Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1863-04-16
NEW SERIES-VOL. 25-NO @

tlon, and particularly describing the place 20
Oe searched, and the persons and things 10 be-
seized. e' '" ""
ART. V. No persons shall be held TO ansvora
| capl'ai OF otherwise Infamous crime, unless on n
presentrnent or indictment of A Grand Jurv. ex~
ceptn cases arising in the land or naval forces. or
10 inc militia when in actual service ia time of
war or public danger; nor shall any pei on be sub.
Jec', lot tnc same ofense, 10 be twice put in ieop-
aruy OF lie or limb; nor shall he be compelled,
IN any criminal case to bo witness against him.
self, nor be deprived of life, liberty. Or pronertv
without due process Of law nor shall nrivate prnn
erty be taken for public use without Just compeps.
alton.
Ant. VI. In all criminal prosecutions the ac.
cnsed shall enjoy the right 10 a speedy and public
trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district
wherein the crime shall have been committed,
Whlch dlstrIct shall have been previously ascer.
tanned by law, and 10 be informed of the nature
! ard cause Of the accusation; to be confronted
wich the witnesses against him: to have compul'
sorry process for obtaining witnesses In his favGr
and to have the assistance Of counsel for his do
! fense."
have thus, sir, given brief and sum-
mary view Of the results which have at
tended contest between free principles
and the abuse of power for more than six
hundred years in England and America.
L have endeavored to point out the issue
which has at all times been involved. Ii
will be observed, however, that all these
great instruments, which stand as beacon
lights of liberty along the pathway of the
last six centuries, and from which | have
SO free y quoted, are only declaratory of
what the rights Of man are, and depend
Tor their execution on an additional agency
IN the policy of government. Mama
Charta, as | have shown, declared a
mighty principle in the science of lust gov
ernment, and it has been repeated over
and over again many times since, and at
last finds polished and detailed embodi-
ment in the American Constitution; but
something more is necessary and indis.
pensable in order to carry it ont and confer
Its practical benefits on mankind. Tho
Barons said that the executive should not
take, imprison or punish any citizen of the
realm, except according to the law of the
land; the subjects Of every English king
have repeated it, and the trainers of our
Constitution assert the same thing with
great particularly and care in the sections
which have just read: but what would
all this be worth if no means had been
provided to enforce this often reiterated
principle of liberty? 1t would simply
stand as an expression, sublime one il ia
true, IN favor of immutable Justice and
right: but withou. the machinery OF some
active process Of administrative law il
would be powerless to extend sucoor to
the ,appressed. Therefore all these proud
declarations against the infringement of
personal liberty by the executive, from
Runnymede to the present hour, have been
accompanied by that messenger Of speedy
justice, the writ of h0eas corpus. Il ex.
ecutos what they declare. 1t gives motion
and efficacy to the laws of free govern.
ment. 1t is the active agent by which
the will of the people, as expressed in the
Constitution and laws made Tor their own
protection is enforced. Without it the
tyrant may laugh to the winds every doc
trine of Magma CAarta, every provision of
our own Constitution. Without it an
executive ruler is beyond legal restraint or
coercion, and can with impunity substi-
tnte his own will for the Constitution and
the laws. Without it arbitrary power
may roam over the rights of the people,
like the wild boar in the rich VINEYARDS Of
Gaul, and tear and rend its victims at
pleasure.
Sir, the Aa5ea corpus is the life of lib
erty. 1t is of ancient origin. 1t was
born amid the opening struggles of our re-
mote ancestors in behalf of popular Free
dom. 1t was recognized at once by
race unwilling to accept the doom of
slaves to be law of necessity. 1t sprang
from no statute. 1t depends for it's ex-
istence on no enactment. 1t is one of
those high, unrepealed laws which liberty
writes on the hearts of all our worshipers,
and which. without the aid of oflegislation,
became part Of the common law Of Eng
land, simply because that rule of Gods
providence which prescribes an eternal
fitness of things 1t is, perhaps, older
than Magma CAarta itself Hallam, in
his History of the Middle Ages. referring
to the period when the great charter was
obtained says:
"Whether courts ofjustce frame the writ of
habeas corpus in conformity to the spirit of this
clause, or found it already in their register it be.
came from that era the right of every subject to
demand it,"
And again, this great author says:
From the earliest records of the English law
no freeman could be detained in prison except up.
on criminal charge or convictions or for civil
debt. In the former case il was always in his
power 10 demand of the Court of Kings Bench o
writ OF hdbeds corpus and suIjicsndum directed to
the person OBTAINING him in custody by which he
was enjoned TO bring up the body of the prisoner,
with the warrant of commiAnent, that the court
might judge of its sufciency. and remand the par
ty, admit him to bail, or discharge him according
to the nature of the charge"
This law thus described, the American
colonies inherited and possessed from the
earliest period Of their settlement. Ittook
no legislation to bestow on hem its bless
ing, for as an eminent law writer OBJ
serves
Sand it must now be taken as settled axiom
of American law that the territory of the colonies
we claimed by right of occupancy or by finding
IN deserted and uncultivated; and that the common
law of England first obtained in that part Of the
empire as a law personal to the English born col
onists."
And, in the formation of our Constitu-
tion, our fathers assumed that it already
existed in all its ancient force and beney-
olent mission, and simply made the fol-
lowing provisions against its sus pension:
"That the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus
shall not be suspended, unless when. in cases of
rebellion or invasion, the public safety may ru.
quire it,"