The dollar weekly bulletin. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1862-1864, 1863-07-16

y war or civil commotion, by party majorities
!. in Congress or by party chiefs in the Presi-
Dental chair, that those safeguards were
=, placed in the constitution.
= = Mr.. Lincoln adopts and bases his defence
J. mainly upon the flimsy dogma that the con-
: : stitution was made for peace aud not for wal
= THAT new and 'weak Invention of the en-
: emy' to civil liberty. He relies. upon that
clause of the constitution giving Congress
6 power to suspend the privilege Of ha6eas
+ corpus when in case of rebellion or invasion
the public safety may require it, This, he
says, 'attests the understanding of those who
made the constitution that ordinary courts
of justice are inadequate to no cases of re-
bellion-attests their purpose that in such
cases men may be held in custody whom
the courts would discharge This is sound
doctrine, but whence does he receive the
power to er post facto, or otherwise to create
a new criminal offence and punish at his dis
cretion, with or without the instrumentality
of court martial of his appointing? The two
things are altogether different. The people
are accustomed to seeing men arrested and
! held to bail upon suspicion Of mere un-
provable crime, and it is but small stretch
/ of the same policy to allow. their arrest and
temporary detention without privilege of
trial in time of public danger. Public ne
cessity may require, sound policy may allow
thus much, but nothing more. 1t is wide
stretch beyond this for the military to un-
/ dertaketo to punish as we'll as arrest. This
the constitution nowhere allows, but ex-
pressly forbids. This clause referred to, so
far from sustaining the detestable dogma,
tends very strongly to its disproof, according
to the sound rule of constructing that er-
Pressio ulius est eIclusio ulteriuS.
The constitution having given Congress
discretion to suspend the exercise in one
particular instance, no other, during war or
rebellion, ofone of the functions of the civil
authority, is demonstrative proof of two
things, either of which utterly annihilates
his whole argument. First, that such sus-
pension must not be carried beyond that
particular instance; second, that the consti-
stitution was made for time of war or re-
bellion, as well as for time of peace, other |
wise there would have been no need for the
hdbeas corpus clause, for without it, accord
ing 20 the dogma. the Executive would /
have had unstinted power both to arrest aud /
punish. The constitution gives the govern
lent power to declare war, and provides for |
its being carried out contem plated rebel
lion aud authorizes its suppression-yet sc
eording to the dogma, was not made for
time of war of rebellion! There are other
instances in which the constitution trenches
on the reserved rights of the citizen during
war or rebellion, and going to show that its
trainers had the concurrence Of those juno
lures full in view as likely to fall under its
sway: 1st, No soldier shall, in time Of peace,
be quartered in any house without the con-
sent OF the owner; nor in time of war but in
a manner to be prescribed by law ....,
Now, according 10 Mr.. Liucoln's logic,
this clause, attesting as it does the under
standing that the citizen was not entitled to
the same perfect immunity from arbitrary
acquisitions during war as in time of peace.
there was to be one mode of law for war and
another for peace, and therefore the govern.
ment may during war make whatever arbi-
trary requitions it pleases, that is, take a
farmers crops or horses without Just com
pensation.' 2. No person shall be held to
answer &C., except in cases arising in the {
land or naval forces. or in the militia when
in actual service, in time of war of public
danger Here by necessary implication the I
military are authorized to take cognizance
Of and punish offences by specified persons {
in time of war or public danger. which, ac-
cording to the same logic, authorizes them {
to punish all persons. That is, clause eX-
pressly introduced for the purpose of pre- 4
venting the military from furnishing any I
body, except those engaged in the military {
service, is construed to give power to pun {
sh everybody. whether so engaged or not. {
This effectually runs the argument into alb I
surdity. and there it will be left. ...... {
Mr. Lincoln says that Mr.. Vallandigham /
was laboring with some effect to prevent 6
lie raising of troops; to encourage desertions
rom the army; and to leave the rebellion a
without an adequate force to suppress it; and S
furthermore, that if this be not true then he |
aA nd cho1 >
Well, this is not true. So far from it, he in t
Congress did not vote against the men aud
money the President asked. and said not S
,ne word in the speech for which he was
ounishe ed, to prevent the raising Of troops, or {
20 encourage desertion from the army. Ii
ne had done both or eth er, then he would a
aave come within the act of Congress de- a
iding aud furnishing the offence, for which
lie could and certainly would have been
punished by the courts; SO that, |
according to Mr.. Liucoln's own worst show
Dg. there was not even the most miserable s
oretext of public necessity for his punish t
nent by the military. If, by a circuitous {
quite of ratioc iuation, he means to contend t
hat every speech made in opposition to the {
ustice aod policy of the war, lr some slight {
degree tends to discourage enlistment and
desertion, then to that extent
here is semblance of truth in the affirma- {
ion; otherwise there, is none. But such
slight prejudice to vigorous prosecution i
of the war is but an unavoidable incident ,
TO the exercise of free speech, and is alto {
yether of too problematical and trivial a
ch aracter to induce the nation to acquiesce {
in the suppression Of that ipestimable right. {
A privilege which Chatham, Burke. Fox, and
others illustrated in strains of ever living [
eloqueuce. whilst freely and repeatedly de- :
the war against this country dur
ing our revolution as simpolitic, unjust. cruel,
aud unchristian. A privilege which the