East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1863-07-28
EAST SAGINAW, MICHIGAN, JULY %, 1863

reason anu lne love ol regulated llbert
seem to be overthrown by tho excite
ments of the hour, attempt to base thi
conclusion upon a supposed militar
necessity existing outside of and trans
.cending the Constitution, miltar
necessity behind which the Cons stitutio
itself disappeared in total eclipse :
We do not find this gigantic and mon
strous heresy put forth in your plea fo
absolute power, but We do find anothe
equally subversive of liberty aud Law
and quito as certainly tending to the es
tablishrnent Of despotism. You CLAIM
to have found, not outside, but within
the Constitution, principle or germ o
arbitrary power, which in time of wa
expands at once into an absolute sover
eighty, welded 10y one man, so that lib
erty perishes, or is dependant on hi
viii, his discretion or his caprice. Th
extraordinary doctrine you claim to dc
rive wholly from that clause of the Con
stitution, which, in case of invasion or
rebellion, permits the writ of ha6eaS car
PaS to be suspended. Upon this ground
your whole argument is based
You must permit us to say to yor
with all due respect, but with the ear
nestness demanded by the occasion
that the American people will never ac
qulesce in this doctrine. In their opIn
ION the guarantees of the constitution
which secure to them freedom of speech
and of press, immunity from arrest
from oflenses unknown to the laws OF
the land, and the right of trial by Jury
before the tribunals provided by those
laws, instead Of military commissions
and drum head court.martial, are living
and vital principles in time of peace and
IN war, at all times and under all cir.
cumstanccs. No sophistry or argu.
ment can shake this conviction, nor will
The people require its confirmation by
logical sequences and deductions. 1t
IS a conviction deeply interviewer with
the instincts, the habits and the educa-
lion Of our countrymen. The right to
Iorm opinions upon public measul es and
men, aud To declare those opinions by
speech or writing, with the utmost la..
tude OF expression, the right of person.
ll liberty unless forfeited according to
established laws, and for offences pre-.
'lously defined by law, the right when
iGGtstdd iGGGqftstdd 81 96fifr Wfd tie tf GGlhJ is 1egay
.,certalned all these are rights instant
y perceived without argument or proof.
No refinement of logic can unscttIe
hem in the minds of freemen; no pow.
Dr. can annihilate them; and no force
at the command of any chief magistrate
can compel their surrender.
So far as it is possible for us to un-
lerstand from your language, the men
tai progress which has led you to the
conclusions indicated by your
communication, it is this /: The haOcdS
corpus is a remedial writ, issued by
courts and magistrates to inquire into
the cause of any Imprisonment or re
straint Of liberty, on the return OF which
and upon due examination the person
imprisoned is discharged, if the re.
straint is unlawful, or admitted 10 bail
il he appears to have been lawfully ar.
rested, and is held to answer criminal
accusation. Inasmuch as this process
may be suspended in time of war, you
seem to think that every remedy tor a
false aud unlawful Imprisonment is ab
rogated; and from this postulate you
reach, at simple bound, the conclusion
that there is no liberty under the con
sttution which does not depend on the
gracious indulgence of the Executive
only. The great heresy once estab
lished, and by this mode of deduction
there springs at once into existence
brood of crimes or offenscs underlined
by any rule, and hitherto unknown tc
the laws of the country and this is FOL
lowed by indiscriminate arrests, mid
night seizures, military commissions
unheard of modes of trial and punish
ment, and all the machinery of terror
and dcspotism. Your language doe
not permit us to doubt your essentla
meaning, for you tell us, that "arrest
are made not SO much for what ha
been done, as for what probably woul'
have been done," and, again: 9Th
man who stands by and says nothin!
when the peril of his government IS dis
cussed, cannot be misunderstood.
not hindered (of course by arrest. } he
sure to help tho enemy, and much NOR
if he talks ambiguously for his countr
with butts and its aud lands :" Yo
also tell us that the arrests complaine
of have not been made "for the tresso
defined in tho constitutions" nor 'lC
any capital or otherwise intamou
crimes, nor were the proceedings follow
ing in any sense legal prosecutions >
The very ground, then, of your just
fcation is that the victims of arbitrs
arrest were obedicnt to every law, wel
guiltless of any known or defined c
fence, AMI therefore were without Il
protection of the constitution. The 81
pension of the writ of haJeds corpus /
stead of being intended to prevent Il
enlargement of arrested criminals, uD
legal trial and conviction can be ha
is designed, according to your doctrin
To subject innocent men TO your supretI
will aud pleasure. Silence itself is pu
ishaLle, according to this extraordina'
theory, and still more SO the eXpresslt
of opinions, however loyal, II attcnd'
with criticism upon the policy OF Il
government We must respectfully T
fuse our assent to this theory of cons
tutonal law. We think that men ma
be rightfully silent fthcy choose, viii
clamcrous and needy patriots claim Il