Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1863-03-29

ess when, In cases Of rebellion or INVASION the pub
safety may require It, 10 equivalent to provision-f
provlsionthat such privilege may be suspended when
10 Of rebellion Invasion, the public safety doe
require 1t was decided that We have case OF rebel
Hon. and that the public safety does require the qua6et
suspension Of the privilege OF the writ, which was
thoriyed to be made Now II Is insited tha Congress
and moi the Executive, Is vested with that power But
The nstIuon Itself ID silent az to which or who 10 "a
exeycre the power and the provision was plainly
made for dangerous emergency II cannot be believed
the rameIs Of the instrument intended that n every
case the danger should run b course until Congress
conId he called together the very assembling Of which
mpht be prevented as was intended in this case by the
rebellion a8
Now, | will do the President the justice to
say that in these few words he has suggested
every argument and assigned every reason for
his action that his apologists in this House have
been able to suggest or assign, and will do
them the Justice to say that no one of them has
suggested weaker arguments or assigned less
satisfactory reasons. Analyzing the Arguments
Of the President and the arguments that have
been made in his behalf in the course of this
discussion, they are found to be two-fold, one
class asserting that he 10 pos sessed OF this pow
er under the Constitution and by virtue OF its
provisions, and another that he is possessed Of
II by virtue OF an authority inherent In him as
Chief Executive If the nation and commander
stltutions and all laws. and ls based upon the
necessities OF The people and the.aafety Of the
natlon--a revival of the Roman maxim, Saius
pOpuli, suprenld Lr. TO
No more grave or important subject than
this can posslbly agitate the public mind, and
the time has come when the people Of this
country shonld thoroughly understand those
great principles of civil liberty OF which noble
men have dreamed In all ages, aud which have
been transmitted to us as our common birth
right BY the self devoted efforts and struggles,
at the cost of the blood and treasure Of our
| Saxon ancestors through period of .thon
sand years.
i There are three great absolute lights Of man,
the right TO life, to liberty, and to property
These belong to man as man, apd not by virtue
of laws or political Institutions II is the I'M
age In which God created him. The charter
on which they depend was drawn from the skies
and bears the signet and stamp of Heaven
Any encroaohment upon theae rights, eXoeps
by the consent of the people, 10 tyranny, and II
| Ia against euch encroachment that those who
would be free have struggled in all ages, To
preserve and maintain these rights is. the pri-
| mary end of human laws, and constitutes the
great purpose for.Whieh Governments have been
Instituted among men Lite, liberty, proper
ty, theae three, but the greatest OF these 10
liberty. 70 race OF noble men property has
no value without freedom, and life ia too dear
when purchased at the pricB Of slavery. a.
| What, then, constitutes this great right OF
petaonal liberty to the individual quote the
definition of the illustrious and learned COM
mentator of English law. 1t consists, says
Blackstone, sin the power of .locomotiou, OF
changing situation, or removing ones person
to whatsoever place one'a own inclination may
direct; Without imprisonment or TeatTGint, an
Iess bv due course Of laio." Further on 10 the
came connection, he says:
OF great importance to the public Is the preservation
Of this personal liberty for II once Il were left 10 the
power Of any the highest magistrate tompriSon arbit
Iv vhomsoeyer he his officers thought proper there
would soon be an end Of all other rights and immuntes
Some have thought that upjust attacks even upon life
or property at the arbitrary will Of the are
ess DANGEROUS to the commonwealth than such as are
made upon tho personal liberty Of the subsst. To be-
reave man Of life, by violence to conscate his es
tate without accusation trial. would be so gross ana
an act Of despotsm as must at once convey
the alarm Of tyranny throughout the whole kingdom;
but confinement ohe person. by secretly hurrying him
10 goal where mis- sushngs are unknown forgotten
ia a less public, less striking and therefore more
dangerous engine Of arbitrary government,
Now, | am ready to admit, air, that in times
of great peril to the commonwealth, when the
State Is In real danger, il may be necessary 10
| abridge the rights and immunities of the citi-
zen, and to restrain TO certain extent his per.
.onal liberty. This has been done under such
circumstances in all free governments, and may
he done in our own. admit, too, that our Gov.
!, eminent to-day is in great peril, and that cur
national life ia at stake, But | affirm 10 opoo-
siton to the arguments and assumptions OF Che
President, and in opposition to the arguments
and assumptions of his spoligiHts here, that the
power thus to abridge the personal libsrty OF
the citizen ia vested exclusively In the Leglsa.
tive and not at all in the Executive department Of
the Government either of the Un!ed States OF
of the State of Ohio, aud that even Congress
, or the. Legislature can exercise this power on
lly within definite and well-understoOd limlta
tions and restrictions. And this fret proposI
tion propose to establish by the history OF tn,
right and the doctrine concerning it In England
| whence we have derived It, by the express
words and the context OF our Federal Cpnstitu
, tiou, and by the hitherto uniform decisions o.
our Courts of Justice.
n The right of personal liberty is an ancien
one, and bears the hoEoss OF many q century
Ii dWelt with the Greeks in the days OF theil
glory, and with the Romans when they were
free and pure. In turn they were enaaved, and
their lost liberties became the portion of oul
. rude Saxon ancestors who had made their wa,
, into Britain. 1t is the proud boast of English
!. uris,s that the three great absolute rights o
the individual, constituting their liberties or,
/, coeyal with their form of government. From
. the beginning OF the fifth 10 the beginning O
the thirteenth century, however. amid the strife
of the Heptarchy, the invasion Of the Danes
! and the conquest OF the Normans, even thougl
, Epbert and Alfred had lived and ruled, Englisl
history presents little else than scene OF anar
, civ and confusion. Ii was at Runnymede o,
the 18th day of June, 1915, that the nation,
liberties received their first definite recognition
/ and were put forever under the protection o
} law. After q century and half of conques
l the Barons had become worse Normans aiit
! better Englishmen, and strengthened by thu
D support of the Monkss at whose head was tina
true Anglo Saxon, Stephen Lsngton, Archblsh
F, op OF Canterbury, they then and there com
{ PEELED King John TO accede to their demands
+, and 10 guarantee TO the people the privilege
3 and immunities reoited in the Great Charter
: In the 29sh chapter of which, it ia thus writ
r ten:
: Nullus nber homo capatur, vel impfisOnetur, AZ
dissesiaur de bero tenemento suo vel Dertatbus ve
bers consuetudinbus BuiB, aut atagetur sut exule
aut aliquo modo destruatur snper cum ibmus, ne
super cum mttemus, mist per legale judicium parul
o suorum, vel per legem terr@ Nulll vendemus, nui
Q negabimuS, aut diferemus. rectum vel justitiam.
(No freeman shall be arrested or imprisoned
z or deprived of his own free household, or OF h
beities, or OF his own free customs, or outlawe,
d or banished, or injured In any manner, nor wi