East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1863-06-16

tne IItoo vi VI bIccCH. IcIc u, dHu
can be, no argument, therefore, from
necessity even, to justify this act o
Gen. Burnside. A man who ISLANDERS
his neighbor may DO punished by the
courts for that SANDER; a man who
publishes libel upon his neighbor may
be indicted and punished for the libel
IL is fully competent for congress to en-
act law furnishing Righteousness of the
press,--punishin9 libels upon tho gov
crnment, or upon public officers, or any
other form of publication calculated tC
linjure tho government and bring it into
dlsrepute, or throw obstacles in the
way of its measures, or tending To SO
dition and disturbance of the public
peace. 1t may be impoItic in q
country where the utmost liberty OF
press and speech are deemed so essen
tial, to enact such a law. But of the
competent authority of Congress or the
State authorities to do il there can be
no doubt, | think. All these kinds OF
publications, and having such tenden
cies, no man has tho right morally, or
as good citizen, to make. Certainly
all this is clear, but until Congress OF
the States by legislation enact some
law, he is subject to no penalty for SO
doing and may legally doit.
Although under tho constitution,
Congress cannot establish a censorship
of the press, and has no right whatever
to prevent or restrain any publication OF
any matter whatever, yet it has the
right to say that. if anything be pub
lished which tends to bring the govern.
mont into disrepute falsely, to create
seditlon and turbulence, to obstruct the
movements of the government, or to
cause other like evils; such acts shall be
punished by fino or Imprisonment, or
otherwise, as by law may be prescribed
This is right which Congress has once
exercised, 1t was in dangerous times,
rs these ale dangerous times. The vi.
olenco of the press was uncXampled, the
people were excited, and the govern
ment apparently became alarmed. Ii
was when the French revolution was
yet in progress, and the Directory had
been committing acts of aggressive vio-
lcnce upon our commerce. There was
IN the country what was designated as
French party and British party 10
one OF tho ports of the country the
French Minister had commissioned pri
vatcers to prey on British commerce,
and tho country was fast being driven
To war. IL was In John Adams admin
istration, and the times seemed to be
full Of peril at home, abroad Washing
ton had been, in his old age, appointed
again Commander in Chief to lead the
armies The court knows the state of
those times. What did Congress do
to remedy tho evils? How did it pro.
pose to control tho violence of the press?
The men then in authority were the
men who framed the constitution; they
understood its provisions. Did General
Washington make an order supressing
any newspaper hostile to the admins,
tsation? Did ho deem ho had tho pow
er TO do SO? If he had tho right to
suppress one ho had the right to sup.
press all If General Burnside may
suppress tho CHICAGO TINES, he may
equally suppress every other paper in
the country. In the days of Washing
ton and Adams they never dreamed that
such power existed in military com.
nander. Aud man of yesterday
just endowed with tho authority of a
military officer, Of no Importance in tho
country short time sinoe-to day is
sues an order which strikes at the foun.
dation of all popular government, and
suspends tho constitutional guarantee
of free speech and free press.
1t was in 1897 that Congress passed
an act to remedy tho evil (nstcad of ro.
sorting to military ordcr) which then
prevailed, in which it provided for
"Thc Indictment and punishment of all persons
who should be convicted of printing. writing utter
Ing, any false and malicious writing against the
government of the United States, other house Of
Congress, the President, with intent 10 dcfame
them, or bring them into contempt, or to excite
hganst them the hatred of the people of tho United
States to excite them to oppose any law act Of
the President, to resist oppose or defeat any law,
aid, encourage abct hostile designs Of any ma
ton against the United States"
That law came before the tribunals of
the country and was declared to be
within the constitutional powers of Con.
gress to pass. 1t might be applicable
in all its provisions to these times--and
while censorship cannot DO estab.
ilshed, the evils OF liceutiousncss are
within the control of such n law. Why
did not the last Congress enact such n
law. it tho exigcncy requires it !? 1t was
simply because the consequences of that
old law were in their minds aud men,
ories. So jealous are tho people of
any restraint upon this vital right OF
free speech and free press, that tho ad.
ministration which sanctioned that law,
and tho party which upheld it sank un.
der the odiun oft. 1t was deemed by
tho people to be an Infringement upon
the liberty of the press, and no party
which advocated it could stand before
the popular condemnation oft. 1t was
one of the two laws which were popu
arly called tho alien aud sedition laws.
1t was the cause of the famous Virginia
resolutions, aud gave the popular
strength to tho democratic party of that
day fora whole generation. And yet
it was a legitimate exercise of power;
courts so held, aud none, believe doubt
it.