The mountain Democrat., 1863-08-22

! conduct OF pu0lc analrS since your Ad-
vent to power. In violation of the Sec
ond of them, hundreds, and VIC believe
thousands of luen have been seized and
immured in prisons and bastiles, not only
without warrant upon probable cause,
but without any warrant, ASd for no 9TH
er cause than a constitutional exercise OF
the freedom Of speech. In violation of
all these guarantees, distinguished citi-
1cn Of = peaceful and loyal State has
been torn from his home at midnight by
band of soldiers, acting under the order
Of one Of your Generals, tried before q
military commission, without judge or
jury, conv cted and sentenced without
even the suggestion of any offense known
TO the Constitution or laws Of this coun-
try. For all these acts you avow yourself
ultimately responsible. In the special
case Of Mr. NalIandigham, the injustice
commenced by your subordinate was
| conSummated by a sentence Of exile from
his home pronounced by you. The great
wrong, more than any other which pre-
ceded it, asserts the principles of su-
prcme deSpOtiSm.
These repeated and continued nvasions
Of constitutional liberty and private right
have occasioned profound anxiety in the
public mind. The apprehension and
alarm which they are calculated to pro.
ducc have been greatly enhanced by your
attempt 10 justify them, because in that
attempt vou assume to yourself rightlul
authority possessed by no constitutional
monarch on earth. We accept the dec
laraton that you prefer to exercise this
authority with moderation not hitherto
exhibited. But, believing as We do, that
your forbearance is rot the tenure by
which liberty is enjoyed in this country,
we propose to challenge the grounds on
which your claims OF supreme power are
based. While yielding to you as a con-
stitulional magistrate the Difference to
which YOU are entitled, We cannot accord
to you the despotic power you claim,
however ihdu,gent aud gracious you may
promise to bt in welding il.
We have carefully considered the
grounds Oh which your pretensionS to
more thar regal authority are claimed to
rest; aud il we do not mislnterpret the
misty and clOudrd forms Of expression in
which those pretenslOnS are set forth,
your meaning is, that while the rights of
tie citizen are protected by the COnstitu-
ton in time OF peace, they are suspended
or lost in time Of war, when invasion or
rebellion exists. You do not, like many
others in whose minds reason and the
love Of regulated liberty seem to be over
thrown by the eXcitements Of the hour,
attempt to base this conclusion upon u
supposed military necessity existing out
side Of and tran,cending the Constitution,
u military necessity behind which the
| Constitution itself disappears in total
eclipse. We do not hHd this gigantic
and monstrous hercsy put forth in your
plea TOR absolute power, but we do find
another equally subversivc Of liberty and
law, and quite as certain ly tending to the
establishment Of despotsm. You claim
to have found, not outside, but within
the Constitution, principle or germ of
arbitrary power, which in time Of war
expands at once into an absolute sove-
: rcignty, welded by one man, 50 that lib
city prIishe>, or is dependent on his will,
his discretion, or his caprice. This cx-
u HNibsAidll AONliltIS W NIdlili W uNI tFS
wholly from taat clause Of the Constitu-
ton which, ia case Of invasion or rebel
lion permits the writ Of habeas corpus to
be suspended. Upon this ground your
whole argument is based.
You must permit us 10 say to you with
all due respect, but with the earncstness
/ demanded by the occasion, that the Amer
lean people will never acquiesce in this
docttinc. ln their opinion the guarantees
Of The Constitution which secure to them
freedom Of speech and of the press, i'm.
Eunity from arrest for otfenseS unknown
to the laws Of the land, and the right OF
trial by jury before the tribunals provided,
by those laws, instead Of military COM
missions and Jrumhcad courts martial,
are living and vital principles IN PEACE
| AND IN WAR, at all times and under all
{ circumstances. No snphistry Or argu-
mcnt can shake this conviction, nor will
the people require its continuation 10y
! logical Sc4uenccs and deductions. 1t is a
conviction deeply interviewer with the
+ instincts, the habits, and the education ol
our countrymen. The right to form opn-
! ions upon public measures and men, and
! to declare those opinions by speech or
writing, with the utmost latitude Of eX-
| preston, the right of personal liberty,
| unless forfeited according to established
laws, and for otfcnses previously defined
by law, the right when accused Of crime
to be tried where law is administered, and
punishment is pronounced only when the
crime is legally ascertaincd; all these are
rights instantly perceived without argu.
mcnt or proof. No refinement Of logic
can unsettle them in the minds Of free
men; no power can annihilate them
and no force at the command of any chiei
magistrate can compel their surrender.
So far as it is possible for US to under.
stand from your language, the mental
process which has led you to the alarm.
ing conclusions indicated by your com
munication, it is this: The habeas corpus
is remedial writ, issued by courts and
magistrates to inquire into the cause Of
any imprisonment or restraint of liberty
nn the return of which, and upon due eX
animation. the person imprisoned is dis
charged, If the restraint is unlawful, OF
admitted to bail if he appears to have
been lawfully arrested, and is held to an
Swer a criminal accusation. Inasmuct
as this process may be suspended in time
of war, you seem to think that every rem
edv for false and unlawful imprison
mcnt is abrogated: and from this postu
late you reach at single bound, the con
cluSion that there is no liberty under thu
Constitution which does not depend or
the gracious indulgence Of the Executive
only.
This great heresy once established, anC
by this mode Of induction, there springs
at once into existence brood of crimes
or ofenses underlined by any rule. ant
hitherto unknown to the laws of this coun
try. and thic ic Eollnu cd hu indiscrimin n n Il