Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1862-1865, 1864-04-14

L
10 other than judicial officers. Tee.e not then,
nor now, any objection, far as am OF, to the
suspension Of the privilege of the writ o. habsas corpus
in any city, town, or district or generally throughout
the country, il Congress- really has good to
believe the public safety requires it. and If the power
to suspend be consttutonay exercised The objection
to the late act is that 1t attempts TO do what cannot
cons:iiutionally be done.
But in the second place in answer to the INQUIRY
Why noise made about the act Of October 1852
need only soy, that upon the bare statement of the
real and substantial objections to that act It was adj
mted to be unconstitutional and void, beoau,e 1t at
tempted to confer the to suspend upon the Pres
dent, when, Ia his Judgment the public safety required
it 10 the localities embraced in its terms Congress
acnc under the Constitution, has the power to sus-
pend the privileges of the writ Ttey cannot confer
this power upon the President anybody ele. This
il conclusively admitted both by Congress ard tie
President in the late act for Is set forth In toe pre-
amble Whereas the power Of suspeDdDg the privilege
oil said writ is vested solely in thu Congress- ETC. This
Is admission the record ths the other act
coustitut onal and void. But to my mind il is just
clear that Congress- confer upon the President
or any other officer but judicial one, the power to
issue orders warrants Tor the OF persons In
civil life, il then, and on the passage of similar
previously, that they could not confer the power
upon the President to suspend the privilege OF the Wi
OF habeds corpus. The late ia just void the
previous Ones aud for like In 1t Congress hse
attempted TO do what 1t had not power to 90. The
first aci the subject assented to the 9th
February, 1907. mat attempted 70 cOL1er on the
PRECEDENT the power not only suspend the privilege
Of the writ Of habsas corpus in certain critics. towns
military districts, ETC., but declare martial law etc.
| This after amended. But say that
during the progress Of these events / silent
Nv sentiments on the subject of martial Ia against
the unconstitutional usurpaions of power, pro-
Claimed Throughout. the Confederacy, they now
AID will be proclaimed against The dangerous depar
from principle in this act Martial Law has been
abandoned aud trust the departure from principle 10
III; M will ha TIM A IA. "a
upon those have no inclination to arragn the mo-
tives of these who disagree with Great principles
at stake, and feel mpeled by high Of duty,
when my opinions are sought to give them fully clear
ly and earnestly.
| A few thoughts more upon the subject in another
view These rl.e to the OIL ect and workings of the
act If IL be sustained aud carried out. You have been
told that it s cts but the dsoya; but trail
tors those who are no better than traitors, spies,
bridge burners and the like and you have been sp
pealed to aud asked if such entitled your sympa
thies? aft IN, and shall maintain before the world
that this act affects and may wrongtuy oppress loyal
and good citizens, and true TO cause as
tired the soil breathed the air of the South This
shall make 30 plain to you that no man will venture
gainsay deny il. Tdis lorg list of ofsnses
forth in such array in the thirteen specifications
view them but rubbish and verbisge, which tend 10
cover and hide what in its workings will be found to be
the whoo gIgt of the act Whether such was the real
object and intention OF its trainers and advocates
know not. Against their motives patriotism have
nothing to say take the act as find il. The whole
get of II es so far appears upon it, face covered
up in the tn specification, the middle Of the sct
| "aud attempts 10 AVOID military service"
Hero is plain in1isputabls atemptto deny to every
citizen in this broad land the right if ordered into SER
vice. to have the question whether he ia liable to military
duty under the sws tried and adj adcated by the courts
Whether this the real object aud intention Of those
who voted for the bill, know not, but such would be
its undenabe tfect if sustained and enforced man
r. -ssL IF
field who has done thing bis power for the cause
from the beginning of the war; may, under instructions
fom the Secretary of War be arrested by the sub-en-
rolling officer aud ordered to camp, upon the assumed
greuld that in point of fact, be is under fifty. UDder
this law il it be law, be would be without medy or
redress case to- illustrate occurred within nv own
knowledge last fall. Orders were issued TO exam ne d
cnsus returns of 1860 10 the ages of persons and
iu,trucions given the enrolling officers to be gov.
eed to the age Of parties by those returns. Ia tie
case aud to by the cnsus return the party was not
forty FIVE at tie line of arrest. he protested that he
had not made the returns himsef-hat the re-
turn erroneous, it Was not given in under oath
that he able to prove by evidence entirely osfac
tory that he fo-tyfve and not liable under
the Law it then stood to military service. His pry
lege of tie writ Of habeas eop-his ght to have this
su ston of fact and law settled by the courts was net
then suspended and he was discharged. But what
would be BIZ, situation, and that Of all Others in Ike
circumstances if tti &C: be held TO be awi Il ia said
that the act affects but the disloya and that no
good law abiding en- justly complain of i'll As
view it, its main eff Ct is to close the doors of usc,
against thousands of citizens good and true who may
appe6lt the courts for their legal rights. Take the
case of these who avaed themselves OF the law to put
in substitu,es-some for one motive, and some for
another-some doubtless, for not only good but pari
otto motives, believing that they could render the
country more service at home than in the field. l
know one who has put in two, one when the call was
for those up to hiry6ve years Of age the other when
the call was to forty fve 0ne Of these substitutes was
40 alien whose services could not have been command
ed by the Government and who is now at Charleston
and has been during the whole siege of that city This
man wi put in these two substitutes remained at home
most ussfuy employed in producing provisions for the
army. All his surplus went that way, while he hadtwo
men, ADLER bodied than he was fighting for him in the
field. Who would say that such man is disloya to
the cause it, believing in his teart that he was not
liable under his contract, as he supposed With bis Gov
enment, he shoali appeal TO the courts to decide the
question whether he is liable under the Law mott
As to the law owing substitutes 10 the first instance
and then the law abrogatng annulng H. aad calling
the principals iato the field have nothing to say
What maintain is that il is the great constitution al
right of any and every Iarty affected by the last of
these acts on the subject to have the question Of his
legal liability judcaly determined If he chooses and
then as good law abiding citizen act accordingly
Take another illustration of the practical workings
Of the act Congress By Law exempted from conscrp.
zion such State officers the Legislatures of the respec
tive States might designate proper be retained
for State purposes At your last session YOU by re O.
luton, designated all the civil and militia officers of
the State late order has been issued by General
Cooper is seen in he papers, doubtless under or.
der from the Secretary of War, to enrol and send
camp large number of these ofHoers-snongs Others
justices Of the p,ace tax receivers a1d collectors
This order is clearly against the law OF Congress and
your l,mu resolution. 1t is ia direct anagonifm to
the decision of the Supreme COURT of this State the
very case in which they sustained the power Of on
gres to raise troops by subscription, but in which they
held that the power limited aud that the civil off
of the State could no. be coustitutionay con.
ssrpted. use the word conscripted purpostly-I |
know there is such word in the English luggage
neither is there any such word as oonsorbe the one
| nsuallY In Ynpne nnx a.daps new xnrd had 10 he