Smyrna times., 1863-01-15
The Writ of Habeas Coruus.

Ths Writ Of Habeas Corpus.
We advise those who are ALWAYS CON-
dcmning the Presiden. for suspendin, n,
writ OF Habeas Corpus, to read the follow
my:
The bill relative to the DISCHARGE Of Stat,
prlSoherS was taken up in the Senate TLnrs.
day '''''7 ''''' ;
Mr. Field, New jersey, proceeded to al
! ircSs the ScnAte, contendinr that the nriv;-
lcge "i suspendAg the writ ofhabeas cornus
was = power vested in the President bv th,.
= oilstl'utlon but if the President had NOT
plS power under the Constitution th,,
congress has no power to delegate 70 him
any such power The announce u.oJ :;
descriptive otthe very power claimed bv the
hingS OF England, in sIlspcndng this ri,ht
40 Instance can be shown where the E,,,,-
lSh fariIament ever attempted to s,Ixpend
TINS writ until after it had been s,,spci,lol
.! me crown, and then all they did was 70
sanction the acts Of the Crown thor,.foro
ne CANNED II there was any argument dori.
yea rom the analogy, it showed that th;s
power was vested i'll the executive and not
III the Legislative power lie further ron-
tented that the clause in our Con.t..r,in,
as originally proposed by Mr. Pinckncy.
proposed distinctly that this bower ,houiI
b" exercised 10y Legislature upon urorrt
ana pressing occasions, but the Convention
refused To adopt that, but subSequentIy Mr.
'ToFerneur Morris offered the cl,us. a. i
now stands, confining the exercise of tho
power to cases of rebellion and invasion
put omitted all reference to the Ir,islativa
body showing by inference that tLcv lnaort
10 confer the power upon the Eyc,utiyo
BESIDES, this is power which. cxcrc;s.j .,
"'l' must often be exercised with rapiditv
ana perhaps at distant places in order to saye
Iie nation; and the men who formed thn
constitution must have intended this nnu.,.r
[" be used by the executive. and not =,
await the slower action Of the ln,r;sl,+;,,,
power If the President of tbn I-,;t,.J
'Fates when this treason first broke forth
nat :! exercised thus power, which he tMr + |
DelieIed he possessed, and half dazcn mon |
nat been arrested, in all probabilitv rLis
storm might have blown over. Il is 9,,;nn+
'l tliat TINS Is dangerous power to confer
On the president, but he thought there ,rs.
more danger to the liberties Of the cou,try |
from congress than from the President and |
nose who were willing TO confer fIll ,nar
tiai power on the President were civpe, .
huch greater power than this would hn |
anu capable OF much greater abnse Tb.ro
i"s Deen agrcat deal Of clamor about arrasts
nat nave been made, and he feared ,ho
rlends Of the Government had givnn too
nHch % Importance to this clamor, Those
Nno opposed the Administration would
nave clsnored about something at anv ratn
'i'" every power which the Administrat;o,,
IdS put torth to suppress this rebellion hos
net WIN malignant and determined o,,,,oa;
ION though there might have been so,ro
'rreSts wrongfuly made, yet if there was
my complaint it was that there had n"t
'een arrests enough. '-"'
lie then referred TO the resolutions of,ho
ecnt Democratic Convention in the St,to
u New Jersey, and claimed that thev lid
lot trul y represent the opinion ofthat State
New Jersey has always been an ant;.sla~o'
J state; yet a thoroughly conservative State
'andlng by all the compromises of the Con.
tuition. And there were no abolit,onists
a the State. The aboitionists make the
estruction OF Slavery an end the true Rn-
ubllcans make it the means to an end
hey go forth to save the Union, and. if the
estruction Of slavery is the means of SAYING
ne Union, let it be destroyed but ifthe t
estructlon of slavery is to DESTROY the l.
jnion, he would preserve slavery. Look. /
lg upon slavery as great moral and social v
vii, yet he did not think it the only evil in d
he world and ifthe destruction Of slavery b
'as to imperil the safety of the Union. he
.oald be the last man to interfere with il
le had NO 2pabt Of the Ultimate SUCCESS oil I.