Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1862-01-09

utive power till now. Sir, the only OBJ
ject Of this suspension, and the effect al
so of it, is to prevent inquiries into the
legitimaieness of the imprisonment un-
der military power. The object of this
evasion of the great charter Of liberty is
to enable military officers or others who
have like power to arrest and imprison
men though they have committed no
crime against the laws Of the land and
to punish them, not as the law prescrbes,
but in whatever way those who have the
power may ordain. If rightly construc
the message of the President, he claims
authority to seize, to hold and detain all
persons not engaged in the land or naval
forces, not men engaged in enterprises
against the Government, but all persons
whom he may suspect, and to imprison
them without regard to the provisions or
process of law.
The President further claims the au-
thority of the Constitution, of which it
is a complete violation to arrest whoever
in his judgment he may think proper
The President says his authority is deriv-
ed by implication, and because, suppose
he deems it inconvenient to have the right
to suspend the writ of hdbedS corpus vest
ed in Congress alone. Now, the only
clause which refers to the subject is one
which provides that the writ of haJeaS
corpus shall never be suspended except in
cases of rebellion or invasion, or under
circumstances when the public safety de-
mands it. This is undoubtedly the only
implication that can be derived author-
izing the suspension of the writ of haJe-
as corpus. Who shall suspend it? This
is the question. 1t is not vested in the
Executive exclusively, nor in Congress
exclusively, but in all the departments OF
the Government. | grant that under the
arbitrary rule of Elizabeth, of England,
and during the early part of the reign Of
Charles the First, it was exercised by
these monarchs, but Charles was com
PEELED, as the price of his throne, to as
sent to the Bill of Rights, by which he
bound himself never to imprison man
without due process of law. Charles did
not stand by his Interpretation of the an
cient Constitution, and after ten years of
struggle with his people, he lost his
throne and his life as the penalty of his
infraction OF it. His successor tried all
means and every kind of scheme to retain
this arbitrary power, which was at last
swept away forever by the great charter
We are told by the eminent historian,
Macaulay, that Charles ii sought to re
peal the habeds corpus act, for that he
hated it as only tyrants can hate what
+ ever stands between them and their owr
despotc wills. And this habeas corpu
act was the most stringent curb ever i'm
: posed by a legislature on tyranny.
When William and Mary came to the
throne they declared that the crown did mo-
possess the power of ofsuspending the writ o
haJeas corpus and from that hour to this
one hundred years before the adoption oi
the Constitution of the United States
, England had no monarch during all hel
, foreign wars and intestine troubles, way
ward and wicked enough though some OF
them were, who dared to suspend the
, writ Of haJeas corpus, or who ever claim
} ed that they had the power to imprison a
citizen without due process of law All
history to which have had access con-
= firms this view Of the case. Hume and
J Macaulay claim this right as the princi-
pal in the structure of the English Con
; stitution. But here, according to this
novel theory of government, the Presi-
! dent may suspend the Constitution and
the laws of the United States made un-
der it. He may, as it is claimed, do all
, this, supersede them all, disregarding the
limitation enioined for the exercise OF his
prerogatives. He may abolish all the
: laws OF the land and substitute in their
: place his own will. He may abolish the
, whole system of government built up
and bequeated to us by our Revolution
l ary fathers, and he may build up for him
self new and entirely different system
All this he may do, it is claimed, right
fully, legitimately and without interfer-
+ ence.
G | hold this assumed position is untena-
= bic and indelensible; that there is nc
a warrant for it in the Constitution or in
the principles which underlie the theory
a of government, nor in the genius of the
D American people, nor in the spirit Of lib
4 erty which is the boast of our institutions
e Such a proposition will destroy the law
4 as it is utterly incons sistent with the law
1t will reduce this nation, if this theory
of government is deliberately adopted,
to the condition of slavery; and | say
that any nation that will willingly adopt
| it is lost to the appreciation of its own
dignity and national rights, and for them
, the yoke Of the slave is the only
fitting emblem. We are told in defense
+ Of this theory, that it would exist only
in cases of rebellion against the Govern
t ment. We are also told that it was not
intended that the Constitution of the
| United States should be operative in times
, of civil war. Our fathers hoped that
|. civil war might never befali us, but they
5 knew human nature too well to expect
! that we should forever enjoy profound re.
s pose, They had freed themselves from,
: the yoke of oppression; they had success
/. fully conquered enemies without and to
+ ries within, and then they formed Con
$ stitutonal Governn2nt, recognizing in
i them that honesty and good sense which
= mark the patriot Is it to be supposed
Y that they would adopt CONSTITUTIONS
,. Government to be operative only in time
d of peace, and that Constitution shoula
h be superseded whenever discord or wal
o would present an opportunity to set i
n aside, and substitute for it the will of mil
itary power? The Constitution gives tC
e the several departments of the Govern
l. ment all the power ever intended to b'
~