The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1863-06-24

civil wars and during our Revolution,
instead of after the one and at the close
of the other? |, toe, am devotedly for
them after civil war, and before civil war,
and at all times, except when, in cases
of rebellion or invasion, the public safety
may require" their suspension. The res
olutions proceed to tell US that these safe
guards "have stood the test Of seveutY-six
years of trial, nnder our republican sys
tenn, under circumstances which show
that, while they constitute the foundation
of all free government, they are the ele.
enents of the enduring stability of the
Republic" No one denies that they
have stood the test up to the beginning
of the present Rebellion, if we except a
certain occurrence at New Orleans nor
does any one question that they will stand
the same test much longer after the Re
bellion closes But these provisions Of
the Constitution have no application to
the case we have in hand, because the
arrests complained of were not made for
treason-tsat is not for tie treason defined
in the Constitution, and upon conviction
of which the punishment is death-nor
yet were they made to hold persons to
answer for any capital or otherwise infa
nous crimes; nor were the proceedings
following, in any constitutional or legal
sense, criminal prosecutions" The ar.
rests were made on totally different
grounds, and the proceedings following
accorded with the grounds of the arrests.
Let US consider the real case with which
we are dealing, and apply it to the parts
of the Constitution plainly made for such
cases
Prior to my installation here, it had
been inculcated that any State had a law
| full right to secede from the national
Union, and that it would be expcdient to
exercise the right whenever the devotees
of the doctrine should fail to elect a Pres
ident to their own liking | was elected
contrary TO their liking and, accordingly,
so far as it was legally possible they had
taken seven States out of the Union, had
seized many Of the United States forts.
and had fred upon the United StsteS flag,
ali before | was inaugurated, and, of
course, before [ had doDe any official act
whatever. The Rebellion, thus began.
Sc on ran mo the present Civil War; and
IN certain respects, it began on very un-
equal terms between the parties The
Insurgents had been preparing for it more
than thirty years while the Government
had taken no steps t. resist them. The
form had carefully considered all the
means which could be turned to their ac
count |; undoubtedly was a well pom
.eled reliance with them that. 10 their
own uur restricted efforts to destroy Union
oustitutlon. and law, all together, the
Government would, in a great degree, be
restrained by the same Constitution and
law from arrestiug their progress. Their
sympathizer. pervaded all departments of
the Government and nearly all cemmu
mites Of the people. From this material,
under cover Of liberty of speech" lib
erty of the press, and "habeas corpus" >"
they hoped to keep on foot among US a
most efficient corps Of spies. informers,
supplierS, and aiders and abettors of their
cause in thousand ways. They knew
that in tunes such as they were inaugur-
atibg, by the Constitution itself the cha
beas corpus might be suspended; but
they also knew they had friends who
would make question as to lcho was to
suspend it; meanwhile. their spies and
others might remain at large to help on
their cause Or, if, as has happened, the
Executive should suspend the writ, with
out ruinous waste Of time, instances of
arresting innocent persons might occur,
as are always likely to occur in such
cases and then a clamor could be raised
in regard to this, which might be, at
least, of some service to the insurgent
cause. 1t needed no very keen percep-
| ton to discover this part of the enemy's
programme, SO soon as, by open hostiIities,
their machinery was fairly put in motion
Yet, thoroughly imbued with reverence
for the guaranteed rights of individuals,
[ wa slow to adopt the strong measures
by degrees | have been forced to regard
as being within the exceptions of the
Constitution, and as indispensable to the
public safety. Nothing is better known
to history than that courts of justice are
utterly incompetent to such cases, Civil
courts are organized chiefly for trials of
individuals, or, at most, few individuals
acting IN concert and this iu quiet times,
and on charges OF crimes well defined in
the law. Even in times of peace, bands
of horse, thieves and robbers frequently
grow too numerous and powerful for the
ordinary courts of justice. But what
comparison, in numbers, have such bands
ever borne to the insurgent sympathizers
even in many of the loyal States ? Again /:
a jury too frequently has at least one
/