Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-04-20

That the pretended power of dispensing with laws,
besa assumed and exercised Of late. is Illegal
Nr Speaker, we have here, then. the three
grand acts in the sublime drama OF English lib
erty: and the unity Of immoral principle which
peirades and sustains them all is SO complete that
Lord Chatham consolidated them in his mind
and proclaimed them to be ''the Bible of the
Ensish Constitution" Their inspiration was
conhned, however, to no nation and to no age
Their application 10 civil rights was as universal
as mankind itself. They speak in tones OF hope,
ofdlgnity and of manhood. to every heart worthy
70 oe free which beats beneath the sun. They
constitute a trowningand defiant bulwark against
arbitrary and despotc power; but radiant and
smiling angel of liberty. peace, fraternity and Sc.
curay to the toiling millions whose strong arms
uphold the wealth, the commerce, the progress
and the civilization of the world. And when the
next great struggle in. Behalf of constitutional
Liberty for the citizen against the unlawful as
sumption of power by one man, which startled the
nations in lII6, had closed in triumph the soil
OF Firginia-where the voice of Patrick Henry
first aroused 1.-THE material for those clauses Of
the American Constitution which secure the per
sonai independence and personal rights of the
citizen. was ready and ample. a rich inheritance
ef'theRast. and only needed to be reasserted in
the form of an organic law. Our Constitution is
simply one more denial recorded in history Of the
power to transcend the written law in order to
reach and injure the citizen in the enjoyment of
lite liberty and property. 1t is simply one more
declaration, added to those already made. that
the people possessed an inherent power to protect
themselves against their old enemy-executive
usurpation. 1t was solemn protest, in the name
OF human nature. that one man should have the
Liberties OF this people within his control no more
forever 1t was the PRONUNCIATION of Magma
Charta, the continuation of the Petition of Right
the extension of the Bill OF Rights. and a concen-
tratiOn of them ALL Here are the noble, familiar
sections. the due observance of which alone
renders American ciuzenship more valuable
than the condition of the slave on his p.anta
ton:
ART ". The right the people to be secure in their
persons, houses papers, aud effects agenst unreasonable
searches and seizures shall not be invaded and
rant shall issue but upon probable cause supported by
oath affirmation, aud particularly describing the place
TO be searched and the persons things be seized
ART. V. No person shall be held TO a capital
otherwise infamous crime, unless presentment in
dctment OF Grand jury except in arising in the
land or naval forces, in the militia when in actual
vice in time of war public DANGER shall any person
be subject for the same oense to be twice put eop
ardy OF life or limb; nor shall he be compelled in any
criminal case TO be tness against himself be de-
prved of life liberty property without due process of
law; shall private property be for public use
without just compensation.
ART. VI In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall
enjoy the right to speedy and public trial. by impair
have been committed which district shall have been pre-
vousy ascertained by law. and TO be informed of the
natu and cause Of the accusation; be confronted with
tne witnesses against him. to have compulsory process for
obtaining witnesses in his favor and have the
OF counsel for his defense.
| have thus, sir, given Il brief and summary
view of the results which have attended a contest
between free principles and the abuse of power
tor more than six hundred years in England and
America ] have endeavured To point olt the
NH. II -. IL
be observed however, that all these great instru-
ments, which stand as beacon-ghts of liberty
along the pathway of The last six centuries, and
from which ] have so freely quoted are only de-
claratory of what the ishtS OF man are, and de
pend for their execution on an additional agency
in the policy of government. Magma Charta. as
| have shown. declared mighty principle in the
science of just government, and il has been re-
peated over and over again many times since, and
at last finds polished and detailed embodiment
in the American Constitution; but something
more is necessary and INDISPENSABLE in order to
carry il out and confer its practical benefits on
mankind. The Barons said that the executive
should not take. imprson or punish any citizen
OF the realm, except according to the law of the
land; the subjects OF every English king have re
peated it, and the trainers of our Constitution as
sert the same thing with great particuarity and
care in the sections which have just read but
what would all this be worth if no means had been
provided TO enforce this often reiterated principle
OF lberty2 1t would simply stand an expires
sion, sublime one il is true, in favor of immuta-
BILE justice and right; but without the machinery
of some active process of administrative law it
would be powerless to extend succor to the op
pressed.
Therefore all the proud declarations against the
Infringement of personal liberty by the executive
from Runnymede to the present hour, have been
accompanied 10y that messenger of speedy Justice,
the writ OF habeas corpus. Itexecutes what they
declare IL gives motion and efficacy to thelaw
of a free government 1t is the active agent by
which the will of the people, as expressed in the
Constitution and laws made for their own protec-
ton, is enforced Without it the tyrant NAV
laugh to the winds every doctrine of Magma
Charta, every provision OF our own Constitution.
Without il an executive ruler is beyond legal re-
straint or coercon and can with mpunity Substi
tute his own will for the Constitution and the
laws. Without it arbitrary power NAV roam over
the rights of the people, like the wild boar in the
rcn vineyards Of Gaul, and tear and rend its vic
tins at pleasure.
Sir the habeas corpus is the life Of liberty. 1t
is of ancient origin. IL was born amid the open
ing struggles of our remote ancestors in behalf of
popular freedom 1t was recognized at once by a
race unwilling to accept the COON of slaves TO be
law of necessity. 1t sprang from no statute.
Ii depends Tor Its existence on no enactment. 1t
is one OF those high, unrepealable laws which
liberty writes the hearts of all her worshppers
and which. without the aid of legislation. became
part of the common law of England. simply be-
cause of that rule of Gods providence, which
prescribes an eternal fitness of things. tits. per
haps. Older than Magma Charta itself Hallam,
in his History of the Middle Ages, referring to
the period when the great charter was obtained,
saws
Whether courts Of justice framed the writ Of habeas
corpus in conformity to the spirit of this clause found
already in their register, il became from that the
right Of every subject to demand it
And again, this great author says:
From the earliest records of the English freeman
could be detained in prison except upon criminal charge
or conviction or for civil debt In the former it
always in his power demand of the Court Of King
Bench writ Of habeas corpus ad subjcendum, directed
TO the person OBTAINING him in custody, by which he
enjoncd bring up the body of the prisoner with the
sufcency. and remand the party. admit him 10 ball.
discharge him. according the nature of the charge
This law. thus described. the American colo
nies inherited and possessed from the earliest pc
riod of their settlement. 1t took no legislation to
bestow on them its blessing. for. AS an eminent
law writer observes
And il must now be taken a settled axiom Amen-
can law that the territory Of the colonies claimed by
right of occupancy by finding desert and uncu
vated ard that the common law OF England first obtained
in that part Of the empire law personal to the Eng
lish born cclonists.
And in the formation of our Constitution. our
fathers assumed that it already existed in all its
ancient force and benevolent mission. and simply
made the following provis on against It's suspen-
sion.
That the privilege Of the writ OF habess corpus shall
be suspended unless when in Of rebellion invs
sion, the public safety may require II.
And now, Mr.. Speaker, in view of the histori-
cal grandeur of this writ; in view of the duties
which helone, ~ lis nafrre IN ,eror1n. in view of