The Placer herald., 1862-05-24
MORE ANON.


Of the S. F. Bulletin writing from Washing
ton under date Of April 10th gives the fol-
lowing account of the discussion in the Sem
ate concerning the imprisonment of Gen.
Stone. 1t is an Indication that a change is
taking PLACE for the better, when men speak
out boldly in denunciation OF such high,
handed usurpation. 1t will be recollected
that President Lincoln, has taken the entire
responsibility Of the matter upon his own
hands.
McDougall on the Case of Gen. Stone.
Senator McDougall's speech in the Sen.
ate upon his resolution ofinquiry, in relation
to the arrest and confinement, without trial,
Of Gen. Chas. p. Stone, has created a pro
found sensation. Certainly it is very able
production, justifying the declaration OF the
veteran Crittenden that it is the ablest
speech delivered in Congress during the last
three years. Senator McDougall has not yet
done with the case. He is fully satisfied
that the greatest injustice has been done to
as loyal an officer As has raised his sword in
the pending war; he believes this wrong has
been perpetrated deliberately and malicious
ly; but more than all, he sees in the course
Of conduct pursued in Gen. Stones case, a
tyrannical encroachment upon the rights OF
free citizens most dangerous to liberty and
inexcusabe upon the false plea of necessity
to save the country. He makes distinction
between this case and some others wherein
he has supportd the Administration, even
though its acts involves doubtful powers
Here, a citizen arrested by military authority,
ruined by suspicion most damnable, is thrown
into cell and kept there week after week
without trial, and without being able to get
even statement Of the charges against him.
All law, military and civil, is violated by bis
oppression. Notorious traitors, captured
with arms in their hands, fighting for the
destruction Of the Government, have been
liberated by azores and hundreds since Stone
was arrested upon suspicion which cannot
even be named to him, and the soldier who
offered bis life to bis country's service is
subjected to the Infamous process of a httre
de eachee, upon the presumption that the
safety of the Government and the Constitu'
ton requires il! The Senator deserves the
applause of every true lover Of liberty for his
expose Of this heinous wrong
this stab OF the very heart of free Govern.
ment.
Answer to the Plea for Stones Imprison.
ment.
But Mr. Wade tells MS, forsooth, in reply
to the argument. that Gen. Stones rights
und the Constitution, the common law and
the military law of the country, have been
been violated, that The Goverumen. in this
great exigency is bound to protect itself, and
that the Constitution is virtually repealed
until the Government has become able TO
restore its authority in The rebeIi, us States
Not so. The Constitution has not been re,
pea'e'l, The la,tle is being fought under
that sacred instrument, for the "suppression
of rebellion" and not for the >nliugation
of foreign foe. Grn. Stones real ofense,
so far as the public have any evidence thus
far, is that he followed the policy of the
President-in precise accordance too, with
army usage for SO years-and recognized
his constitutional obligations to throw no
obstacles in the way of the arrest, by loyal
masters, of their fugitive slaves. The Presi
dent has distinctly denied the Constitution
had lost any Of its legal force in the sece,l
ded States; certainly then it was not suspend
ed in the loyal States-and it is exactly be-
cause Gen. Stone recognized bis constitu.
tional obligations; precisely because he fol-
lowed the p esident, his commander in chief.
and did not follow the Garrisons and the
Lovejoys, that he has been pursued with re.
'entless hostility by the abolition faction;
that he has been thrown into prison and
stripped Of every right which in better DAYS
were accorded the vilest criminal, though de,
tected in the most dspicable crime.
Grant, for arguments sake, that the safe
ty Of tho Republic may justify, as it some.
times will, the rejection of all mere forms of
law for the sake of the indispensable re-,
sult-what then? He who assumes to re,
sort to such remedy assumes fearful re-,
sponsibility, and nothing wiH justify the de-,
priving Of tho citizen of all the rights and
guarantees secured him by those legal forms
single hour longer than is indispensable
to tho public safety. To maintain that Gen.
Stones treatment is based on such a necessi
ty is simply absurd. If he is guilty of 80
dangerous crime. the evidence iustifyinp
his subsection to an American Bastile should
carry him to the scaffold with short shift,
II the crime with which he is suspected is
less heinous, or the evidence less conclusive.
great as are the wrongs which the accused
suffers. far greater and more irreparable
still are the traitorous stabs at free institu.
tions inflicted in his person. Better for his
his prosecutors that mountain had buried
them from sight if Stone escapes a traitors
death. than rest under the anathemas of Sen .
a'or McDouga's just philippe. But wheth.
er Stone be guilty as charged, those who
know him best, believe, the crime against
Justice and republican institutions, of which
he is made the occasion, remains the same