The weekly standard., 1870-07-27
Ex-Gov. Bragg and Ex-Judge Battle.

Ex-Gov. Bragg and Ex-Judge Battle.
These gentlemen recently appeared in the
discussion before his Honor, Judge Pearson.
as the champions of the writ of habeas cor
pus, in the case. of Messrs. Boyd and Others
against Col. Geo. W. Kirk. We desire to
refresh their memories upon few points,
which may have been overlooked by them
and perhaps not elucidated in their ar
guments
We do not know whether they held that
Gov. Holden could do something more, than
he has done, for restoring peace and order in
this State, without making summary arrests
of suspected parties; but we do know that
they did not suggest what more should be
done by him. They merely said that the
civil courts should be relied on entirely and
nothing more. And in so saying they en-
deavored to precipitate a conflict, as is well
known. between coordinate branches of the
government, and a conflict which they cx-
pected would lead to arms and further COM
motion.
Seeing this, we held back, because his
Honor, Judge Pearson could see no less, and
could as well judge of the condition of the
public mind and the disposition of certain
leaders here at Raleigh to STIR up strife, as
we or any other person could do; and, there
fore, 1t is well that the matter rests in his
hands to-day.
The Governor, representing the Executive
department of government, has done all that
he could do to put down a lawless hand of
assassins in the usual manner; but has at
length been compelled, and that too with
the sanction of the general government, to
call into exercise those powers which are
vested in him by law, in order to meet an
extraordinary emergency.
The public safety demanded this of him,
for the people in many districts were then as
they are now on the verge of civil war. His
prompt action has had most salutary effect,
and it will be continued until the whole dla-
bolical schemes of traitors and assassins are
exposed and the offenders find punishment
at the bar OF the temple of justice.
But if the gentlemen, Messrs. Bragg and
Battle, have failed to perceive the necessity
for this action their dulness of perception
arises from the fact, that they are sympa-
thisers with the Kuklux or fear to have their
operations exposed. For Mr.. Bragg was Il
Commissioner under Jefferson Davis to en-
force the suspension of the aorit of habeas cor
pus, and to try men for treason without a
jury. His relative W. N. Bragg, minister
of the gospel and u loyal man, was before
him, under arbitrary arrest, and finally per-
secuted until the grave closed over him and
and he found peace, where the wicked
troubleth no. and the weary are at rest.
Before him also, was tried James Everett, OF
Goldsboro, for treason; and he Gov. Bragg,
then and there endorsed the suspension of the
writ of haJeas corpus. The Confederate, his
organ and of which he was in part pro
prietor, likewise applauded the suspension
of this writ for the arrests of loyal men, sus
pected of belonging to- secret society nimicaI tC
he Southern c oyederacy. And Gov Bragg
! did make the arrests, and had men before
him for belonging to a secret society. Let
him put that in his pipe and smoke it. II
he was right then according to his history
Governor Holden is right now, and all Mr..
Bragg's logic before the Supreme Court
is wasted away forever.
Then there is Mr. Battle. When he was
on the bench during the war, there were be-
fore him two prisoners, under arrest by Pc
ter Mallet,-one of them named Bridgeman,
and another named Johnston, upon writs
of habeas corpus, seeking exemption from
the army; and Mr.. Battle in the course of
his opinion il tie first case, made the fol-
| lowing statementN
| "BGt the case is reversed when the Confed-
crate government has, in the cYercirn.- cf its
| rightful supreme war power, conscribed in
| to its service a man who is not an officer of
| the State, and the State is attempting to
| take him out of it by clecting him to an of
fee. The man, as a citizen, owed the duty
to the general government, which it had
called upon him to perform just as much
he owed the duty to the State to accept and
discharge the duties to which he was elect
ed. Here are two obligations undoubtedly
binding upon the man, but which being in
consistent, cannot both be performed at the
same time. How can this conflict be settled,
but by resorting to q principle OF potent
efficacy both in international and municipal
law, that priority OF possession gives pr-
ority of right. This would seem to be a
Just rule even if the two governments were
equal in their powers, with respect to the
subject, and it surely cannot operate against
that government whose power, in that par
ticular, is supreme. The State must, in such
a case, yield to the prior claim of the gen
eral government, and select some other man
to fill its office. The argument that per-
haps the State cannot find another person
out of the army fit for the place, is answered
by the equally probable supposition, that
the general government may not be able to
procure another fit person for soldier.
When either supposition shall become
certainty, it will be when both governments
are on the eve of destruction"
And in the course of his opinion in the
second case he spoke as follows:
cali the acts of Congress called the con-
scription acts are, it must be confessed,
strong war measures. They can only be
sustained in point of authority, upon the un-
limited power vested in the Confederate
Government to declare war, and to raise and
support armies and in point of policy they
can only be justified upon the pressing exi-
gencies of the country, struggling for ma
tional existence, with an enemy of vastly
greater resources in all the means and ap-
pliances of war"
Both Bridgeman and Johnston were re-
manded to the custody of Mallett and sent
to the army.
But it will be seen by the above what
Judge Battle thought of the exercise of ex-
traordinary powers in extraordinary emer-
gencies, what were his opinions of the con-
scription laws, of the writ of habeas corpus,
and of personal liberty.
Messrs Bragg and Battle stand high in