The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1861-07-10

not, Were ventured upon whatappeared under
10 be popular demand and a public ne
cessity, as now thai Congress would rapidly
ratify them 1t is believed that nothing has
been done beyond the constitutional COM
potency OF Congress
Soon after the first cali for militia, it was
considered duty 10 arHhorize the COM
nanding general, in proper cases, accor-
ding to his discretion, 10 suspend the privl-
lege of the wri. of hdbeds corpus or, in 9th
er words, TO arrest and detain, without re-
sort to the ordinary processes and forms OF
law, such individuals as he might deem
dangerous to the public safety. This au-
thority has purposely been exercised but
very sparingly
Nevertheless, :he legality and propriety
of what has been done under it are guess
toned, and the attention of the country has
been called to the proposition that one who
is sworn 10 take 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 be-
fore this matter was acted on. The whole
of the laws which were required to be faith
fully executed, were being resisted and fall
ing of execution IN nearly one third CT the
States. Must they be allowed to finally fail
of execution, even had it been perfectly
clear that by the use of the means necessa-
ry to their execution some single law, made
in such extreme tenderness of the citizens
liberty that practically it relieves more of
the guilty than of the innocent, should to
q very limited extent be violated To state
the question more directly, are all the laws
but one to go unexecuted, and the govern
ment itself 90 to pieces, lest that one be VI
loated? Even in suoh a case would not the
official oath be broken if the government
should be overthrown, when it was belleved
that disregarding the single law would tend
to preserve it2
But it was not believed that this question
was presented. 1t was not believed that
any law was violated. The provisions OF
the Constitution that the privilege of the
writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended
unless in cases of rebellion or Invasion the
public safety may require it, is equivalent
to provision that such privilege may be
suspended when in cases of rebellion or IN
vasion the public safety does require 1T. 1t
was decided that we have 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 Executive, is vested with this power
But the Constitution itself is silent as to
which or who is to exercise the power, and
as the provision was plainly made for dan
gerous emergency, it cannot be believed that
the trainers of the instrument intended that
in every case the danger should run its
course until Congress could be called togeth-
er the very assembling Of which might be
prevented, as was intended in this case by
the rebellion.
No more extended argument is now offer
ed, as an opinion at some length will proba-
bly be presented by the Attorney General
whether there shall be any legislation upon
the subject, and if any, what, is submitted
entirely to the better Judgment of Congress.
The forbearance of this government has
been so extraordinary and so long continued
as to lead some foreign nations to shape
their action rs if they supposed the early
destruction of our national Union @as prob
able. While this, on discovery, gave the
Executive some concern, he is now happy te
say that the sovereignty and rights of the
United States are nQH everywhere practi,
cally respected by foreign Powers, and q
general sympathy with the country is man
ifested throughout the world.
The reports of the Secretaries of the
Treasury, War and Navy, will give the In
formation in detail deemed necessary and
convenient for your deliberation and action
while the Executive and all the Departments
will stand ready to supply omissions, or to
communicate new facts considered import
ant for you to know.
1t is now recommended that you give the
legal means for making this contest a short
and decisive one; that you place at the con-
troll of the government for the work at least
400, 900 men and S4C0, ,00G,00 That nnm'
Der of men is about one-tenth of those oil
proper ages within the regions were appar.
emily all are willing to engage, and the sum
is less than the twenty-third part of the
money value owned by the men who seem
ready to devote the whole
A debt of 5000 900, 900 now is less sun
per head than was the debt of our own Rev.
olution when we came out of that struggle
and the money value in the country now
bears even greater proportion to what 4
was then than does the population. Surely
each man has as strong a motive now to pre-
serve our liberties as each had then to estab
! lish them? A right result at this time viii
| be worth more to the world than ten times
! the men and ten times the money. The ev
| idence reaching us from the country leave:
| no doubt that material for the work is a
bundant, and that it needs only the hand o
J legislation to give it legal sanction, and tht
| hand of the Executive to give it practica
| shape and efficiency.
One Of the greatest perplexities of th
| government is to avoid receiving troops fast
er than provided for them. In word, tn
! people will save their government, if tn
! government itself will do its part only indif
ferently well. 1t might seem, at first tbo't
| to be of little difference whether the presen
movement at the south be called secession
or rebellion. The movers, however, wei
| understand the difference. At the begin
ming they knew they could never raise thei
treason to any respectable magnitude by an.
name which implies violation of law. They
knew their people possessed as much of NOR
al sense, as much of devotion to law and or
der, and as much pride in and reverence fo
the history and government of their com
mon country as any other civilized and pa
! trtotio Daonla