Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1861-12-23
INDIANAPOLIS, IND. MONDAY, DECEMBER 49, 1861.

request like this than the respectful petition shall
lie unanswered on this table. The writ of habeas
corpus was invented for the purpose of meeting
the exigencies Of Just such case as this. 1t
commands that the body Of prisoner shall be
produced, that the cause of ms commitment may
be inquired into, and that he may be discharged
If be is illegally held, or remanGed if be is held
by competent authority charge of crime.
These gentlemen would have been glad to avail
themselves Of this writ which the President COM
manded his Generals TO suspend, and to hold
them at his own sole viii and pleasure
The President, in his message at the extra ses-
sion of Congress, gave us his reasons for his &C
ton in the matter. He says: 81 have authorized
that the writ of ka6eas corpus be suspended; :; and
before he did so, he talked considerably of his
right and the propriety Of doing So The privil-
ege conferred by the habeos corpus is to institute
and command an inquiry as to whether person
is held by competent authority under the charge
of crime II person is so held he is remanded;
and ifhe is not, he is discharged. The provision
of the habeas corpus act has never been invaded
by the Executive power until now. Sir the OBJ
ect Of this suspension, and the effect also of it, is
to prevent inquiries into the legitimateness of the
Imprisonment under military power The object
of this evasion of the great charter of liberty is to
enable military officers and others who have like
power to arrest and imprison men though they
have committed no crime against the laws of the
land, and to punish them, not as the law pre-
scribes, but in whatever way those who have the
power may ordain. If | rightly construe the
message of the President, he claims authority TO
seize, TO hold and detain all persons not engaged
in the land or naval forces, not men engaged in
enterprises against the Government, but all per
sons whom he may suspect, and to imprison
them without regard TO the provisions or process
of law.
The President further claims the authority of
the Constitution, of which it is a complete viola
ton. to arrest whoever in his Judgment he may
think proper. The President says his authority
is derived by implication, and because, suppose,
he deems it inconvenient to have the right TO sus-
pend the writ of habeGs corpus vested in Con
gress alone. Now, the only clause which refers
to the subject is one which provides that the writ
OF habeas corpus shall never be suspended except
in cases of rebellion or invasion, or under circum-
stances when the public safety demands it. This
is, undoubtedly, the only implication that can be
derived authorizing the suspension of the writ of
hateas corpus. Who shall suspend itl That is
question. 1t is not vested in the Executive ex-
clusively, nor in Congress exclusively, but in all
the departments OF the Government. | grant
that under the arbitrary rule of Elizabeth of
England and during the early part of the reign
of Charles /, it was exercised by these monarchs,
but Charles compelled. at the price of his
thrown to assent to the bill of rights, by which
he bound himself never to imprison a man with
out due process oflaw. Charles did not stand by
his Interpretation of the ancient Constitution and
after ten years of struggle with his people, he
lost his throne and his life the penalty of his
infraction of it. His successor tried all mems
and every kind of scheme to retain this arbitrary
power, which was at last swept away forever by
the great charter. We are told by the eminent
historian, Macaulay that Charles III sought to
repeal the habeas corpus act, for that he hated it
as only tyrants can hate whatever stands between
them and their own despotic wills. And this ha-
beas corpus act was the most stringent curb ever
imposed by legislature on tyrant.
When William and Mary came to the throne
they declared that the Crown did not possess the
power of suspendiug the writ of habeas corpus
and from that hour to this, one hundred years be-
fore the adoption Of the Constitution of the
United States, England had no monarch during
all her foreign wars and intestine troubles, way
ward and wicked enough though some of them
we're. who dared TO suspend the writ of habeas
corpus, or who ever claimed that they had the
power to imprison citizen without due process
of law. All history to which | have had access
confirms this view of the case. Hume and Ma
csuay claim this right the principal IN the great
structure of the English Constitution. But here,
according to this novel theory of government,
the President may suspend the Constitution and
the laws of the United States made under it. He
may, it is claimed, do all this, supersede them
all, dsregarding the limitations enjoined for the
exercise of his prerogatives He may abolish all
the laws of the land and substitute in their place
his own will. He may abolish the whole system
OF Government built up and bequeathed to US by
our Revolutionary fathers, and he may build up
for himself new and entirely different system.
All this be may do, it is claimed, rightfuly, le-
Ultimately and without interference
hold this assumed position is untenable and
indefensible that there is no warrant for it in the
Constitution or in the principles which underlie
the theory of government nor In the spirit of lib
erty which is the boast of our institutions. 1t
will reduce this nation, if this theory of govern
arnment is deliberately adopted, to the condition
OF slavery; and say that any nation that will
willingly adopt il is lost to all sense of manly in
dependence, is lost to the appreciation of its own
dignity and national rights, and for them the yoke
of the slave is the only fitting emblem. We are
told, in defense Of this theory, that it would ex-
ist only in cases of rebellion against the Govern
ment. We are also told that it was not intended
that the Constitution of the United States should
be operative in times of civil Our fathers
hoped that civil war might never befall us, but
they knew human nature too well to expect that
we should forever enjoy profound repose. They
had freed themselves from the yoke of oppression;
and tories within, and then they formed a Con-
stitutional Governm snt, recognizing in them that
honesty and good sense which mark the patriot
Is it to be supposed that theywould sdopta Oonsti
tutional Government to be operative only in time
of peace, and that that Constitution should be
superseded whenever discord OF war would pre-
sent opportunity to set it aside, and substitute
for il the will of military power.
The Constitution gives to the several depart
off H.
tended to be used for any purpose. If the laws
of the United States are too lenient, they may be
made more stringent If Judges are imbecle,
let them be impeached. Let the whole ma
chnery of Government be revised and improved,
if you will; but whoever goes beyond that to sup,
port the Government, would destroy the Consti-
tuition under the pretense of preserving it. The
Government has no right to break down the Con-
stitution to uphold itself. Ii was never intend
ed for n moment that the Constitution, under any
circumstances. should be superseded. The Presi-
dent holds Office under the Constitution, you sit
here under it; the Judges sit and pass judgment
in virtue Of the provisions of that instrument
alone. and if you supersede it, neither you, nor
the Judges, nor the President himself, possesses
any more power than the humbest in the
land. Supersede the Constitution You might
as well try TO repeal all laws for the guidance of
society, and let the nation 60 adrift to ruin at
once. The only way to preserve the Government
is to preserve the Constitution to observe its
Limitation, and to obey its prohibitions. When
the Constitualon falls, then, indeed. the Govern
ment falls. This is not the way TO preserve Gov
ernments.
Ambition makes its own opportunity, and un-
der this system of superceding the Constitution
in times of public calamity, the public mind will
become degraded, the people on every fresh oc-
casion for the exercise of this power will Weld
still he