The Cadiz Democratic sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1854-1864, 1862-01-08

port the laws and that it would be peculiar.
/ iy unbecom,ng IN him to be, in any way, this
iLfractor Of them; that the essential princi.
pies OF free government confine the province
Of the military. when called forth on such
occasions, to two objects: frst, ID combat
ane subdue all who may be iound in arms in
opposition to the national viii and authority
secondly, to add and support the civet mag.
crates 10 bringing offenders to justice. The
dicpensaiion OF this Justice belongs to the
cirol magistrates; and let it ever be our prids
and our glory to leave the sacred deposit
there inviolate "--l'ving's Life Of Washing
ION, vol. ch, %.
Mr.. Jefferson, in 1887, objected ID the
Constitution that it omitted to provide "for
the eternal and unremit'ing force of tile la.
Geas corpus Laws" In 1873 be advises that
iour States should refuse TO ratify the Consti.
tntion until declaration Of rights had been
annexed TO 1T, asserting, among other things,
that there should be mo suspension Of hdbeas
cupa$:' and in 1907. at the period of Burr's
EcOnsplraey-to which | have before alluded
--ha neither assumedto exercise the power
himself nor did he ask or advise Congress to
do'so. On the contrary, in his message to
Congress, be said: EreA :.
1T will be seen-that 81 three of the princi-
pal emissries OF Mr. Burr, whom the general
had caused to DO apprehended, one had been
liberated by Aa6eaS corpus, and the two 9th.
erS, bring those particularly employed in the
endeayer to corrupt the general and Artffy of
the United States, have been embarked by
him for our ports in the Atlantic Stetes, pro-
baby on the Consideration that an impartial
no faI a.
ent agitations New Orleans, and that that
city vas not, as yet, sale place OF coDhne-
ment. AS soon as these persons shall arrive
they W i'll be delivered to the custody oil the
Jaw, and left TO such course oftrial doth as
to place and process, as is functionaries may
direct"
And when the Senate bill, suspending the
haCcas corpus for three months, came to the
House, Mr. Eppes, Jeferson's son.in law;
moved its rejection; and his friends and sup.
porters--alI, believe. except two--voted Tor
the motion. The motion prevailed, only
nineteen votes being in the negative.
These are the instructions which the cofl-
text OF the Constitution, its uniform interpe-
tation, and the history Of English liberty az
ford. They answer the question, who shalt
suspend the privilege Of habeas corpus? And
yet. with this answer full before them, the
President says:
The Constitution itself is silent as to
which, or who, is to exercise the powel; and
as the rrovisSon was plainly made for dam
gerods einergency,it cannot be believed the
''amers OF the'instrument intended that in
every case, The danger should run its course
until Congress could be called togethsr.".
1t is taught us by every page ofthe worlds
history that the possession OF power has
blinded the eyes Of man, end destroyed his
judgment. &
| Secondly. Notwithstanding the Constitu.
ton. The President has little confidence in
this clalm OF power under The Constitution,
Tor he preiaces the statement OF the ciains
win argument to show that it was his right
ard his duty to suspend the privilege Of Ia
beas corpus, even though such suspension
were prohibited to him by the Censtitutiou.
The President says.
1.-The whole Of the laws which were re.
ouired to be t4ithfully executed were being
res sted and falling OF execution 10 nearly
one third of the States. Must thew be af.
lowed finally TO tail of execution, even had it
been perfectly clear that by the use of the
moons necessary to their execution some sim
gle law, made in such extreme tenderness OF
the citizens liberty, that practally it relieves
more OF the gnilty than the innocent, should
to q very limited extent be violaledy To
state the question more directly, are all the
laws but one TO go unexecuted, md the Gov.
ernment itself to go to pieces, lest that one be
violated? Even in such case would not
the official oath be broken il the Govern
ment should be oyerthrown, when it was be.
lieved that disregarding the single law
would tend to preserve III" es
Attorney G,neral Bates, in the srgumsna
already referred to, says Of the President:
"The end-the suppression Of the ihsur.
rection-is required oil him. The means and
instruments to suppress it are law fully in
his hands; hut the manner in which he shall
use them is not prescribed, and conid not
be prescribed without foreknowIedge of all
the future changes and contingencies of the
nsurrection. He is, therefore, necessarily
thrown upon his discretion as TO the manner
in which he will use his means to meet tho
varying exigencies as. they arise" Is
The Secretary OF State, in his official dis.
patch to Lord Lyons, dated October Ia, 1851.
after announcing the absolute right on the
part OF the President to suspend the writ OF
hobeas co,pYs whenever and wherever, and
whatsoever extent the public safety. endan-
gered by treason er invasion in arms, in his
judgment requires" says: 81
"The safety OF the whole people has be.
come, in the present emergency, -ths supreme
law; and SO long as the danger shall exist,
all classes Of society. equally the dshizen and
the citizen, cheerfully acquiesee In tho meas
ures which that law prescribes."
And partisan friends. approving the act OF
the President, and seeking TO justly it by ar
guMent, say "that in times Of war and civil
strife the Constitution is siispsndedi when
danger threatens the Government, it must
be protected by by all necessary means; that
| treason must be crushed out at whatever cost
or by whatever measures 5
These are only different statements of the
same proposition. They all involve the idea
that whenever in times OF civil commotion
the President may think the Government is
in jeopardy, hls discretion, not the Constitt-
tlon, is the measure Of his power in de'end.
ing it. NV
If the President may suspend the privileges
OF Ad5sas rorpas because he deems such sus.
pension necessary, SO als. may he. under Ike
circumstances, suspend the right to 1 speedy
trial" or to exemption rom excessive baik''
or the right to a ''trial by jury or that il
shall be within the proper district, or the pro-
vision that no man shall be deprived ofs :, is
Ire without due process OF lsw.n II the
President payi pt his viii imprison man
without law, Recauss he believes such impris.
onment necessary to the public safstY, fnay
he not, without INV, undera like pressure.
/ lpu, him 10 death? II he may suspend ope
! Of these constitutional provisions, be, may
suspend 1--WE, he may suspend oil. =.
l.. under the plea OF necessity, ths PFssi.
4 dent may suspend those clauses oil the Con-
\ stitution which assure tbs cilizsn TO bis per-
sonal rights so may be also suspend those
clauses which expressly yslilnit hsown power.
he may pfoong inde etniteiy, his own term OF
I m a n. 49,