Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1863-04-16

WITHOUT charge, ana Furnishing thcm with
out trial, and made him record an oatI
before angels and men that he would for
ever abandon the practice of such out
RACES. This was Magna CHarta. Tbes,
were the causes which produced il. IL be.
came q perpetual law and every English
monarch, from John TO Victoria. ba,
sworn in express form Of words n. 4
part Of the coronation oath to support IL
Listen, sir, to its old-fashioned and home.
ly, but most glorious text
"No freeman shall be taken or imprisoncd n,
seized or outlawed, or banshed or ANYWAYS des
uoyed, nor shall we pass upon him, nor will we
send him unless by the lawful Judgment of hi,
peers, or by the laws Of the land
/ 1--WE will sell To no man we will not deny 10
any man either justice or right"
This was the voice of people in whose
minds clear perception Of legal forms
had not dawned; but it was the clear, high
voice of liberty, which when once spoker
never ceases to echo and resound from
age to age until the angel shall close the
book Of time. / love to listen to it's pea
ling strains. No music this side OF the
winged cherubim OF God is SO sweet to
my ear. / contrast it. with the harsh.
discordant notes Of the executive usurpa
tions Of the present hour, and the abiect
tones Of those who feed on the smiles OF
executive favor. | turn away from the
sad omens which surround us to renew
and strengthen my faith in the ultimate
success Of free institutions, by coptem pla
ting the scenes through which they have
already passed. turn away from the
sight of expiring liberty in this land to
assure myself by a contemplation of other
days that it can not altogether die.
Mr. Speaker, we con not over eatim ate
the value of the victory obtained by the
popular will over the doctrine of one m an
power when the Great Charter was ex-
torted from England's perfdious king
Every enlightened lover of human free.
dom has borne testimony to the impor-
tance of this grand achievement. The
great Earl of Chatham, in pleading the
cause of constitutional liberty in 1770,
paid tribute to it as follows:
sit is to your ancestors. my Lords, it is to the
English barons that we are indebted for the laws
rude and uncultivated, but they were great and
sincere. Their understandings were as polished
as their manners but they had hearts to distin.
guish right from wrong; they had heads to distin-
guish truth from falsehood; they understood the
rights of humanity, and they had spirit to main
tain them
"My Lords, think history has not done Justice
to their conduct when they obtained from their
sovereign that great acknowledgment of national
rights contained in Magma Clarta, they did not
confne it to themselves alone, but delivered it as
common blessing to the whole people,"
Sir James Macintosh dwells upon it
in glowing periods. Says that brillan,
historian and statesman
"Whoever, in any future age or vet unborn na.
ton may admire the felicity of the expedent
which converted the power of taxation into the
shield of liberty by which discretionary and Sc.
cret imprisonment was rendered improbable, and
portions of the people were trained to exercise a
larger share of judicial power than ever was al
lotted to them in any other civilized State, in
such manner as to secure instead of endangerng
public tranquility; whoever exuts at the specta-
Gle of enlightened and independent assemblies.
which, under the eye of well informed nation
discuss and determine the laws and policy likely
to make communities great and happy; whoever
is capable of comprehendng all the effects of
such institutions, with all their possible improve
ments upon the mind and genius of people, is
sacredly bound to speak with reverental gratitude
of the authors of the Great Charter. To have
produced it, to have preserved it, - have matured
it, constitute the immortal claim of England upon
the esteem of mankind"
Why, Mr.. Speaker, has Magma Charta
been thus esteemed by the wisest minds
of the world to be worthy of such lofty
encomiums? Why does it tower up with
such magnitude over all other considera-
tions in the construction Of free govern
ments The answer is very simple,
plain, brief. 1t is because, in the Ian
guage of Hume, the historian
"Ths famous deed either granted or secured
very important liberties and privileges to every
order OF men in the kingdom-to the clergy, to
the barons, and to the people,"
1t is immortal and dear, sir, to all peo-
pie, and more especially to the American
people at this time, because in the dis
cussion Of its principles Hallam declares;
"From the era, therefore, of King Johns char
ter it must have been clear principle of our
Constitution that man can be de. aimed in pris-
on without trial."
1t is nm authority in point to-day a.
gainst the daily practices of those who
now administer the affairs of this Repub-
lie, because Sir James Macintosh has
pronounced its 'crowning glories, which
fill the world with grateful admiration,
to be "those essential clauses which pro-
tect the personal liberty of all freemen,
by giving security from arbitrary impris-
onment and arbitrary spoiation.
Such, sir, are its claims upon the dear.
est affections of mankind. 1t was born
in the hearts of proud, free race, and its
mission on earth was to confront and re,
sist that pernicious dogma of tyrants,
that the liberties of the people can in any
event be left to the control Of any solits-
ry individual, whether he be called Gear,
Emperor, King, or President. And in
every contest with its enemy it has been
eventually victorious. The people of
England compelled their sovereigns to
solemnly ratify it more than thirty times
in the space of four bundled years.
But bearing in mind the causes which
produced Magma Charta, and the great
object it was designed to accomplish, let
us take another step in the history of the
progress of personal liberty and personal
security. In 1927 commenced that won.
derful English revolution which fills so
many memorable and bloody pages of
history. 1t commenced over the old
question of power. The king arrested
Hamndan Dornel and othar cit;zans Cor