Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-10-11

and suspend the power Of the Supreme Court over
them by the writ OF deiivei ance. without act OF
Congress or the voice Of the people. then IL Is
sadly apparent that there i terrible in
the construction OF our free institutions. For it
nav occur again 10 times of less excitement thai
the present
Thus, for example. an insurection in New
Or ems, LEGAL and temporary. would be an ample
Justification ofthe suspension of the writ of habeas
corpus IN Maine or New York, and the seizure
oil suspected or offensive parties by the President.
according TO the Republican and Administration
doctrine. A riot in New York would confer ab
soluie power on the President over all citizens
everywhere For IL is TO be observed that the
new doctrine il that the President is the sole
judge OF when the public safety requires the sus
pension Invasion or Instruction anywhere,
Immediately coniers on the President the absolute
power. and il follows part OF the new doc
trine that there is no appeal from his judgment.
he is supreme. siece he holds the power in his
hands, and the supremacy is asserted against and
over the Court. There is no method of tryiEg
this question. therefore, by the courts. For.
however often the Supreme COnrt Of the United
States should affirm the doctrine already laid
down by several OF the most eminent of its mem
bers-a doctrine which scarcely a lawyer TO day
doubts-that the President has no right TO suspend
the writ of habeas corpus, and that Congress
alone can do it. the ahirmance is of no value
since the doctrine of the Administration is. that
the President shall not obey the decisions of the
Supreme Court, and the practice in the cases
arsiT 9 out of this question is TO command the
military power TO resist the courts and not obey
them.
In short the decision is a direct one between
the Administration and the Supreme Court. And
here our readers will see the great Importance of
the distinction between the Administration and
the Government. I he Court is ane of the grand
departments and parts OF the Government. 1t is
an independent power Its special duty is TO
fulfill that part of the Constitution which declares
its object to be to insure justice But the Exec
utive Department is now in collision with the
Judicial Department What is left to be done
by the peopleg
The answer is. that the people must by their
votes determine this principle, and determine it
forever. If majority of the people are indeed
in favor of the doctrine that in all times of insur
recton or invasion the President may exercise
absolute judgment of the propriety of suspending
the writ of haDeas corpus and arrest anu imprison
citizens when in his opinion the public safety re
qures it, then that doctrine must be understood
as the American doctrine But if there is in this
doctrine a death blow at liberty a terrible thrust
at the sacred character of our Courts, and the
immunties which the Constitution throws around
the citizen, then il is eminently proper that a
EiChb potttiOht ptltiObC ciOuiu pitCt IL
forward as a grand point in their creed and chal
lenge the Administration and its supporters to
sustain their views OF the Presidents authority at
the polls. and every citizen should vote conscien
tiously the subject. 1t is no small matter, but
the contrary It is trial question OF the purity
and strength of American institutions.
We need not say what our own views are on
this subject. They have been expressed again
and again. calmly and dispasSionately. We have
lived to see great change in some opinions on
this subject. The newspapers which year ago
called us traitors for advocating the freedom of
the subject, under the jurisdiction of the Courts,
wherever the country was at peace, have with
general unanimity abandoned their own views
and come TO ours. Some of them are most &C
tire in their arguments against the arrests 9th
ers are silent. But we repeat what e had Occa-
sion to say last spring. that We do not know of a
journal in the United States which now defends
or iustifes those arrests.
The Administration, however. is understood to
maintain its right to continue them, and within
three or four weeks past numerous persons have
been consigned to prison on the authority of Pro
vost Marshals or Lettres de cdchet. Several writs
OF habeas corpus have been granted by different
Judges of the Supreme Court. within brief
time, and Judges have pronounced able opinions
sustaining the independence of the Judiciary, and
dscharging prisoners, who have been, at least in
one instance. rearreSted.
We sincerely hope that the Executive Admin
istration will wholly aud entirely abandon this
doctrine. Ii has done the country vast harm du-
ring the past year IL has produced a very bad
effect abroad, has disgraced Us i'm the ewes of
aristOcratc Governments and people, has made
US "A hyword among European lovers of liberty,
and has shaken the faith of Americans in their
own institutions. Ii is utterly impossible that
the Administration can be right in its doctrine.
and az the same time Americans be free peo-
Pile. The two things are Inconsistent