Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1864-05-27

that sacred instrument denies the arrest OF any one
without due process Of law. Would any man say
that the Presidents order was due process OF laWt
It could not be, for it dspenses with the express
provision az the Constitution to- that effect Inc
Senator had been forced to appeal throughout his
argument to higher law than the CONSTITUTION oi'
the Confederate States.
The Senator had moreover said that the Consti-
tuition was meant only for times OF peace "aai'
q Constitution adopted in the opening OF suca q
gigantic struggle as this meant for peace alone! IL
could not bet 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 England has no written Con
stitution and that Parliament is omnPonent, while
our Congress is q body Of delegated powers, tie
went further He said that the writ could be sls.
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 fleet
ing the public safety Nor does the act itself Gre
ate any Offences and there were several cases re-
ferred to in it not offences under any law OF the
Confederacy. He said there were offences named IN
the act also, that alnenable 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 as placed in the only to deude the people
and lead them astray from its main suppose. For in
stance said he 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 he bad never heard Of its enforce
ment, although trading with the enemy was carried
on freely and publicly. The law was therefore TN
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 a dictator, than had been con-
ferrred upon President Davis
He said that the bill of 1907 suspending the writ
Of hG6eas corpus under the old government, and
which was almost unanimously rejected by the
House of Representatives, was framed with:reier-
ence to due process OF law.
Mr.. Brown, with leave, Stated that it was theD
declared that that act of 1897 proposed to substi
tute the will of President Jefferson for the law OF
the land and as the Senator sid the House OF Rep.
resentatives did almost unanimously reject it
Mr.. Warren said that he was not aware of that
historical fact but he did know that President JEFF
ferson about that time declared for the eternal and
unremitting force Of the ha6sds c1rpuS
He said that 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 90, and it
to that his resolutions refer when Ihey say that
the States 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
fair and candid statement of facts be submitted to
poslerity he doubted not but in their judgment
those who were instrumental in enacting the haJeHs
corpus and CONSUMPTION laws, would be consigned
to an unenviable fame. Ii 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
forI,iI fha foSl He cold Ibot
time when the Constitution should not he upheld
and defended for it animated the soldier 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. If the act had been more guarded and these
great Constitutional landmarks observed, then his
objections to it you'd 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 freeman. 1t 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 honorI" Hetbpught that Congress
had abrOgated the compact Of the Constitution and
assumed unwarranttd powers the sovereign
States are alone competent to charge the ConStitu-
tion Ii the agents Of the gOTerument do 1t, 1t is
uSurpatOn.
The gentleman from New Hanover had referred
to the states Of political parties in 1861 and had
defended the course Of the original seceSsiOnsts in
the progress of this revolution, and had impugned
the course of those WHO opposed secession. He
considered it his duty to say word in vIndIc1ton
of those with whom he had then acted and WHO had
been opposed to the dissolution Of the Union up to
the time of Lincoln's proclamation. What were
Al 4. M r Al
had never been more favorable to slavery than they
were up to that time, for it was expressly gu4ran-
teed to slave owners that they could carry their
property into the territories unmolested and the
constitutionality of that law had been affirmed by
the Supreme Court of the Uuted States; and both
branches of Congress were also opposed to Lincoln.
More than that Mr.. Yancey afterwards declared in
Il letter to Lord RUSSELL that slavery was not the
cause of secession but that the tariff was. This
was a matter of record. He had acted upon the OLD
adage to learn wisdom of our enemies, and that Wi
ly and SagacouS abolHionist, 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 ia the Revolutions
ry war. If that was so he was most harmless
dictator, for 1t was notorious that not a or u
dollar could be raised from the States without the
consent of the States, and one Of his biographers
had declared that the greatest glory of his life was
that ne never in all the difficulties OF the revolution
or during his Presidency violated the laws of his
country.
The Senator had also said the Legislature would
be trenching upon the judiciary in this matter,
should they express any opinion upon the constitu
tionaliy of this law. Was that tue doctrine of the
old St=tes rights party TO which they had formerly
belonged? No sir. That party held that the Ju.
dietary in its decisions had no power to usurp the
rights of the States.
In 1893, said be, Virginia passed resolutions pro-
testing against the acts Of tue Federal government
and sent them TO Massachusetts The Legislature
of that State ans1 cred them by saying that the
State Legislatures mad no right to pass upon the
acts of Congress. The gentleman therefore, ex-
tremely Southern as he Was, had gone into Massa-