Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1863-09-30
SUSPENSION OF THE HABzAs CORPUS.

SUSPENSION OF THE HABEAs CORPUS.
There is no doubt that the late proclamation
Of President LINCOLN win be hailed among
diSloyal men North, as it viii be by rebels
South. another evidence that the North is
completely given over to the Lincoln despo-
tisnI-' and that we are all quietly submitting
70 The deprivation Of every free right. Sen
sibIe and loyal men, however, will look at the
nea sure which has been forced upon The Pres
ident BY copprrhead Judges and peace men
in a far different light. They will DEEM it
wise and unavoidable, and will see in it a fixed
determination of the Government thar home
traitors shall no longer destroy our armies by
throwing every embarra ssment in the way of
the draft and enlistment by having soldiers
released by every possible trick and device of
State local law. and by running the IEa-
beas Corpus dodge to such an extent that If
continued, would in q short time leave us no
army either to follow up our own victories. or
to prevent the rebel invasion and spoliatiou
Of our own States. The riot at New York
and the consequent necessity to uphold ma
tioHaI authority, Obliged the government to
withdraw twenty five thousand of its very best
troops from the army of the Potomac, and at
the very time, too, that Lee could have been
most seriously damaged.
We are credibly informed that numbers OF
our soldiers have been coaxed home from the
army by misguided friends, or Government
foes, with the prom se that they need not go
back again, but that, by the habeas corpus
dodge. and other machinery now employed by
cOpperheads to embarrass the Government and
break up our armies, their release or discharge
will be procured Now We must either whip
the "ebeIs,or be whipped by them. We must
either make them submit, or be Submissive to
them. W. must be their masters or they viii
he ours. The President has just made has
choice, aud the loyal people will back him mp
il it. If the rebellion is to be overthrow, it
must be done by veteran and disciplined fight
ing men, and how can we keep such men in
our armies when thousand agencies are at
work to make them discoutcnied orhave them
reieased2
The Tribune publishes the whole Of the Act
OF Congress, in pursuance Of which the Presi
dent has suspended the writ of habeas corpus
\ little study of its provisions will show that
all the copperhead rawlings about Bastiles and
letters de cachet, and star chamber imprisor-
ments aud the impending doom of personal
liberty. are simply absurd. The act referred
TO makes every reasonable provision for the
protection of personal liberty. 1t does, in
deed, authorize the suspension Of the habeas
corpus, but it also provides the means by
which all persons arrested, except those arres-
ted and held prisoners OF war, are assured
a judicial examination into the causes of their
detention, and are practically remanded to the
ordinary jurisdictio of the u. States Courts
The second section of the act directs that
the Secretaries of State and War shall furnish
TO the Judges of the Circuit and District
Courts of the United States lists of the names
of all persons held as State or political prison
ers. The cases of such persons will thereup-
on GO before the Grand Jury and if no indict-
ment is found against them, it becomes the
duty of the Judge to order them to be before
him, and thereupou he may discharge them
by administering the oath OF allegiance, or
upon examination may require recognisance
for their good behavior, and for their subse-
quent appearance the Court may direct If
the lists are not furnished by the Secretaries
of State and War within twenty days after the
date of the arrests, any citizen may, by peti-
tion, bring the case of any arrested person be-
fore the Court, if not indicted by the Grand
Jury, and procure his discharge in the same
manner and upon the same conditions a
bove stated.
It follows. therefore, that. excepting deser-
ters and other military prisoners, no citizens
can be arrested and held in consequence of
the suspension of habeas corpus, without the
benefit of a judicial inquiry into his case, as
certain, as full, and impartial as he would
have had if the habeas corpus had not been
suspended If arrested and subsequently in
dicted by the Grand Jury, be may be dischar-
ged on bail, if he is indicted for bailable Of
fence. If arrested and not indicted. he is
brought before United States Judge,and the
merits of bis case examined by that Judge,
precisely as they would be on a hearing upon