The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-05-20
UNTYs@O sWEDNEs EsIAY, MORNING., MAY 20, 1868

:
i tion of law of any kindr? Noy but of tstrea
sonablc practices )" yes, fREAsoNARLE pRAc
TIcEs. What mean you by these strange, om
iPinous words 2asWhence come they? Sir
| they are moreHnewand original than any othel
! of the cast-of rags fiehed by this Adnipittra
tion from the lumber house of other and more
untiquatcd tlespotismsN The shist0ry of Euro
fpeani tyrahny has taughto US somewhat Of thi.
doctrine of constructive treason. d Freasonablt
zpractcesii Sir, the very Language is borrowed
from the old proelaniatons the British mon
iarchs some hundred years ago. 1T brings uf
tItheold, identical quarrel cot the fourteenth
that called forthsthat English act of Rarlia
! ment bftwentyififth Edward IIIs from which
knc have borrowed the noble provisions againsi
constructive treason in ths Constitution Of the
+ United Statets. Arbitrary arrests iferino crime
known, defined or limited By law, but for pre-
1Ftended offences, heIEled together underthe
i general antlz most comp, ehensiyei name Of
rtreasonable PRACTICES had been SO: frequent,
in the worst periods of English history that,
Ein theelanGuage of the act of uenrysI nv, ssno
imam knew how to behave himself OF " hat to
do or say for doubt of the pains of treason. q
| The statute of Edward III "a had cut all these
fungus toadstool treasons up by the root, and
! yet prompt is s.arbitrary power to denounce
allcoppositionato it as treasonable; that as Lord
/ Hale observes 1c4 ai.ta $3.50 up5 y4e5
IS fFHThinss were so carried by parties and fac
! tioHs in the succeeding reign of Richard Ii,
that this statute was but little observed but as
this or,that party got the better. Soithe crime
of high treason was, in fmanner arbitrarily
imposed and adjudged to tue disadoaal.ayei OF
the parry uAich aoas be judged (which; by
various vicissitndes and REVOLUTIONS, mischief
ed all parties first and oilasty and left q great
unsettledness and unquietuess IN the minds of
the people, and was ofthc occasions of
the unhappiness of the kiDg."s7agsd bua eli
enaAnd he adds that-as7d' sEEEs aaV 81 s.ia
at came to pass that almost every effcnse
that was or seemed to be breach of faith ind
allegiance due to the king, was, by rcoiistruc-
ton, consequences and interpretation raised in
to the cfense Of high treason :" a.. 81 72ii
Richard. II procured an act of Parliament
even he did not pretend to have aoYer to
do it by proc Misunderstanding that the bare
purpose to depose the king and to place an
other in his stead, without any overt act, was
treason and yet, as Blackstone remarks, so
little effect have oyer-riolent laws to prevent
crime, that within two years afterwards this
very prince was both deposed and put to death
Still the struggle for arbitrary and despotic
power continued and up to the. time Of
Charles I, at various periods, almost every con.
ceivable offence relating to the government,
and every form of opposition TO the king, was
declared high treason, Among, these were
execrations against the King calling him OPP
probious names by public writing ;.refu4ing
to abjure The Pope; marrying, without license,
certain of the kings near relatives 1erogating
from the royal style or title: impusning his
supremacy; or, assent bling riotously, to the
number of twelve, and refusing to disperse on
proclamation. But steady in better, times,
the people and Parliament Of England return
ed to the spilit and letter of the act of Ed,
ward III, passed by a Parliament which now,
for five hundred years, has been known and
honored as. Parliamentun, Jenedicfup,, the
"blessed Parliament as this Congress
will be known. for ages to come. as ''the ac-
cursed .Congress-and among, many other
acts, it was declared by a statute, in the first
year of the fourth Henry's reign, that in no
than as ordained by the statu of King Ed
ward III" And for nearly two hundred years,
it has been the aim of the lawyers and judges
of England to adhere to the plain letter,
spirit, and intent of that act, .tto be extend
ed in the language of Ersk ire, in his noble
defense of Hardy, .by no new or occasional
cons truction-to be strained by no fancied
ahalogies-to be measured by no rules of po-
litical expediency--to be judged of by no thco-
ry-to be determined by the wisdom o no
however wise-but to be. expound-
ed by the simple, genuine letter of the law,
Such, sir, is the law Of treason in England
to- day and SO much of the just and admra-
Bile statute OF Edward as is applicable to our
fornsof government, was embodied II the Con-
of the United States. The men of
1857 were well read in history and in English
law. They. knew the monarchs
and Governments, in all ages, had struggles
to extend the limits of treason, so as to in
clude all opposition to those in power, They
had learned the maxim, that, miserable is the
scrvithde where the law is either uncertain or
unknown, and had studied aud valued the
profound declaration of Moatesquicu, that
sif the crime of treason be indeterminate, that
alone is sufficient to- make any Government
degenerate into arbitrary power" Hear Madi-
son, il the Fcdcralist l. - -, 8
q As ner fdnglea and yfitfciql freasons have
been the great engines by which violent fac
ions, the natural off spring, of free. govern.
nents, hare usr ally, ,ereaked their alternate
on. each other, the convention have,
with, great JUDI ment, opposed a barrier to
his peculiar danger by inserting a. c,nstitu-
.ional definition of, the crimey fixing The |
proof necessary for conviction of it, and res.
raining the Congress, even in Furnishing it,
from extending the consequences of guilt be- |
yond the person of the author" 81 ,,5.-rIs.
:. And Story; not forseeing the possibility of |
such party or Administration as ie now in |
power, declared it Gan iu,passiJLe barrier |
lgainst arbitrary. constructions, either by the
courts or by Congress, upon the crime of etrea-
ION" Congress" that, sir, is the !, ord, for
ae never dreamed that the President, or still
ess his clerks, the Cabinet ministers would
attempt to declare or punish treasons And
ret what have We lived to- here in America
laily, not in political harangues or the, press
,nly, but in the official proclamations and in
pills in Congress Yes, your high official talk
now of ofrtreasonable practiccs,g as glibly "assi
girls of thirteen do Of puppy dogs Treason
'onable practices Dsloyalty !! Who i'm
legal settlement here Your Secretary Of |
War. Fl = He it was who by. command of e.
most noble President authorized cry, 4
shall, every sheriff, every township cep BILE.