The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-04-24

tutional, for this would be to deprive him
of liberty without tho judgment of his
peers. 1t has been suggested, however,
that you may kill him first, and try him
afterwards at your leisure but this will
be expensive; and there arc other proyis.
Ions OF the Constitution which, If opera.
tive alike in period Of war as in time Of
peace, would prevent you from killing,
capturing or Furnishing him in u Constitu.
tional manner, until he had been indicted
by Il grand jury, and tried by q jury Of
twelve men in the county where the al.
legged offence was committed, after having
been fully and plainly informed OF the
character and cause Of the accusation,
confronted with the witnesses against
him, and having had the assistance Of
counsel and Il reasonable time to prepare
for his defence am apprCllcnsivG that
majority OF the Convention have not
appreciated the importance Of defending
the country in period OF rebellion,
But how will this section operate in
other respects, in peace as well rs in war?
mo person shall be deprived Of property
without the judgment of his peers"-such
is the plain and positive provision of the
proposed Constitution. |. is not enough
that there should be due process OF law.
The Constitution requires both due pro.
cess Of law and the judgment of his peers
How then are you TO collect taxes? II |
refuse to pay my taxes, the sheriff cannot
distrain my property and sell it, for this
would be to deprive me Of property with.
out the judgment Of my peers. And what
becomes Of the Chanccry Courts? Their
DEGREES cannot be enforced; for TO do SO,
will be to deprive some one of property
without trial by jury, And yet lawyers
tell me that sheriils and commissioners do
almost every day take and sell property
under DEGREES in chanCery for the pay.
mcnt Of money and for other purposes,
without there having been any verdict of
jury to authorize the proceeding.
You have police court in Wheeling,
and l have occasionally seen in your paper
amusing accounts OF its victims. But
your rowdics may congratulate them.
sevcs that there is good time coming,
when no person viii be deprived OF his
liberty without the judgment Of his peers.
Must the people OF Wheeling furnish q
jury OF twelve men for every police case?
If so, they will soon want the tenth sec.
ton Of Article III amended. But with.
out the judgment Of his peers, you cannot
fine disturber Of the public peace, for
this would be to deprive him Of property,
if he has any nor can you imprison him,
for this would be to deprive him Of lib.
erty, and in either case, without trial by
jury.
The provision of the present Constitu.
ton, article H., section g. is very diff.
ierent one. 1t provides that mo person,
in time of peace, shall be deprived OF
life, liberty or property, without due pro.
cess Of. law" In strict conformity, there.
fore, with the present Constitution, taxes
may be collected, disturbcrs OF the public
peace arrested, and DEGREES in Chanccry
enforced, without the verdict of jury,
provided it lie done by due process of law;
and in period of war or rebellion, the
whole force Of the State may be effective
ly used for the common defence, without
violation Of the Constitution. It's pro-
posed to change all this by the new Con-
sttutiOn.
TheproDosed Constitution. in the thir-
tcenth section of article I'LL, requires
that, in twenty dollar case, jury Of
twelve men shall be assembled to decide
between the parties. With the court,
clerk, sheriff, lawyers, witnesses and ju.
rors, (all to be paid by somebody it will
take twenty men, at least, TO decide dis.
putc about twenty dollars. This can be
OF no advantage to any one but the law.
ycrs, who, OF course, must be employed
when there is to be trial by jury. For
the community, it would be economy to
pay OIL the claim, and let the twenty men
who must otherwise be employed in in
vestigating and deciding it, attend TO other
business.
We are assured by the seventeenth sec.
ton, that under the new Constitution jus
tice will be administered without sale or
delay. Do you believe that, Messrs. Ed
ilors: If | thought it would be so, l
would vote for ratification. l have had
a lawsuit on hand for five years, and
never had any doubt about the justice
Of my case, but my neighbors tell me l
will be lucky if get through in two
years more and moreover they say, that
Courts sometimes administer what is
law but moi justice, and sometimes what is
neither law nor justice II justice here.
after Is to be administered without sale,
it will be great improvement on the
present state Of things, for have found
my effort TO obtain justice to be GXpen.
sivC, and am not quite sure that will get
ii eIter all. When the lawyers who as.
scmbled ut Charleston to make a new
Constitution for us, assure us that justice
shall be administered without sale or dc.
lay, | do dot, however, give credit to the
assurance. l do not suppose that even
the lawyers who put this clause, into the
proposed Constitution, intend. if the
Constitution should BIZ ratified, to prac-
tiCc without fees; or that lawsuits, after
ratification, will be carried on without
expense, and decided without delay, and
be always decided justly. On the con-
trary, l suspect they intended it as Il bur
lesque on legal proceedings, or were try
ing to humbugs us folks in the country ;
and fit be the latter, must intimate to
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