The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1863-06-23

under rircasastasee stitch show that
shile theg eosinus tie fsaada oa Of
al free government. fhey are ihc H.
emenis Of the enduring stability Of the
Republic" NJ one dsnirs that lhey
have 50 stood the tesl up 10 the besio-
ing Of the pres-n, Rebellion. Il we ex-
oept n certain occurrence At New Or
leans nor doe. any one question that
they viii stand The same test muth
longer Afirr the Rebellion elnses. But
these proyislo = Of the Censii ntiop
have no application 10 the ease v.
have III hand, because the arrests c,.m-
planned % were not m d. for treason
that l., mol for NE IT. .ason d lined
IN the Con ,tituliot. aad upoa the cln-
viciion Of which the punishment j.
dealh-nor vet were they made 20
bold persons 20 answer for any capital
or Otherwise infamous crimes; nor
we're the proceeding. fol owing, 10 any
Constitutional or lvgai sense, "erimin
al prosecutions" The arrests were
maize on totally different grounds, and
the proceedings following accorded
with the grounds Of arrest. Let us
consider the real case with which we
are dealing, and apply 10 it The parts
Of the Constitution plainly made for
such cases.
Prior TO my installation here Il had
been inculealed thai any State had a
lawful right TO secede from the Nation
al Union, and that it would be expe-
dent TO exercise the right whenever
the deyotres OF the doctrine should fail
to elect u President to their own lik.
iug. ! was elected contrary to their
liking and, accordingly, so far as il
was legally possibl-, they had TAX en
seven States out Of the Union, had
sieged many Of the United States forts,
and had fired upon the United States
flag, all before | was inagurated, and.
Of course. before | had done any oifici-
al act whatever. The Rebellion thus
begun soon run into the presnt civil
war and, in certain respects, il began
on very unequal terms between The
parties. The insurgents had been
preparing for it more than thirty years,
while the Government had taken no
steps to resist Them. The former had
carefully considered all the means
which cauld be turned TO their recount.
1t undoubtedly was a well-ponder-
ed reliance with them that in their
own unrestricted efforts TO destroy
Union, Constitution, and law, all to-
gether, the Government would. in a
great degree, be restrained by the
same Consti uiion and law from arrest
ing their progress. Their spmpalhiz-
ers ~pervaded all departments Of the
Government and nearly MI communi-
ties Of the people. From this materi-
al, under cover OF liberty Of speech
elderly Of press" and hebeas corpus"
they hoped 10 keep on foot amongst
US a most Efficient corps Of spies, in
formers, suppliers, and alders and
abetters of their cause in Il thousand
ways. They knew that in times such
as they were inaguraling, by The Con-
stitution itself, the "hebeas coipus'
might be suspended; but they also
KIN the had Friends who wouldmake
a question n TO whO was to suspend il /;
meanwhile their spies and others
might remain at large to help on their
cause. Or il, as has happened, thc
i xecutive should suspend the writ,
without ruinous waste Of time, instan-
stances of arres Ing innocent persons
might occur, as are always likely to
occur in such ca,es and then a clam
or could be raised ia regard to this.
| which might be, at least, Of some SER
vice to the insurgnet cause. II need
ed no very keen perception to discov-
er this part Of the snemy's programme,
so soon a by open hostilities their ma
chinrry was fairly put in motion. Yet,
thoroughly imbued with a reverence
for the guaranteed rights of individu-
ais, | was SLOW to adopt the strong
measures which by degrees ! have
bean forced to regard as beng within
the exceptions Of the Constitution, and
as indispensable TO the public safety.
Nothing is better known to history
than that courts 0! justice are utterly
incompetent to such cases. Civil
courts are organized chiefly for islals
of individuals, or, at most, a few Indi-
viduals acting in concert and this in
quiet times, and on charges of crimes
well defined in the law. Even in
lines Of peace, bands of hlrse.theives
and robbers frequently grow too nu-
merous and powerful for the ordinary
courts Of justice. Bnt what compari.
son 10 numbers, have such bands rv-
er borne to the insurgenl s%ympalhizer.
even in many of the lo,al States ?
Again, a jury too frequently has at
least one member nor ready 10 hang
The panel than TO hang the traitor.
Aud yet, again. he who dissuades one
man from volunteering, or Induces one
soldier 10 desert, weakens the Union
cause as much as he who kills a Union
soldier in battle. Yet this discussion
or inducement may be Sc conducted as
to be no d, fined crime Of which any
civil court would take cognizance.
Ours is a case Of Rebellion $50 cali
ed by the resolutions before me-in