The Placer herald., 1861-12-14
From the Batavia n. Y. Spirit of the Times.]
Judge Chumasero on the Liberty of The
Citizen.

Citizen.
We publish with sincere qualification he
excellent and most timely letter of Hon.
John G. Chumasero, County Judge of Mon
roe County, to Mr.. Butts, of The Rochester
Union. Such letter on such a subject,
al this important crisis and era in oar his
tory is of no ordinary moment. All thanks
and honor, then, to the fearless aud incor
ruptibic Judge who dared to proclaim that
the common law, of which he is the sworn
exponent. aud should be he faithful defend.
vr, still lives, and this whole system OF tele-
graphic arrests, AID imprsoumen,s without
a hearing, ought to Geese.
1t is vel known that Judge Chumasero is
an ardent supporter of President Lincoln,
and has devoted his best energies to sustain
the general Government throughout the pres
ent difficulties and danger His position as
illustrated by bis decision and letter, is
therefore the most praisewothy and com
mendabIe. Those Judges gratefully remem,
bered in history, are those who. despite OF
surrounding clamor or the pressure Of an
honest but blind excitement and passion.
have stood up for the maintainance in all
their purify and force Of the Constitutional
rights of every citizen and uehi 10 afford
to every person accused Of crime or mi,le
meanor, opportunity Of fair and pub
lie trial Judge Chunasero's letter will not
only repay a thoughtful perusal now, but
should be preserved for future reference.
JUDGE cHuMAsERo's TIER.
Editors Union and AdUertiscr:
GENrLEMEN:-I noticed in your yester-
DAYS issue an editorial article retleciug
somewhat upon my course in dischargjng
the persons brought before me- on Friday
last. of course, cannot Object 20 any crit
icsm which may lie made in reference to
the matter, but | feel it due TO myself to
correct one or two errors into which you
lave doubtless inadvertently fallen. HE
most prominent one is, that | made 'fo5'
terinq address to the de$erterS" Had you
YOU been present, this remark would most
certainly not been made. Your informant
either wlIlIully or unwittingly. perverted the
truth. made no remarks to The deserels
but | did remark. as should again, to the
Counsei for the Government, vino indug ged
in some observations deemed by me at the
time somewhat inappropriate, that | was
not be intmiia;ed while performing the du
ties Of my office, either by alleged desert
ers on the one side, or the whole Federal
army on the other.
The Counsel, III very gentlemanIy mans
ner, stated that his remarks were not in any
way illy intended, and so The matter passed
off, This was all he address -" AS to the
merits of the case, rep py to the article OF
yesterday was shown to me 10y one Of the
Counsels for the defendants which he Inform
ed me he Intended to present to you for
publication, tuly answers the case aud |
deem it unnecessary to trouble you further on
that question. But one thing do wish to
say, and that is, that so long as | have the
honor to hold the position | at present oc
cupy, | shall fearlessly and regardless of all
considerations protect in all legal and proper
ways, the liberty of the citizen. 1t is my
sworn duty and it must and shall be per
formed. The modern idea of arresting CHI
zens by telegraph III is monstrous 1t is worse
than the suspension of the writ Of hobeos
corpus military officer telegraphs to
Washington that "reltain men are here
An officer in Washington te!e9raphs back
"Arresl them ALL" Upon this simple pro
cess our citizens are dragged from their
homes and families and cast into the Coanty
Jail, thence to be taken 10 Washington, or
such other place as their cap'ors choose.
his course was SO preposterous on the
face Of it, that upon the lri Is referred to,
the counsel for the Government, a military
officer himself denounced it as absurd, re-
marked that he told th5m it was wrong, and
ii The allie red deserters were discharged on
that ground he had not a word to say! Let
such rule exist, and you, gentlemen, or any
other citizen, are liable to be arrested at any
hour Of the day or night, aud transported tt
any part Of tie world without IA hearing or
trial. If those men are really deserters, the
authorities at Washington know it, and can
make out the proper order, which would be
respected and carried into execution, and in
doing this they can rely upon the assistance
of our Courts but let us not inaugurate a
reign of terror by disregarding all those
salutary aud benifcent rules which have beer
so long established for the protection OF per
sonal liberty and the rights of the citizen
No man will go farther than myself to sus
tain the Government and its officers -bu
really, gentlemen, if man be arrested an,
brought before me, and no legal or just cause
can be shown for his arrest or detention,
shall discharge him, though the whole arm,
of the Potomac be at his heels
Your obedient servant,