Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1863-08-20
The EIOqucnce of Hon. Georgc
Il. Pugh--1lis Splendid Argu-
mcnt In the Va1Iandigham m
Case Before Judge Lcavitt.


the writ of hdbeas corpus, is one Of tho
!. most powerful and mastery that was
ever delivered ina Court of Justice. II
combines, together with strength and
power in argument, splendid and elo-
euent diction. AS specimens of its
9 character, we select tho following passa.
gos, which we know will be admired by
J, lovers of the patriotic and beautiful
Mr.. Pugh said of the doctrine that our
liberties are not in danger:
'I not only fear, but am we'll assured
by the example Of history. tina. our lib.
critics can not survive patient submission
to arbitrary power. 1t is not the cry OF
| demagogues; it is the voice of wisdom in
all ages--it speaks to us from the tombs
of hundred Republics, once happy and
proud. and confident of perpetuity. 1t
is watchword of patriots and the tes-
lament Of martyrs-it should be the first
lesson of youth and the last injunction
Of the aged to their children. Eternal
vigilance is the price Of liberty!' We
can have it for no less, and upon no other
terms. Religion, Civilization, Educa-
toni These Go not supply the place of
liberty at all, nor have they been found
sufficient to preserve it, Other nations,
living under despotic forms of govern.
ment, are quite as religious and quite as
thoroughly civilized as we are. The rude
Roman was free-the Roman of the high.
er civilization became an abiect slave.
; 'I will not trust my sacred birth right
to any man, let him be ever so great and
good. upon his promise that by and by
when he shall have conquered an enemy
or put down a rebellion, he will give it
back to me. He may take it without
my consent; he may be SO strong that
cannot resist; these are misfortunes
which I may not bc able to avoid; but
no words of hattery, no power on earth,
can deceive me or compel me to any
measure of compliance. Better the
sharpest pangs of death, or sharper than
death, life of evie and poverty, and
constant hardships. Give me the crust
of bread and cup of water with liberty,
rather than the amplest luxury with SER
I vitude. Give me, instead of this genial
climate, this fertile soil, this prosperous
q community, undes an arbitrary Govern
-, ment, the bleakest Artic or Antartic re
= gion, under the almost insufferable win
+ ter, the night of one-half year in dura
a ton, the day, which can hardly be callec
:, a day; but give me withal the conscious
!, ness-the proud, the noble, priceless. tn,
. inexpressible conscousness---of being,
:, free man.
. "But, sir, what become of our safe
. guards-what avails the experience o
;. several hundred years--where is that
:. Constitution which declares itself to be
~ the supreme law of the land, if Major
:. General commanding the Department oi
the Ohio, or any other officer, civil oil
4 military, can create and multiply defini-
tions of treason at his pleasure? The an
l.. cient Ruminalls put forth new leaves
y when all men supposed it to be dying
: . whether the tree of American liberty will
u be able to supply the place of that splen.
}, did foliage which has been stripped from
it's branches and scattered beneath oul
feet, by this rude blast of arbitrary and
q unlimited authority, is question does
f not concern my distinguished client more
! than it concerns any other citizen. The
!. partisans in power o-day will be the par.
tisans in opposition -morrow-theu
# military command will be shifted from
4 those who oppress to those who have been
y oppressed; and so with the mutations Of
), political faction, must the personal rights
" of property, and even the lives of all be
: . in constant hazard but l pray that my
:, learned friends upon the other side viii
/. consider this in time--that they will use
n their influence, not only with the defend
n ant, but with those to whom at present
!. he is amenable, to revoke, ere it be too
late, the dreadful fiat of the tyranny, o
, hopeless confusion, unlimited anarchy
:. which has been sounded in our midst.
Il X
. "And such, Lord Eldon. while Attor
m ney' General, and addressing the jury il
ID the case of Hardy. October %, l794, de
a. clared to be the true constitutional mean
ing of the act of Parliament, then in fore
ia whereby the privilege of the writ {
N habeas corpus has been suspended. Littl
al al did he conceive, with all his inclination
q to an arbitrary and responsible Govern
bo ment, and at the very time when tn
m people of England stood aghast at tn
horrors of the French Revolution, an,
=, even doubted whether such anarchy woui,
u not extend to them--little did say di,
- Lord Eldon conceive that Major Gen
h. h. eral or Field Marshal could arrest men
= other than soldiers, at his pleasure, an
- for offenses unknown to the law, coul
-. confne them in military PRISONS; coul
Ia deprive them of the writ of habeas corpa
~ ~ without an act of Parliament suspendin
il. that privilege; could subject them to Il
~. form of trial by courts or commission
composed CT military officers. and upo
charges aud specifications alike indefnit
i. inconclusive and frivolous.
"And yet, sir, to that we have con
sf- in the first century of our Republic. wi,
,at written Constitution, less than eighl
in years old, in country protesting to
,es civilized, intelligent, refined, and, stral
to gest of all, to be free. 1t is our case
cb your Honor pleace. your own case an
il mine-and not merely the case of Cleme
inn L. Vallandigham. He is the victim
DIV to-day, but there will be and must
ew other victims tomorrow. What righ
in have we, or what security for any rig
,be under such system as this
The "'Every ministering spy
IN. That will accuse and swear, Is lord of you