Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1864-06-01

oised conspiraters spies and insdious meters to
seryile instruction in our midst, but it gave the
President the power to arrest any mau npen SUD
Ma order. This ha held to be unconstitationa, tor
that sacred instrument deniea the arrest q
without due process of Law. Would any man say
that the Presidents order wasa due professor law!
It could be, for it dispensss With the express
provision of the Constitution to that effect Inc
Senator had been forced to appeal throughout his
argument to higher law than the Constitution OF
the Confederate States 100 =.
The Senator had moreover said that the Oonsti-
tution was meant emily for times of peace hat
a Constitution adopted In the opening Of such
gigantic struggle as this meant for peace slonss 1t
could not belt was absurd -
TIE Senator: had cited the authority Of the
English Parliament in favor of the SUSPENSION. !
But the case was not analogous, for it must
be borne in mind that Bogiand has no written Con-.
stitution and tina: Parliament is omniponent while
our Congress is q body of delegated powers He
went further. He said that the writ could be sus.
pended only to retain in custody persons arrested
and incarcerated by due process Of law, and that
the suspension must also be limited to crimes affect
ing the public safety Nor does the act itself Gre
ate any offences, and there were several cases re.
fsrred to in it not offences under any law OF the
Confederacy. BE said there. were offences named in
the act also, that were smenable only to the mill
tary law. The writ did not apply to these offences
any how and the suspension Of the writ As regards
them was therefore useless. He considered those
things Is placed in the oct only to deude the people
and lead them astrsy from its msc purpose For IN
stance, said be- the prohibition in regard to trading
with the enemy. There was law in reference to
that subject already in force before the enactment
of this one But be had never heard Of it's enforce.
meut although trading with the enemy was carried
on freely and publicly. The law was therefore un'
necessary in that particular at least He SAID that
under this act any petty officer might hold in Gus
tody any man charged with most petty offences.
No power of greater latitude was ever before con-
ferred upon even dictator, than had been con.
ferrred upon President Davis.
He said that the bill of 1907 suspendng the writ
Of ho6eas corpus under the old government and
which was almost unanimously rejected by the
House Of Representatives, was framed with.refer-
ence to due process of law.
Mr. Brown, with leave, stated that it was then
declared that that act of 1907 proposed to subst-
tute the will of President Jefferson for the law of
the land and as the Senator said the House of Rep.
resentatves did almost unanimously reject it.
Mr.. Warren said that he was not aware Of that
historical fact but be did know that President JEFF
ferson about that time declared for the eternal and
unremitting force of the habeas corpua
He said taat the military Law of Congress did
not exempt any State officer as was alleged in the
Minority report 1t did not in fact exempt any
white man between the ages Of II and 30, and it
was to that his resolutions refer when they say that
the States are reduced to mere provincial govern
ments He did not consider his resolutions as de-
nunciative in their character, and could see some
good that might result from their passage. When
the history Of this war should be written and q
fair and candid statement of facts be submitted to
posterity, he doubted not but in their Judgment
those who were instrumental in enactng the habeas
corpus and CONSUMPTION laws, would be consigned
to an unenvable fame 1t is true the resolutions
might not affect Congress, but they would be
proud record for North Carolina in future years.
Mr. Brown arose to submit few remarks to the
Senate although his present feeble state of health
might forbid the task. He said that there was no
time when the Constitution should not be upheld
and defended for it animated thesoldier in the
test and nerved his arm in the hour of battle when
fighting under the banner of the Constitution. He
thought that this act expugned the provisions of
the Constitution which secured the right Of trial by
jury to all persons and gave them right to speedy
trial in the State where the offence was committed
This act abrogates these great muniments Of liber
ty. 1.-THE act had been more guarded and these
great Constitutional landmarks observed, then his
objections to it would not have been so great But
it places every man in the power Of the military,
and he who holds his liberty at the will Of another
is not a freeman. It was humiliating that our
rights should be held at the will of any military
officer instead of the Constitution. Was it that
for which we had pledged Tour lives our fortunes
and our sacred honor?" He thought that Congress
had abrogated the compact of the Constitution and
assumed unwarranted powers. The sovereign
States are alone competent to change the Constitu
tion If the agents of the government do it, it is
usurpation. Devotion to the Cunfedera C1nstitu-
tion it is written is the true test OF loyalty to the
South. Adherence to the written Constitution was
the maxim of the great Southern men Of the old
State Rights Republican party,
The gentleman from New Hanover had referred
to the status of political parties in 1861 and had
defended the course of the original secessionists in
the progress of this revolution, and had impugned
the course of those who oppos ed secession. He
considered it his duty to say word in vndication
of those with whom he had then acted and who had
been opposed to the dissolution of the Union ap to
the time of Lincoln's proclamation. What were
the facts2 The laws Of the Federal government
had never been more favorable to slavery than they
were up to that time. for it was expressly guaran-
teed to slave owners that they could carry their
property into the territories unmolested, and the
constitutionaity of that law had been affirmed by
the Supreme Court of the Uu,ted States; and both
branches of Congress were also opposed to Lincoln.
More than that Mr.. Yabcey afterwards declared in
letter to Lord Russell, that slavery was not the
cause of secession, but that the tariff was. This
! was matter of record He had acted upon the old
| adage to learn wisdom Of our enemies and that WI
| " and saeacious abolitionist Wendall Phillips,
had declared dissolution of the Union the surest
method of destroying slavery, and he did not wish
to aid Mr. Phillips and his allies in carrying out
| their views.
The Senator had also remarked that Washing.
ton had been declared dictator in the Revolutions
~ war. II that was SO he was most harmless
dictator, for it was notorious that not man or
| he frnr fha tat he
consent of the States and one Of his biographers
bad declared that the greatest glory Of his life was
that he never in all the difficulties Of the revolution
or during his Presidency violated the laws Of his
country. s..-.e ,- .-
The Senator had also said the Legislature would
be trenching upon the judiciary in this matter
should they express any opinion upon the oonstitu