Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-03-02

public mind OF he world had learned a grand and
overwhelming lesson. The English people taught
mankind of every age and of every country that
no sanciity of prerogative no dignity OF blood no
prescriptve customs. no paceantry Of royal state.
no bayOnets surrounding the palace, can protect
one man in plandering the multitude Of their per.
soual liberties. IL i lesson. s;r, which the
humDlesi American citizen knows by heart TO day
and treasures up an everlasting inheritance
But there Was smother great peFiad IN history
in VI ich uuE ancestors developed their devotion
4. pr,'.res> OF liberty. the principles of
Magma Charta. In 1863 another member of
the house OF Stuart forgetful of the fate of his
father, possessed himself of the atrocious in
struments oi oppression, and attempted 10 suhvert
the laws and the liberties of his Kingdom But
I the spirit which brought Charles 10 the block
exiled James H. and changed the dynasty for
ever from the house of Stuart And the same
causes. the same aggressions against the personal
rights of the subject which produced the PErrrIox
or RIGHT under Charles |. produced the 3ILE or
RIGHTs under James III. 1t was the same ven
cradle issue, and is contained in the following
sections:
l. That the pretended power Of suspendng laws BY re-
gal authority. without consent Of Parliament is Illegal
That the pretended power of dispensing with laws
the execution Of laws by regal authority as II hath
been assumed and exercised of late, is Illegal
Mr.. Speaker. we have here, then. the three
grand acts in the sublime drama of English lib
erty; and the unity of immoral principle which
pervades and sustains them all Is complete that
/ Lord Chatham consolidated them i'm his mind
and proclaimed them to be "the Bible of the
English Constitution" Their inspiration was
confined, however, TO no nation and to no age
Their application 10 civil rights was as universal
"a mankind itself They speak in tones of hope
OF dignity and of manhood, to every heart worthy
to be free which beats beneath the sun. They
constitute irOwning and defiant bulwark against
arbitrary and despotic power; but a radiant and
smiling angel of liberty. peace, fraternity and Sc
curty 10 the tong millions whose strong arms
Uphold the wealth, the commerce. the progress
and the civilization of the world. And when the
next great struggle in behalf of constitutional
liberty for the citizen against the unlawful as
sumption of power by one man. which startled the
nations in l1I6, had closed in triumph on the soil
I of Nrginia-where the voice of Patrick Henry
! first aroused 1.-THE material for those clauses of
/ the American Constitution which secure the per-
! sOnal Independence and personal rights of the
citizen. WAS ready and ample, a rich Inheritance
of the past and only needed to be reaSserted in
the form of AN organic law. Our Constitution is
simply one more denial recorded i'm hsiorS Of the
power to transcend the written law in order to
reach and inure the citizen in the enjoyment of
lie. liberty and property. liz Is simply one more
declaration, added To those already made. that
the people possessed an inherent power to protect
/ themselves against their old enemy-executive
usurpation. TWAS solemn protest, in the name
Of human nature. that one man should have the
liberties of this people within his control no more
! forever. 1t WAS the PRONUNCIATION of Magma
Charta. the continuation of the Petition of Right
the extension OF the Bill of Rights, and a concen-
tration of them all. Here are the noble, familiar
sections, the due observance of which alone
renders American citizenship more valuable
than the condition of the slave on his p.anta-
ton:
ART " The right of the people to be in their
persons houses papers, and effects against
searches and seizures shall be invaded and
rant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by
oath affirmation, aud particularly describing the place
to be searched, and the persons things be seized
ART v No person shall be held to answer a capital or
otherwise infamous crime, unless presentment
dctment Of Grand Jury. except in arising in the
land naval forces in the militia when in actual
vice in time of public danger shall any person
be subject, for the oense, be twice put in eop
ardy OF life or limb; shall he be compelled, in
criminal case, to be a witness against himself be de-
prved OF life, liberty, property without due process of
law; nor shall private property be taken for public use
without just compensation.
VI In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall
enjoy the right TO speedy and public trial, by impair
a jury Of the and district wherein the crime shall
have been committed which district shall have been pre-
viousy ascertaned by law, and TO be informed of the
natur" and cause of the accusaon to be confronted with
the witnesses against him. have compulsory process for
obtaining witnesses his favor and have the assistance
Of counsel for his defense.
| | have thus sir, given a brief and summary
view of the results which have attended a contest
between free principles and the abuse of power
! for more than six hundred years in England and
| America. | have endeavored to point out the
issue which has at all times been involved. 1t will
be observed, however, that all these great instru-
ments, which stand as beacon-hghts of liberty
along the pathway of the last six centuries. and
/ from which have freely quoted, only de
claatory of what the rights OF man are and de
| pend for their execution on an additional agency
III the policy of government Magma Charta. as
| | have shown, declared mighty principle in the
science o. just government, and il has been re-
peated over and over again MANY times since, and
at last finds polished and detailed embodiment
in the American Constitutions; but something
more is necessary and indispensable in order to
carry it out and confer its practical benefits on
mankind. The Barons said that the executive
should not take, imprison punish any citizen
of the realm, except according to the law of the
land; the sub ects OF every English king have
peated it. and the trainers of our Constitution as
>ert 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 10 enforce this often reiterated principle
of liberty? Ii would simply stand as an expires
sion, sublime one it is true, in favor of mmuta-
bic justice and right; but without the machinery
of some active process of administrative law il
would be poweriess to extend succor to the op
pressed.
] Therefore all the 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,
I the writ OF habeas corpus. Itexecutes what they
declare IL gives motion and efficacy to the laws
OF Tree government. 1t IL the active agent by
which the will of the people. as expressed in the
Constitution and laws made for their own protec
ton. is enforced Without it the tyrant may
laugh to the winds every doctrine OF Magma
Charta, every provision OF our own Constitution.
" ithOut II an executive ruler Is beyond legal re-
strtnt coercion, and can with IMMUNITY sub>ti
tute his own will for the Constitution and the
laws. Without il arbitrary pow may roam over
the rights OF the people, like the wild boar in the
ricn vineyards OF Gaul, and tear and rend its vic
1 Tins pleasure.
Sir, the habeas corpus is the life of liberty. 1t
is of ancient origin. Ii was born amid the Open
ing struggles of our remote ancestors in behalf of
popular freedom Ii WAS recognized at once by a
race unwilling TO accept the COON Of slaves TO be
n law OF necessity. IL sprang from statute.
Ii depends for Its existence on no enactment 1t
IS one OF those high, unrepealable laws which
liberty writes the hearts of all her worshppers.
and which. without the aid of legislation. became
a part of the common law of England, simply be-
cause of that rule of Gods providence, which
prescribes eternal fitness of things 1t is. per-
haps, older than Magma Charta itself. Hallam,
in his History OF the Middle Ages, referring to
the period when the great charter was obtained,