The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-07-22
NO..s7.

whereby you assume that powers are delegated
to the President at the time Of invasion or in
in deregatiot, OF the plainsIangnage
Of the Constitution The inherent provisions
Of the Consti uti0n remaining the same in
time of insurrection or In vaslon, assin fitnn
peace, the President can have no more right
to disregard their positive and imperative re-
quirements NJ the former time than as the lat
ter. because some tbiDgs may be dpnoSfby
the terms of the Constitution at the time OF
invasion or iasurrection, which would be re-
quired by the occasion, in1time of peace, you
assume that anything sehdfeieS, even Though
not expressed by the CONSTITUTION. maya DO
done on the occasion of insurrectiouH or inTas-
ion, which the President may choose to s1g Is
required by the public safety Eus palmer
terms. because the writ of Iubcas corpus may
be suspended at the time ofsinSasion or insufs
rection, you infer, that NIL other provisions Of
the CONSTITUTION, having inEvicH the pT6aetfion
Of the life, liberty of the t;z m ssnay Be- in
IKE manper suspended. The pro1isiph rels-
ting to the writ Of Isabeas corpus, being eou-
rained in the first part of athe EGonstifdsioD;
the purpose of which is to- define. the powers
delegated to Congress, has mo connections in
language with the declaration Of Tiehsss as
guarantees Of personal liberty contaihcd in
the additional and amendatory articles, and In
asmuch as the provision srelating1to kabeas
corpus expressly provides for fs suspensioa
and the other provisions alluded to d0enot
provide for any such thing,7the Legal eonclu-
siou is, that the suspension Of the litter isoun-
authorized. Ths provision for ahes ufir Of
huJeas corpus, is merely intended to. furnish q
SEMINARY remedy, and notithe msans sNhereby
PERSONA security is conserved; in the final re-
sort; while the other provisions are euaran-
tees of personal rightssthe suspension Of which
puts an end to all preteBse of free government.
1t is tine Mr.. Vallandigham applied for a writ
of huGeGs corpus Fds a summary remedy .agsSsnst
oppression. But the denial sef this did not
take away his right to speedy public triai by
an impartial jury, or dpriye hinn of his5 nther
rights as an American citizen. Your assnmP
tion of the righLto suspend all lnthe consEitu-.
tiunal guarantees of personal Liberty, andeyen
of tho freedom of speech and Of the epfess,
because shc summary remedy of hzLedssacor
p@s may be suspended, ,is at once startling and
alarming all persons dssireus sofa preserving
free government in this country.
The inquiry of the undersigned
LAyou hold that the rights cf every man
throughout this vast country, ina fimeislof II.
svasion or insurrsction, are sabject to be da-
natied whenever you may sag that dgoas con-
slider the public safety requires il xsaWas a
plain question, undisguised by eircun loenti0n,
and Intended simply 10 elicit information -
Your affirmative answer to this question
of the trainers of the Constitution, who fat.
tered themselves that they had provided safe.
guards against the dangers which have eyer
beset and oserIhr1Wh free governments IN z0thS
/ es-.ssee- -assd countries. Your answer isn not to
| be disguised by the phraseulogy that the ques-
tion is simply atquestion Uho shall decide,
CT an affirmation that hobodysha' decide what
the public safety does require in cases Of re-
beIlion or invasion.1 Our Govern ment5 was
designed to be Government of tosr,e settled
and defined, aud not of the afbitrafy Tilbo
. single msn. As a safeguard, the powers were
delegated to the legislative, executiTe and ju-
| dicial branches of the Government, and each
i made coordinate with the others, and supreme
within its sphere and thus n mutual CHECK
npan each other,ip case of abuse and opower.
i It has been the boast OF the Americans people
that they had lorittea C0nsft.atis ,auat only
Iexpressiy defining, but also liasitiag the pow
ers of the Government, andeProViding affect.
1 ual safeguards for personal liberty, security
i and property. And to makeit the matter more
positive aud explicit, il was provided by the
amendaiory articl ss,, nine and ten, that "the
/ eaunaerat an in she Constitution Of CERTAIN
| r.1tts, shall not be construed to deny orr dis-
parage Others retained by the peoples and that
i s.thc powers not delegated tothe United States
by the Constitution, porg prohibited by 1t to
/ the States are reserved to thcHStates respect
lively. or to the people,, IS With thiseafe and
precanticn on the part Of sodr fOrcfathersy who
! framed our institutions, it was not tobbe ex-
i pected, that, at so early aoday as this selam
of the Presidentstp arbitrary. fpo@en limited
only by his conception Of StheIrequiremea's of
the public safety, weuld have been asserted -
In derogation OF the constitutional pnovisions
making the President strictly an executive
officer, and yesting all the delegated ie1isla-
4 tive power in Congress, your position, as We
underst md it, would meke yofr nil he, rule
of action and youl declarations of the require
,ments of the public safety the Jaw of the land
Our inquiry was not, ltherefors. s.simpiy a
question isho shall decide, or the affirmation
that no5cdg shall decide what the puhlIc safe-
requires, Our Gevernm ant is ,astievern-
ment of Lao, and i Is the taao-ln thtizg PolreF