Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-04-20
INDIANAPOLIS, IND, MONDAY, APRIL 20, 1868.


every calling and profession in life from the proud
man in his mansion to the good mnn in his cabin
all stand this day naked and exposed. utterly and
entirely at the mercy of one man, and of the
fawning minions who crouch before him for pay
/ state fact in the hearing of the country. and
wherever my feeble words may penetrate wit
nesses will rise up and solemnly attest It's tyIhs.
Ii would be the natural suppositioI of every in
telligent mind. that an argument to prove that
there is warrant in the Constitution for this
state of affairs would be an insult 10 the genius
of the Revolution in which our liberties were won,
an outrage on the memory of the great dead of
that period, and a mockery to the common sense
of the world. But the spirit OF abject servility,
which always invites the arrogant assumptions of
power and precedes the downfall OF liberty, is per
Forming its loathsome office on every hand. We
hear on every side the old cry of the courtier and
the parasite At every new aggression. at every
additional outrage. new advocates rise up to de-
fend that source of patronage, wealth and fame
the department of the Executive. Technical and
obscure rules, cunniDgly devised special pleas,
and skilful and deceptive sophistry, all combine
in the hands of the supporters of this Administrs-
ton to tear away from the people the protection
of the laws of their own making. Such assistance
has always waited on the most malignant efforts
of tyranny. Nero had his poet laureate, and
Seneca wrote his defense for the murder OF his
mother. The present dark hour affords ample
evidence that human nature is the same that it
was two thousand years ago.
Amid the opening scenes Of this disastrous and
deplorable war. the President suspended the cper-
aions of the writ Of habeas corpus in certain
settled and afflicted cities and portions of the
country This was. in my judgment. without au-
thority of the Constitution; butthe people bore with
heroic patience their own wrongs rather than add
this partial assault the principles of free govern
meni is rendered insignificant in view of the dar-
ing and gigantic stride taken IN September, and
which the biandishing tongue of hattery and adu
latiOh commend and sustain in the American
Congress. and in the face of the American people.
With this last act iu-the mourniul tragedy of
tiona honor, and, | fear, national existence, |
shall more especially deal at this time
Sir, might content myself as to the power of
the President to suspend the writ OF habeas corpus
by resting upon Judicial precedent. | might de
clare TO this House and 10 the country, in the
language OF that eminent lurist late Justice of
the Supreme Court of the United States Beuja-
min Rand Curtis, of Massachusetts. that " the
only judicial decisions which have been made
upon this question have been adverse to the power
of the President. | might array negative upon
negative, and cite IN support OF my position the
great names ofiudicial history before whose glory
in the higher walks OF useful fame among men the
most exalted names of to day would be as the
feeble sparks of the glow worm in vain compe-
tltiOn with the. blazing sun at its meridian.
might show from the recorded transactions of the
past that the nineteenth century and the land of
much yaunted freedom have produced a Presi-
dent and IA Cabinet who, in'a speciessOf deerinm.
have detied. spurned, and sought to crush and
liuf 10 the ipur,i nt mada
in behalf of personal security and personal inde-
pendence; decisions which salute the eye of the
wayfarer and duwntrodden of every, age and of
every cline like light houses on thestOrmy beach,
beckOnihg the mariner III the midst of darkness
and despair to the shelter OF IA peaceful harbor.
mig III do all this and il would seem that il would
be amply enough; but it would be no more than
has already been done with far more ability than
belOngs'to my humble powers. All the world
knows these things Even the Representatives
who misrepreSent the. people on the other side of
this Chamber know all this, and shrink and trem-
ole before the application which future history
will make of past history. | wish, however, to
dwell for few moments amidst the historical
associations of this immortal writ OF human free
dom and human progress ! wish to scan its pur-
pose and discover its spirit. | wish to inquire
what causes produced IT, 1 wish see why il
was ever thought OF in connection with civil gov
eminent What didit propose "a accomplish What
did il oppose. aud what did il favor? Who have
been for IL. and who have Oeen against itI The
answers t0 these questions drawn from history.
will, according Ia my mode Oi reasoning, throw
immense light on the question oi the power of
any executive office; to suspend its operations
and deprive the peol lie Ol its benefits
Sir, the history of the progress of liberty. next
to the history of the Christian religion, Is the
most sublime and Instructive lesson taught in the
annals of the world It's fortunes, indeed, have
been various, but no season Oi adversely has ever
sufliceh 10 quench the vestal fires WHICH burn on
it altars. And in all the terrible struggles with
which it has iirred the nations and liberated the
people, its sole antagonist has been the principle
that to ore mau' belongs tile right 10 govern the
many Kings. and the courters of kings, who
talk Of the divine night to the possession aud
ercise OF rover have been the enemies which iber-
ty haS had % encounter. Every contest it ever
waced has been tU nut. restraint and control on
the will. the pretensuns. the authority OF one
man Every battle fought beneath It's banners, in
all the four auaiters Ofthe EARTH has been fought
TO resist and repe the arrogant nd unlawful claims
OF power made by one mans: Every law which
was ever enacted in its interest. from the laws OF
God on Mount Sinai to the present hour, has
been enacfed "a protect the masses from the raw
dHu OppitNSiNc lihnu VI pnc man. HIS
has forever been the issue. and il j. the issue now
When the light of liberty faded away in the sky
of Southern Europe. and Grecian and Roman
glory vent down IN the gloom and night of des-
pctstn, ages OF darkness followed over whose
paralyzeq faculties the spirit of absOlutsm held
undsputed supremacy But liberty had made
one grand epoch. IL had built monument of
law literature science and art. which still stands,
aud will forever stand, towering up on the back
ground ofhistory like some awful pyramid against
the distant sky The statesman. the philosopher,
the poet, the artist and the historian, all bend
reverently before the grand achievements of that
age of liberty. Then came. however, that mys
terious tomb of q thousand years, in which the
principles of. free government slept. But it was
not the sleep OF death. Liberty found its resur-
rection ut the hands of that greatrace from whose
Joins the American citizen has descended. 1t
awoke with returning consciousness on the soil
Of our ancestors. at the touch of Edward the
Confessor and Alfred the law maker. But it
awoke simply To renew the struggles of the past
with its ancen, foe. Que man in the robes of
office, loving power with selfish love- and ex-
ercising it in disregard of law, met the genius of
liberal institutions at evefv step on this side of
the dark ages, as wei, as in the days of Tberius
and Philip ot Macedon The struggle has Lever
ceased The people grasped at power; for to
them the possession ui power is freedom Crowned
heads claimed it their right; for TO them it was
the qualification OF a passion more consumingthan
all Others that ever corroded the human heart
the syarice Of .'dominion-the lust for personal
supremacy. The safety. of the people lay in
written laws judciaIly interpreted, and this they
soon learned. Kings sought to govern by proc
Iamations which suspended or disregarded law
Hence arose thsse glorious efforts to fix the
boundaries between the ruler and the citizen-to
racfr.inf m the and rive qacuritv ~ the
other which constitute the chief glory of Eng
land and III. Just pride OF Easlishmen. Why did
the British Bar0ns meet At Runnymede? Why.
aho m M al .hut sr.ot an1tala What ca.,.oa