Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1863-04-22
To James A. Seddon, Esq, Secretary of War
of the Confederate States.

To James A. Seddon, Esq, Secretary of War
of the Confederate States.
member of the House of Representatives has
been kind enough to send US a pamphlet copy of
your report Of February 9th to the President Set
ting forth the names occupations times and causes
of coninlng and keeping confined one hundred and
thirty.one prisoners in the Confederate States
prison" at Salisbury. We have examined this re-
port carefully, and propose to address you in re-
st etful 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
guaranty for the protection of civil constitutional
liberty against that most dangerous of all the
branches of national autkority-the military arm.
Your position ~ = lawyer could not havs besn At
tanned in this country without a study of the Con-
stitutions Of the land; and your reputation as q
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 a country which claimed WASH
INGToN 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
and civil commoton 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 sg
gressions of the military and rcdressing 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 sad account;
but yours furnishes US yet sadder. Still it is
nottoo late to stop the licentouat march of mill
tary outrage upon new victims nor 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
loyer of liberty and humanity, to listen to the
cries of longsuering 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 resolution of the House of Rep
resentatives, have the honor to enclose list of
the civilian prisoners now in custody in this city
and at Salisbury, North-Carolina, under military
authority. Noarrests have been made, at any time,
by any specific order 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
similar nature, and the ground for arrest, IS, or
ought to be founded upon some necessity, or be
!us.neo as proper Rrssaas.on non a6anss an aRPsnens
to examine these persons with directions to dis
charge those against whom no well grounded cause
of suspicion exists of having violated law done
act hostile injurious to the Confederate States
In conclusion have 10 say, that under the
examinations that have been made large number
of prisoners have been discharged, and none arc
retained unless there be cause of suspicion, sup
ported by testimony rendering it probable that the
discharge of the prisoners would be prejndicial to
| the public interest"
! Every paragraph thus cited is worthy of special
remark. In the first place, it is admitted that all
the prisoners arc "civiliaus, that is, men, who,
when seized, did not belong to the land or naval
forces" the militia in actual service; yet they
are put "under military authority" It is not in
tended to question the power of Congress to make
whom it will the jailor 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 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 "the ground for arrest is
or ought to be, founded upon some necessity or be
justified proper precauton against an apparent
danger" 1t is much to be regretted that the de-
partment has withheld specific instructions as te
the arrest Of civilians by the military and provost
marshas, who have exercised their armed power
in derogation of every principle of constitutions
liberty. That they have been uninstructed upor
points SO dear to freemen, furnish no excuse t.
chief who cannot fail to be aware of the violen
outrages perpetrated in tearing away husbands an
parents from the arms of their families, without
warning or warrant, and in the depth Of night
without cause, or upon suspicious so groundless a!
that, when their cases are examined even withou
the benefit of their witnesses, after long and pain
full imprisonment ga large number have been dis
charged" Such a result ought at once to hav
aroused your indignation, and impelied you to taxi
precaution against its repetition.
The general annunciation in your report tina
"the ground for arrest is, or ought to be founded
upon some necessity" establishes your Ignorance
Oh ldCt WuetncT IUe 0TTeStS WtTf, luueeu,
ed upon any necessity. Nearly every prisoner,
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, ant
particularly describing the person seized" (Arti
Gle /, section 8, 10 and 16, Confederate Con
stitution.) These constitutional securities agans
illegal arrests, sacred to Engshmen, and sol
emnly affirmed by them thirty times during tn
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 . ioatbsome place nearl,
two years, without any ca parts affidavit even Of
"ground Of suspicion" upon the vague charges