Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1863-04-17
70 James A. Seddon, Esq, Secretary of War
of the Confederate StaIeS.

Ing forth the names, occupations, times and causes
of confnmg and keeping confined one hundred and
thrty.one prisoners in the Confederate States
prison" at Salisbury. We have examined this re-
port carefully, and propose to address you in re-
spect(ul but plain and pointed terms on the subject
When you were first called to the high office
which you now fill, we felt that the public had a
guaranty for the protection of civil Constitutional
liberty against that most dangerous Of all the
branches of national authoriiy-the military arm.
Your position as a lawyer could not have been at
taned in this country without a study Of the Con-
Stitutions Of the land; and your reputation as a
statesman gave assurance that the guards of civil
liberty would be kept in their places against the
croachments of the sword. 1t was painful to hear,
that in any part of country which claimed WASH
NGToN for its father the bulwarks of personal free
dom had been thrown down and overridden with the
iron hoof of military despotism. That occasional
acts Of violence should follow in the tracks Of war
and civil commotion, in despite of every precautiOn,
was the lesson of all history, and the people were
prepared for them. And if after coming to your
Office, you had set about preventing the future ag
gressons of the military, and redresSing the injuries
allowed under the administration of your predeces-
sors you would have left fame which would have
clustered you among the brightest stars Of your
native State. But, Sir, the report referred to has
occasioned the profoundest surprise and regret
Our previous information gave US a sad account !;
but yours furnishes US yet a sadder. " Still it is
not too late to stop the licentious march of mill
tary outrage upon new victims, to mitigate the
wrongs of the old sufferers from its power. 1t is
not too late for you, possessed as you are of the
character of gentleman and statesman and withal
lover of liberty and humanity, TO listen to the
cries of lOngsufering men, calling hitherto in vain
for the protection of the common Constitution Of
the land.
Allow us, Sir to call your attention to the report.
Addressing the President you say:
"In answer to a resolution of the House of Rep
resentatves, | have the honor to enclose list Of
the civilian prisoners now in custody in this CITY
and at Salisbury, North. Carolina under military
authority. No arrests have been made, at any time,
by any specific order or direction of this depart
ment. The persons arrested have been taken either
by officers of the army commanding in the field, or
by provost marshals, exercising authority Of q
similar nature, and the ground for arrest, Is, or
ought to be founded upon some necessity, or be
Justified as proper precaution against an apparent
danger The department has had commissioners
to examine these persons, with directions to dis
charge those against whom no well grounded cause
of suspicion exists of having violated law or done
act hostile injurious to the Confederate States
In conclusion, | have to say. that ander the
examinations that have been made large number
Of prisoners have been diSchsrged, and none are
retained unless there be of suspicion, sup
ported by testimony rendering it probable that the
discharge of the prisoners would be prejudicial to
the public interest"
Every paragraph thus cited is worthy of special
remark. In the first place, it is admitted that all
the prisoners are "civiians, that is, men, who,
when seized, did not belong to the "land or naval
forces" or the militia in actual service yet they
are put under military authority" 1t is not in
tended to question the power of Congress to make
whom it will the aor of civilian prisoners and to
furnish him with guard of men in arms but GER
tainy, calling the Jail military prison." and de-
failing for its protection a military guard cannot
Supersede the constitutional rights Of the civilian
prisoners" In the second place, the department
excuses itself from all orders directions to arrest
any of them and throws the responsibility thereof
upon officers of the army and provost marshals.-
And you announce that 90 the ground for arrest is,
or ought to be- founded upon some necessity, or be
justified as proper precauton against an apparent
danger" 1t is much to be regretted that the de-
partment has withheld specific instructions as to
the arrest of civilians by the military and provost
marshalS who have exercised their armed power
in dcrogatiOn of every principle of constitutional
liberty. That they have been uninstructed upon
points dear to freemen, can furnish excuse to
chief who cannot fail to be aware Of the violent
outrages peEperated in tearing away husbands an
E4felIss from the arms of their families, without
warning warrant, and in the depth of night
without cause, or upon suspicious so grOundlesS as
that when their cases are examined even without
the bepefit of their witnesses, after long and pain
full Imprisonment "a large number have been dis
charged" Such result ought at once to have
aroused your indignation, AMI impelled you to take
precaution against its repetition.
The general annunciation in your report that
"the ground for arrest is or ought to be founded
upon some necessity" establishes your ignorance
of the fact whether the arrests were indeed found
ed upon any necessity Nearly every prisoner, il
indeed not all of them in the prison at Salisbury,
was deprived of his liberty without due process
! of law" and without warrant issued "upon proba.
BILE cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and
particularly describing the person seized" (Arti
Gle !, section 9, 10 and 16, Confederate Con-
stitution.) These constitutional securities against
| illegal arrests, sacred to Englishmen, and sol.
emnly affirmed by them thirty times during the
last six hundred and fifty years, you have allowed
to be utterly disregarded; and when once confined
by this unconstitutional mode Of SEIZURE the pris-
oners have been kept in loathsome place nearly
two years, without any parts affidavit even of a
ground of suspicion" upon the vague charges,
reported by letter verbally, of some military off
Ger or man, making or ordering the arrest upon
hearsay or malice. Without any opportunity to
know meet the charges against them, many of
these one hundred and thrty-one men are kept i'm
priSoned the soil of free State, in defiance of
the 18th paragraDh section 9th of article 1st of