Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1862-11-14

own government. All this for their party
against their country! All this for them
selves against the truth! go shame,
where is thy blush" Cicero, in his day,
speaking of such, ashes. If you are u
citizen, in what sense was Spartacus an
enemy ~
This is the same class which has made a
constant outery and whine, because of
what are termed arbitrary arrests by the
government. How many of these mill
tary arrests have been made since the re-
belion broke out? Not three hundred,
all told, in a population of twenty mill
ions. Who have been arrested ? Has
any man of known and approved loyalty,
Of good reputation for patriotism among
his neighbors, and well disposed to his
government? ? Not one. There is a
homcly adage which says that where there
is smoke there must be fire. Suspicion
does not ordinarily attach itself to inno-
ccnce. The general judgment of COM
munity is not apt to be mistaken, and if
a man be rcputed to sympathize with the
enemies Of his government, and his con-
duct or speech justtics thi. opinion, it
surely is not harsh exercise of power
at a time when the State is in imminent
peril from treason, to put such man out
of harms way until his vicious propensi-
ty has exhausted itself or been cured. II
real patriot be unjustly accused and i'm
prisoned, he will readily forgive his coun-
try the error of honest zeal, and the home
traitors who suffer in this way can sue
for false Imprisonment, and the country
will pay any verdict they recover. If
our government makes no greater en-
croachment upon the rights OF the citizen
then these military arrests, the liberties
of the people will not be seriously i'm
periIel by Mr.. Llncol;i's administration
The same class Of faut-inder5 " submis-
sionists" are also greatly exercised because
the suspension of the writ of habeas cor
pus. The President has been assaileI
with every species Of inveetive on this
account. He has been reminded that
Charles the FIRST was brought to the
block for a lesser act Of despotism, aud
that even Napoleon dare not be the ty-
rant he is. The act is denounced as
violation Of his oath of office and an
unwarraatel assumption Of power. Ea-
glish history is rau3ackel to prove this,
aud the bones are Of the old baron are
exhamel and subPnnaei to attend as
witnesses and bring Magma Charta'
with them. Anllosies are touul between
things wholly unlike aud utterly diseor
liant, anl the su5missioni>ts are fri thten-
el to death lest the Constitution shall be
preserved AMI the country saved in an
Unconstitutional way. The respect they
have for laws is only e4ualci by their
love Of liberty. Morning, noon and
night they cry and din into the ears Of
the patriot President. The Constitu-
ton, the Constitution - and every pulsat-
ion OF his heart throbbingly answers.
" The country, the country" God bless
Abraham Lincoln
LIT US very briefly consider this quas-
ton Of the suspension OF the writ Of hab-
cas corpus. That it may be suspendel / in
cases OF rebellion or invasion, where the
public safety requires it, is provided by the
Constitution itself Which of the de.
partmcuts Of the Government is charged
with the power of suspcnding the writ
is the question of embarrassment and
doubt Conflicting opinions as to it are
entertained by men OF equal learning and
Intelligence, and there Is no determina-
ton OF the supreme Court, to which re-
sort can be had 1t is the question Of the
construction Of the statute. always a diff
ticuIt aql vexAtions inquiry. 1t is to
know what the trainers of the Constltut-
ION meant, by what they have somewhat
insufilcIently expressed. The President,
a lawyer himself, and man whose con-
scientlousness even his opposers coneede,
is Of opinion that the Executive may, IN
the cases prescribed, suspend the privlI-
eye of the writ. There can be little
room for doubt that his constitute n i ad-
yisers agree to this view. Mr.. S sward
and Mr. Stanton enjoy and deserve the
highest reputation in the legal profession.
The Attorney General OF the United
States, too, has given an official opinion
in favor Of the right of the President to
exercise the power Now, who shall de-
eide, when clsusts doubt AMI doctors dis
agree? If Mr. Lincoln is wrong, he
mas ut least erred in good company, and
even if it should turn out that the better
understanding OF the constitutional pro-
vision is not the one entertained by the
Government, the President may throw
into the faces of howling sympathizers
with treason, that old Latin motto, de-
rived from the twelve Roman tables /;
" Salus popuh suprcma est ler.' He
can say to them TO do great good,
have done little wrong. To sare a
nati0n l imprisoned nan. To pro-
serve liberty forever to twenty millions,
| restrained FIVE hundred of their freedom
for day :" and, coniding in his own in
tresrity, and the generous support of his
loyal countrymen, need have on anxiety
for the present or the future growing out
Of the imprisonment of a few miserable
imitators of the vices of Benedict Arnold,
hcreit of the benefit of "eaptaS" or
narr," and detained in defiance of the
AQ5eas corpus od respondendum.'
The chef cause of complaint made
against the President in his emancipation
proclamation. 1t is almost ludicrous to
witness the contortions and CONSERVATION
which this act has produced among trait
ors and their allies, everywhere. In one