi
cial, can exercise any Of the powers Of Govern
ment beyond those specified and granted. For
the 10th article oi the amendment to the Con-
strtutlon, in express terms provides that the
powers not delegated to the United States by
the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
States, are reserved to the States respectively,
or to the people,"
Indeed, the security against Imprisonment
by executive authority, provided for IN the fifth
article OF the Amendments OF the Constitution,
which L have before quoted, is nothing more
than copy o. like provision in the EngIlsh
Constitution, which had been firmly established
before the Declaration OF Independence.
Blackstone IN his Commentaries LIST vol,
1917, states it in the following words:
50 To make imprisonment lawful, it must be
either by process from the Courts OF JudIcature
or by warrant from some legal officer having
authority 10 commit to prison." And the peo-
pie ol The United Colonies, who had themselves
lived under its protection while they were
British subjects, were we'll aware of the neces-
sty of this safeguard Tor their personal liberty.
And no one can believe that in framing gov
ernment intended TO guard still more efficient
ly the rights OF the citizens against executive
entroachment and oppression, they would have
conferred on the President power which the
history of England had proved TO be dangerous
and oppressive in the hands OF the Crown, and
which the people of England had compelled il
TO surrender after long and obstinate struggle
on the part OF the English Executive to usurp
and retain il.
The right OF the subject 10 the benefit of the
writ OF habeas corpus, it must be recollected,
was one of the great points IN controversy du--
ing the long struggle in England between arbi-
trsry govrrnment and free institutions, and
must therefore have strongly attracted the at
tention of statesmen engaged in framing new
and, as they supposed, freer government than
the one which they had thrown off by the rev.
olutlon. For from the earliest history OF the
common law, if person was imprisoned-no
matter by what authority he had right to The
writ of habsas corpus to bring his case before
the Kings Bench ; and il no specific offence
was charged against hIm in the warrant o! COM