The dollar weekly bulletin. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1862-1864, 1863-03-26

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The following letter from Ex-President
Pierce to the late Senator Pearce. of New
Hampshire, in. regard to arbitrary arrests,
has never before been published. The posi-
ton assumed by Ex-Prssident Pierce is
manly and decided, and leaves no ground
for doubt:
IcoPY.1
Concord, N. H, January Is, 1862.
My DEAR Sir: / read with unusual in
terest and satisfaction the debate which oc-
CURED in the Senate on the 10Th ult., upon
the resolution of Mr.. Trumbull, ard desire
to express my thanks for the sentiments and
thoughts which the occasion elected from
you. My convictions and sympathies are
with you thoroughly when you say. II do
not believe that it Imprisonment upon
Lettres de cachet) promotes the purposes of
those who desire to see this Union brought
together again--an object, of all Others. to
me the most desirable, ifit be possibie."s +,
In my estimation, the mover of the in
quiry deserves the gratitude of freemen
everywhere, aud only utters truth with
! force when he declares that "the power
with out charge, without examination, with
out opportunity of reply, at the click of the
telegraph, to arrest man in peaceable
portion of the country and imprison him." is
| 'fof the essence of 6espo otism." And yet the
public mind thus far would seem to have
been scarcely more reused by current events
of this character than it was, years ago, when
we received counts of similar incarcera-
tions, ordered by the father of the now de-
posed king OF the Two Sicilies. How in
credible it will appear hereafter. when his
tory shall be written up. that at this. period
of the Republic the constitutional safe
guards of personal liberty could have been
SO easily and with so little apparent concern
swept away. -,.---.e-a
The Secretary of State, on the Goth ult.,
four days alter the debate in which you paf-
ticipated, addressed an official note to me,
which seems to illustrate in striking man.
ner, the slight grounds, or rather the ground
less suspicious, upon which in these times
citizens are liable to suffer in reputation, if
not in loss of liberty. Ireplied without de-
lay, and, so far as am personally affected,
may, / trust, well leave the m after in quiet
ness upon the files of the departrn ent. 1t is
my belief, however, thatjno recent NJ easure
has been frsught with more mischief than
! the issuing of lctt,es de cachet, and conss-
quent arrests and imprisonm ents, in violation
of the provisions of.the Constitutions; and
that the earlier the system is effectually
checked, the better it will be for the Govern
ment and the country, as well as for the sub
iects of oppression. The evidence is abun-
dant to show that the plea of necessity, ex-
cept in the presence or imm ediate neigh bor-
God of hostile armies, where the admins
| tration of law uud er the usual forms may
be inevitably suspended, is not graciously
accepted by the m ass of the people. Union
without security for personal liberty is not
the Union which they have cherished and
to the restoration of which they look with
earnest desire and hope.
Nothing, perhaps, could express more
clearly their views on this point than the
language of the great modern historian. who
died at a comparatively recent period, leav-
ing his work Incomplete. In tracing the
successive steps in the progress of British
liberty, Mr.. M acaulay says: I'VE have been
taught. by long experience, that we can not
without danger suffer any breach of the Con-
stitution to pass unnoticed." "As we can
not, without the risk of evils from which
Imagination recois, employ physical force
i as a check on misgovernmeut, it is evidently
our wisdom to keep all constitutional checks
on misgovernm ent in the highest state of
efficiency-to watch with jealousy the first
beginnings of encroachment and never to
suffer irregularities, even when harmless in
themselves, to pass unchallenged, lest they
acquire the force of precedests." Who in
our land will affirm that any other doctrine
| is worthy of those who hold their rights
under solemn, written charter? It is
cheering to know that inquiry has been
moved in the right quarter. and that able
and fearless men are stirred by sense of
what IS due to our citizens, who have
been imprisoned without assignment ofcause
and discharged without explanation: and,
vet more, such as are still in confinement
aud precluded by guards and prison bolts
from the privilege of the great writ of liber-
ty, :" and thus of confronting, before COM
| petent judicial tribunal, suggestion of crime,
which the act of imprisonment itself implies.
| Of this latter class, I believe, from my
knowledge of the men, are not a few worthy
sons of Maryland, who love the Union as
! YOU do, and who have striven, not to destroy,
! but to preserve it. If free from any taint OF
crime, as take them to be, they will derive
unfaiiing capacity for endurance from the
consciousness that they have never nourieh-
ed their manly strength to strike stont blows
at the foundations which their fathers laid
that they have never participated in lines
of action, or in startling utterances, calcu-
lated to encourage aggression upon the rights
and institutions of sovereign States--to
foster sectional distrust and animosity, or {.
inaugurate conflict between different parts o
the Confederation, and thus to weaken unity
of feeling, interest and purpose. If, on th,
other hand, they are guilty, the law vii
inf:ct adequate punishment, whatever ths
may may be. as it should do. But how
long is such durance. tOitEout hearing to b
their allotment? 4.
am. very truly. your friend,
- rr FRANKLIN PIERCE.
Hon. JxMEs A. PEARoE, United Stste
J Senator, w Washington, D. G.