Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-02-02
From the Albany August
Supreme Court of the United states

freSluentS prOclamatOns Tue lh'lOl"ohiey Va sho
writ of habeas corpus, has caused deep feeling IN
Washington The court is composed of Repub-
lican Jud res; but it was unanimous in arraying
itself fir My against the pretensons which the
President has founded upon ''the war power.
The Wisconsin papers announce that United
States SenatOS Howe, who was dispatched post
haste from Washington to recall the court to its
party allegiance, and to induce 1t to modify Its
opinions, has arrived, and had commenced his
labors, but we have no intimation that his mis-
sion has been attended by any SUGGEST We have
no doubt that the Judges of Wisconsin, RePubli-
cans though they be, will stand firm in defense of
the Constitution against the usurpations OF the
Executive. The courts of all the Northern
States with few and unimportant exceptions)
will array themselves on the same side.
The present Congress has but fOrtytwo days
more of life, and when these are spent, the usur
patton, which has tyrannzed over the courts, will
lose its strength; and the more timid tribunals
will gather courage to esSert their rights
The Supreme Court of the United States, too,
will confront the danger with an unbroken spirit.
and with a unanimous judgment. recent letter
of Judge Miller. of Iowa, OF the Supreme Court
of the United States, removes all doubt as to
him. de was appointed to his place on the SUI
preme Bench by President Lincoln, as were also
Judge Swayne, of Ohio, and Davis, of Illinois.
These two Judges also hold conservative senti-
ments; and we have no doubt that the Supreme
Bench will be unanimous in sustaining the Con-
stituton against the new and dangerous asser-
tons of Executive prerogative, as expanded I'M
der the magnifying influence oil war necessity.
This attitude OF the new Republican Judges. in
accord with the old dignitaries of the bench,
should occasion no surprise 1t would be far
more astonishing if any well-read lawyer-any
one versed enough in the philosophS of juris-
prudence TO deserve any place upon the bench OF
any eourt-shOuld so far stultify himself as to
uphold these pretensions-
We congratulate the country upon some OF the
encouraging aspects Of the times. The work of
reparation goes on alongside that of destruction.
The Congress which has'done much to deface
and destroy the Constitution and TO disintegrate
the Union, is about to expire in ignominy. The
States are asserting their rights. TIE courts are
arraigning themselves as the indicators of the
liberty of the citizen And the people are march
ing forward to take into their own hands the task
Demonstrating the Government. in which armies
and navies have failed, and which Cabinets and
Congresses have meddled with to mar
There can be no doubt but the people generally
desire reform in the Administration, which by
its weakness and recklessness has well nigh
ruined the country. Il is not the Democracy
alone that entertain this sentiment, but it in
cludes large number of conservatives who have
been identified with the Republican party. In
proof of this we present the following extract
from letter written by Justice SAMUEL p Mil
LER, of the Supreme Court of the United States.
dated at Keokuk, Iowa. November It'll, 1862. in
answer to an invitation to attend "grand jubi
lee of the friends of const tutional liberty and
Union"
Judge MILLER appointed last year by Mr..
LINCOLN, tor whom he voted, and "A member
of the old Wing party. The sentiments he ex
presses cannot fail to strike the public mind as
eminently just and appropriate. His letter should
be read by all who sincerely desire to be informed
upon the present condition of affairs by one who
can have 10 other motive to influence him but
the good of his country.
In connection with the comments of the Albany
Argus upon the Supreme Court of the United
States and the confidence which may be reposed
in not only its ability and purity, but its deter
mination to protect and maintain the liberties OF
the citizen, the letter of Judge MILLER is most
opportune. Judge MILLER writes:
The recent elections have gladdened nv
heart more than can find language to express,
for feel that by the success of the Democracy
and constitutional liberty.
lam an old Clay Wing, as you all know, and
when the party went down, | united with the Re
publcans, i'm the hope and belief that it would
succeed to all the loyal and national virtues of
the Wing party, and that we would have Wing
principles and policy prevail under another name
But got more than | bargained for. TWAS not
in the covenant that we should have civil war as
consequence of Republican success; that the
public treasury was TO be plundered by whole
sale: that "free sOil' in loyal States should be
covered with martial law; that "free speech"
should be chained in the dungeons of the bastile
that free homes should be sacked to desolatIon,
and he liberty of free men should be confined
in its practical application to the negroes of the
South, and the Abolition wing of the Repubi-
can party at the North No. We old Wings,
in uniting with the Republican party. did not
consent to be party TO any such violations of
constitutional liberty
Had the counsels of Gen. Scott John j. Crit
tenden Stephen A Douglas, and indeed of all
the wise and good men of our nation been
needed, we would not now be afflicted with the
civil war that Is now upon They could not
have prevented South Carolina from her attempt
at revolution, hut the Crittenden proposition
would have saved all the rest of the Southern
States, and long before this, a trifling expense
of money. and at a small less of life, that rebel
liOus State would have been humbled before the
flag of the Union.
But how did the phrenzy of the Abolition lead
ers meet that prOp0sitionl They said. away
with IT, away with it, and cruelty all who advo
cate il. They further said. leave the slave States
COL We can do without them, and we will
speedily reap the advantages of separation.
When the conservative element of the nation
proclaimed itself for the Union. then the Aboli-
tOniSts assumed that they were the war party,
and denounced all others as Rebel 5, mpathizers.
That the Abolitonists in favor of prosecut-
ing the war for the love of the Union, | am sure
is not he case Their object is to abolish slavery
only. and if that should fail, they will again
speedily raise their old cry, of "Iet the Union
SLIDE"
Gentlemen. it is the mission of the Democratic
party TO save the Union
It has always been loyal and national party;
it has ever upheld constitutional law as the only
safeguard of freedom. 1t was the party that
hurled from power the authors OF the alien and
sedition laws, sixty years ago. and for all that
period they guided ship of State successfully
and gloriously through the waves of civil COM
motion and the dangers of foreign wars.
| regard the Clay Wing party. and the Doug
las Democracy genuine branches of the old
Democratic party in 1893.
When I see Gen Scott and Willard Fillmore
and Crittenden, and Ketchum, and Hunt, and all
the old prominent Wings OF twenty five years
ago, now united at the polls with the Democra-
cy, | have no doubt that If the immortal
sage OF Ashland, that purest of patriots most ell
oquent OF orators, and wisest OF statesmen, Henry
Clay, were still alive. and in our midst, he TOO
would lend his voice in favor of that party whose
watchwOrds the "Constituion as ic is" and
'the Union it must aud shall be preserved"
The Abolition leaders had so little idea of the