Maryland free press., 1862-12-12
Asking for Information.


War in regard to the arrest and imprisonment
of DR.. John Laws and Whitley Mefedith, cit
liens of Delaware, in Fort Delaware.
Mr.. S. did not propose to go into general
inquiry in regard to arrests in that State,
though numbers of others had been arrested
there, and by Maryland Home Guards. These
two, however, resided in his immediate neigh
borhood, and lie himself, nor any of their
neighbors, knew of any just cause for arrest
ing and taking them off to Imprisonment. He
therefore called for this information. He had
known them personally for years, and if they
have been guilty of attempting to subvert the
government. he did not know of it. He SIM
ply wished to be informed.
Mr.. Wilson, of Massachusetts, hoped the
resolution would not be adopted. He thougt
the Sedate ought not, at this brief session, be
engaged in calling on the government for this
kind of information. We had had some ar
rests made in the country, and possibly there
may have been few mistakes made, but he
believed that instead of the few hundred who
have been arrested there should have been
many more-there ought to have been thou
sands. He did not believe one man in fifty who
onght to have been arrested had been so arrest
ed. He thought the government had forborne
grcatly-had been humane & just, and made ar
rests only when the public safety required
them. He thought the adoption of the reso-
luton would be sort of arraignment of the
government by the country for making the
arrects which had been made to sustain its
authority.
Mr.. Bayard, of Delaware, supposed, but for
the events of the last year, that we lived un-
der free government, though we were at war.
This government, of all others, was valuable
for its protection of the rights of the citizen
and of his peronal liberty. In no free govern
mcnt can the citizen be arrested at will, at the
mere discretion of an officer, What is the
basis of ali free governments II is its subdi-
vision into three branches-the legislative, ex-
ecutive and judicial-independe of each 9TH
er. 1t is that division of power which gives
security to the individual liberty of the citizen
The gentleman from Massachusetts tells us
that in his opinion the government has for
borne, that the government ought to have
gone farther than it did, &c. Bnt the ques-
ton does not lie there. The question is
whether the liberty of the citizen ought to be
protected by the'Senate. Prima?facia facts
at least, should be given to justify his incar.
ceration, because incarceration is punishment
and in no free government, as he had said, can
the citizen be arrested at will or at the discre-
ton of an officer. This has been done in the
case of the citizens of Delaware.
The great principle in war or peace should
be adhered to, that the individual liberty Of
the citizen is equally to be guarded in the one s9.e
fact that in the war of 1912 people differed
with the governm especially in Merry
England, and opposed the war. That was
not regarded as disloyal, subjecting them to
arrest. He supposed it was not wrong to diff
fer from the administration, and that it did not
constitute disloyalty to believe that the "ques-
tion Of emancipation should be left to the in
dividual States. 10y a1ty is attachment to the
constitution and laws of your country-not to
the fortunes of man or of an administration
He claimed to be loyal, as did all the State OF
Delaware, Phere was no revolt there, and nc
thought Of it. The very weakness of their
cendition-to say nothing oftheir patriotism -
put such thing out of the question.
Is government, he would ask, free gov
ernment, that can take man on an indefinite
charge; ofwhich no one knows anything, and
conffne him for an indefinite period, as those
two citizens of Delaware have been2 The
doctrine of secession, he would say, had not
been doctrine of the State of Delaware or
any of its representatives. Itis doctrine which
strikes at the foundation of our institutions.
These twocitizens were arrested att the recent
election in that State, and by Col. Wallace, Of
the Maryland Home Guard. What they had to
do in Delaware at that time he did not know
1t was rubbing out of State lines That such
body should appear there He thought II
was little to ash that the Secretary of War
should inform them of the charges they were
arrested on and still held, and it was compe.
tent for the Senate to decide on the facts when
they got them.
Mr.. Doolittle, Of Wisconsin, hoped the reso.
luton would lie over for few days. He
would like to know more about il. Arrests
had been necessary, and instead of these in
quiries he had heard of loud complaints of the
leniency of the government in this matter. II
had been declared that many ought rather to
have been shot or hung than have found such
easy means of release-for by taking the oath
of allegiance the would be released the prison
doors would thus fly open; but they refused to
give this evidence of loyalty.
Mr.. Salisbury did not propose to discuss
whether these citizens were of that class which
ought to be shotor hung without trial. There
has been many citizens of Delaware arrested,
but he proposed toinquiro only into these two
cases. But the rernarks- of the gentleman
from Wisconsin justified his referring to 9TH
ers, and the practices pitt upon the State of