Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-06-22

Il is a matter for no little graduation to every
lover Of the Constitutions, 10 every loyal patriot,
that President Lincoln has thus placed in tangi
bic form before the public what there is of rea-
son. or it's semOiance, in support of his us'irped
power to abridse and punish freedom of speech
and Of the press. II is what he and his advisers
I'm and OFT of the Cabinet have to present at the
bar Of reason. Let not The himsy and wholly in
adequate character of the reasoning induce an in
ference of any deficiency in him, or them The
fault is not theirs, it Is not from any lack of ca
pacitv in them 20 do justice TO the subject, for the
argument is really as good, just as plausible as
any that has been or can be made on that side of
the questiOn-It is however so d.scursiye ana
unmethodical as necessarily to lmpart much OF
the same quality to this brief notice of il.
The first noticeable thing which it presents, is
his Selling hold of the fact stated in one of the
Albany resolutions that the great safeguards to
free speech. free press. and personal liberty, were
adopted into the Federal Constitution after the
close of the revolution, for the sake OF making
what. he no doubt deems a telling retOrt. He
AXIS whether the demonstration would not have
been better, if it could have been truly said that
these safeguards had been adopted during our
revolution, instead Of after its close. During the
revolution, they could not have been so adopted
into the Federal Constitution, for It then had no
EXISTENCE; but those safeguards were taken al
most verbatim from the constitutions of several
Of the larger States which we're made during the
actual pendency of the revolutionary war and for
the rule OF government in an actually existing
civil war. As an exposition of the views of the
frAmers of the Constitution, as a revolutionary
authority TO prove that those safeguards were
specially meant for times Of war and civil com
motion. the presidents from the constitutions of
those States are fully a. authoritative as if the
Federal Constitution itself had been adopted
during the revolution.
To escape from those safeguards, he asserts
that the military arrest. trial and Punishment of
Mr.. Vailandigham, was not a holding him to an
sWer for a capital or otherwise Infamous
crime,' nor were the proceedings against him a
criminal prosecutions" The effrontery OF mere
denial cannot 90 beyond this. What c~lassIica
ton must a crime belong to which is not Infamous.
Vet iusti6edits punishment by close imprisonment
for life. according to the sentence of tie court
martial, or to banishment for life, according to
the Illegal alteration of the President2 He does
not tell Us, aud ingenuity will not waste its
astuteuess in any effort to ascertain. The whole
buTthen of his attempt to justify the punishment
il by affirming that the speeches of Mr.. Nalian-
digham were aiding and assisting the enemy, or
in other words were quasi treasOnable-at least
they we're the preparation ot moral treason.
There being no legal punishment. as he wrong
fully afii ms, for the supposed ~offense. he makes
the absence of all such law the very foundation
of his claim % inhict the punishment. The Con-
%sfitutiOn having carefully defined treason and
precluded that engine OF tyranny constructive
treason. and Congress aot having, as he alleges.
provided any penalty for sUch an offense, he un
dertakes ex post faefo, TO create this new con
structive treason and punish it by a penalty of
his eER enactment. Verify, Mr.. Lincoln, this Is
sad work you are making with our Constitution,
il YOU prove that it gives you such latitudinoas
discretion 10 tyrannize over the liberties of your
eOuntrymen As to his denial to Mr.. Vallandig-
hams persecution was a criminal prosecution"
within the meaning of the Constitution. il must
astOund every man of sense. There is no deny
ing that i is a criminal prosecution of some sort.
and Of course must fall within the broad compre-
hensive prohibition Of all prosecutions except
those legally made with the aid Of jury trial
The only exception IS that carefully made by TIE
Constitution itself. for the punishments, by mill
taFy courts, OF persons employed IN the militia
~ service, the making of which exception con
clusively proves the intention to exclude any
other. The theory of the Constitution is, that
IL j. far better crime should 60 UNPUBLISHED,
than that its punishment should be entrusted to
anybody but courts and juries- The recent
glorious meetings of the people to protest against
the punishment of Mr. Vaifandigham show that
such is the national understanding with a fixed
resolve not TO be robbed Of their liberties By
the destruction of the Constitution. Mr Lin
coin should take heed how be disregards This
national sentiment, or he may have a civil war
at the North in addition TO that at the South,
The Constitution saws excessive bail shall
not be required, nor cruel AMI unusual punish
ments Inflicted What say you to this safe
guard. Mr.. LincoIn2 You can not deny that the
punishment you have inflicted here, for the exer
else of free speech, is unusual, nor can you pro-
perlv deny that il Is cruel also, or IL you do, then
il can only-be by affirming that the punishment
is barely commensurate with the Nervousness of
the ~offense. But If such be the character Of the
offense, then what becomes OF your other plea.
that il il not an infamous crime II tins Dew
" invented crime. this constructive treason. is so
thinly divided frotn actual treason as IN t0ro con-
scientiae to require so dire a punishment as life
long Imprisonment or Punishment, il surely must
be an Infamous crime" AS actual treason Is
by common consent the most inffmous OF all
crimes, all is proximate e0ngeners. such n this,
must partake largely Of that infamy. \ our couns
trymen generally give you credit for doing all
you could, by your usurped legislative and Judi
cial authority, TO brand Mr.. Vallaudigham and
his children with the nfamy ofa convicted trai
tor. Without reference ~ the personal hard
ship Of such a sentence. with right minded men
such damage TO character is an infa missing pun
ishment, and. such being the punishment. the
crime, IL so punished, must be Infamous" also.
It was precisely to prevent such oppression in
time Of war or civil commotion, by party MAORI
ties m Congress OF BY party chiefs in the Pres;
dental chair. that those safeguards we're placed
Il the Constitution.
Mr.. Lincoln adopts and bases his defense
mainly upon the fiimsey dogma that the Consd.
tuition was made for peace and not for war