New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-05-12
IHBE RTY.


June -, 1868, in reply to one from Erastus
'Corning and others of Albany, inclosing the
resolves of meeting they had held on the 10th
nit. to protest against the Military trial and
Punishment of c. l.. Vallandigham, President
Lincoln said:
"If / be wrong on this question of constitutional
pcwer nv error lies in believing that certain proceed
mrs are constitutional whcn in of rebellion or
INVASION the public safety requires them, Wncn WVuu
not be constitutional when, In the absence OF isDenio
or invasion the public safety does MOI REQUIRE mem IL
other words that the Constitution is not IN us appi
cation in all respects the same III cases OF reoeo vi
invasion involving the public safety as II II III to VI
profound peace and public security Inc oost.uto ,
itself makes the distinction; and can no more DC PEI
suaded that the Government can constitutional!
take no strong measures IN time Oh iepcmsn w
cause it can be shown that the same coulu ~. u'
law fully taken in time of peace, than can DC II
shaded that particular drug not good medicine ior
sick man because il can be shown not 10 DC eoou o
a well one Nor am l able 10 appreciate the uans,i
apprebended by the meeting that the American people
will by means of military arrests during the ReDelion
lose the right Of public discussion inc pey VI sPoe
and the press the law Of evidence triai py Ja! anu
habeas ccrpns throughout the indefinite pcaoei
which | trust lies before them. any more than am
able TO believe that could contract so strohg m
appetite for emctics during temporary Illness Us 70 ~
sis in feeding upon them during the fema'nue' VI IL"
heatlfui Iie.'
|emnently right in this, not only in his general
argument but in his assumption that the re-
stroints and limitations to which Public Liberty
was necessarily subjected under the pressure o.
gigantic and National peril are calculated
rather TO intensity than to obltcrate the popular
apprehension of the value and importance Of
those safeguards of individual and general rights
which experience has proved necessary. so iaI
] from contracting fondness during War for the
nauseous drastics of arbitrary power, the Amer
kican People arc destined to evince deeper de-
! yoton to the recognized muniments OF personal
I freedom. q keener and more watchiul Jealousy
! of any stretch of prerogative, because oil the
vivid experiences of the last four years.
There is not there cannot be, any secure and
constant enjoyment of Liberty while the ioun
tdations of the Government arc rocking and tot
Itering with the throes of such struggle as We
lhave lust concluded. As Mr.. Lincoln well said
TO Mr.. Coming, he ought to have arrested and
asecured Gems. Lee, Breckenridge, Magruder
&C., &C., while they were within his power at
the outbreak of the Rebellion; yet he could moi
T have held them one hour without suspension
of the privileges Of IIabeas Corpus, since then
Treason was not yet overt, and could not have
been established, under the requirements OF the
CONSTITUTION, in a court of justice. Many thing
were necessarily done, while many more ought
to have been done, to counteract the plots anc
Swies OF treason, for which the letter OF the la"
had no warrant-nay, which the law could moi
! have foreseen and provided for without great
and abiding peril to popular liberty. The only
safe and proper course is to consider such Tunes
as exceptional, and uphold the chief executive in
doing therein whatsoever he may deem essential
to the country's salvation. True, he Will be
drawn into some mistakes, whereby the innocent
will suffer with the guilty; but this is the price
of National preservation, which the patriotic
will cheerfully pay and the selfish may not
|escape.
But Gen. Jackson did not escape just censurc
for his conduct at New Orleans, not in deiying
the mandate Of Court and imprisoning the
Judge but in doing this after all necessity for
martial performance had ceased. And, now
that the Rebellion is crushed and the War this
side of the Mississippi ended the era Of bell
touching War Office autocracy, and the Military
| trial of civilians for common law Ohenses must
absolutely and promptly close. 1t has no longer
an excuse, much less a justification. -Four
years of Fort Lafayette discipline must suffice
| to give relish TO ages of Liberty defined and
protected by Law. We beg our National au'
thorties to realize the public impotence on this
head and hurry up their official notification
that the privilege of Habeas Corpus is restored.