Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1863-10-22

common law regard martial law? have
heard boasts by high officials and read them
have heard boasts by little picayune politi
clans, that this martial law was something
that in time of war superseded everything
and that the American people became militia
ry subjects. Now it is to be noticed that il
the constitution there IS no one word on the
subject Of martial law There is no SYLLABLE
to which any such construction can be put
On the contrary, every word is at direct vari
ance with martial law as law of any author
ity over the people With Difference to Mr.
Seward, with Difference to Mr.. Stanton, with
Difference to General Burnside, with defer
ence to General Halleck, and with Difference
to some respectable people in our own vicini-
ty, beg leave to give you the true defini-
ton of martial law.
Sir Mathew Hale was one of the ablest.
perhaps the purest, of the Judges of the com
mon law. | was told the other dav when |
quoted him, that he was dead long ago, and !
think that is just what's the matter All the
great men are dead. Here is what he saws OF
martial law: But touching this business OF
martial law, these things are to be observed ::
First that in truth and reality, it is not law
but something INDUCED rather than allowed
as law; the necessity Of government order
and discipline in an army is that only which
can give those laws countenance Second.
that this INDUCED law was only to extend to
members OF the army, Or to those of the
opposite army, and never was so much
INDUCED as intended to be executed or exer-
clsed upon others; for others who were not
listed under the army had no other color of
reason to be bound by military constraints
applicable only to the army, whereof they
were not parts, but they were to be ordered
and governed according to the laws to which
they were subject though it were in time OF
war"
And this President of the United States ;
this creature of the constitution this officer
of delegated powers who possesses not one
jot or title Of rightful power beyond what this
instrument delegates to him; this limited
officer he undertakes to extend by his pro-
clamation this despotism Of martial law, which
in his letter to the Albany committee he ad-
mlts to be mere law of brute force
There has been a time in American history
when no man would have dared to attempt
that"
And again:
"Under the constitution, martial law re-
fers only to the Army and Navy, while it has
no relation to citizens in time of peace or war
Elsewhere it is expressly prohibited by the
guarantees of this constitution"
We may stop by the way and smile at the
authority cited for this obsolete definition.
You know that if there is one region detest-
ed more than another by secession sympathi-
zers, it is New England. They hate it's eli
mate, Its laws, its men, its women, its facto-
ries, its schools, its industry, its morality, its
wealth, its patriotism, its courage-above
al u, -
the wet" They would level Bunker Hill,
but for a lingering hope that Toombs may
yet call the roll Of his slaves upon its sum
NIT. They gloat over New England pecca-
dilloes, and never forget the blue laws, and
the hanging Of Salem witches Those saint
ly preachers of sweet peace, who gently smile
when their Southern brethren roast Missis-
slppi negro, or hang Connecticut mechanic:
who IN New York stir up their own pure
minds for vigorous support of the constitu-
ton, according to Fernando Wood, by the
gentle indictments of arson robbery, and
murder-gloW with q humanity so exalted,
that they profess themselves unable to live
under the same government with the descend
ants of Puritan fanatics.
And yet these ancient Yankees had great
precedent for their evil doings! In enlignt-
ened England (adored of copperheads) years
before Massachusetts witches appeared, Rose
Cullender and Amy Duny, widows, were in
ucted among others, and tried on accusa-
ton of being witches. The learned Judge
presiding told the jury: ''That there were
such creatures as witches he made no doubt
at all for, first, the Scriptures had affirmed
so much secondly, the wisdom of all nations
had provided laws against such persons,
which IS an argument of their confidence of
S1Ynh ,,nl I'D IL,
ment of that kingdom, as appeared by that
act of parliament which had provided punish
ment proportiOnable to the quality of the of
fence" The next morning, Friday, March
18th, 1865, the prisoners, having been found
guilty, were brought to the bar, -''the Judge
and all the courts were fully satisfied with the
verdict and thereupon gave Judgment against
the witches, that they should be hanged X
And they were executed on
Monday, the 18th of March following but they
confessed nothing" Is State Trials, 7OO)
This witch hanging judge, pattern to Puri-
tans, was the same Sir Mathew Hale, oracle
to the copperheads on martial law very
worthy man no doubt, but rather out of date
on these two heads of legal science!
The happy idea of vindicating treason by
Sir Mathew Hale so pleased the Milwaukee
meeting that they adopted it in resolution,
drawn says the Milwaukee Ne,rs by the in
Ventor OF the continuance; the state conven-
ton has stamped it as orthodox, and Mr. Pal
mer, the nominee for Governor, went out of
his way to endorse every word and every
letter of it, Thus did the blind followers
stumble with their leader into the ditch -
Here is the resolution, the seventh in the Sc
ries, which makes Vol. 2, of the Ryan plat
form:
"ResoIred, That by the terms of the Constitu-
ton, the only change worked by state of war,
foreign or domestic, in the rights guaranteed to
the States and the people, is the power of Congress
to suspend the writ of haheas corpus, which only
affects the rights of the person legally arrested to
have the cause of his arrest considered that
cess that state of leaves all the other gu ar
antees OF the Constitution in full force that the
articles of war relate exclusively to the land and
naval forces of the United States, and that is chat
IS cd!ted marital tGm, which the President admits
to be the law of brute force, has no authority be-
yond the military occupation, and oithin that only
0cer persons properly subject to it. Ne hold thGt
every resident Of the United States not actually be-
longing to military forces, treadS ats free soil in
areU as peace, clothed aith ali the sacred
personal rights Wherewth the Constitution has in
cested him amongst these rights ne find the folLos0-
ing in the Constitution:
Congress shall make no law =
abrldgng the freedom of speech of the press, or
Of the RICH of the people peacefully to assemble
and petition the government for redress of their
grievances.
The right of the people to keep and
bear arms shall not be nfringed
The right of the people to be secure in their per-
sons, houses, papers and effects against unreason-
able searches and seizures, shall not be violated
and no warrant shall be issued but upon probable
cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and par
ticularly describing the place to be searched and
the persons things to be seized.
No person shall be held to answer for capital or
otherwise infamous crime, unless on presentment
Indictment of grand jury. except in cases aris-
ing N the land or naval forces or in the militia
when in actual service in time of war or u bic dan
ger.
In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall en-
JOY the right to speedy and public trial by an i'm
partial jury of the State a. district wherein the