The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-07-18

case Of Rebellion, or Instruction the
public safety may require It,"
Why the omission In the proposed
Constitution Of the exception which the
combined wisdom Of our countrymen
since the achievement Of our Indcpen.
dence have seen proper to make In all
their Constitutions or organic laws
Have they all been mistaken and lett It
for the Convention assembled at Charles
ton last winter to first discover the mis-.
take! The Constitution they propose for
our adoption makes Our State q qualified
sovereign power, at least, against which
treason may be committed, and rebellion
and instruction against It's authority, may
occur-asit did In the Dorr Rebellion ii
Rhode Island Id 1e49; and provides Tor q
State militia and makes the Governor
commanders chief; and makes II his
sworn duty to suppress rebellion and in.
surrection against its authority. How is
he going to do 1t, unless himself rs com.
r1andGr.in.chiel Of the war power Of the
State, or the Legislature, has the power
to suspend the writ Of haJGdS corpus, as
the legislature OF Rhode Island did in the
Dorr rebellion In 1912? Until this Is done
all the civil Courts-a. majority, even, Of
which may favor the insurgents-haVe
the power through this writ Of habsaS cor.
pas to take and bring before them and set
free any insurgent whose Liberty Is re.
strained and discharge and send home
any soldier Of the Governors militia force,
leaving the Governor with Ithe oath OF
God upon his conscience to put down the
rebellion or instruction, and "take
care that the laws be faithfully
executed" without even Corporals
guard to assist How can he do ii when
his soldiers have been taken on writs Of
habedS corpus, and when wanted TO fight
the enemy are either attending Court, or
discharged and gone home. For these
and other obvious reasons, the American
people uniformly adopt the exception in
their Constitutions. A member calls this
1.-THE great writ ofperSonal liberty that can't
10 suspended" It's so great, that ifadopt-
ed it will take from the State the power
OF maintaining her peace or existence,
especially when aliens and foreigners avail
themselves Of their invitation to become
the owners OF her soil.
Section 10th of same Article, is equally
novel and absurd. 1t is this: ,"No per.
son shall be deprived Of life, liberty or
property without due process Of law, and
the judgment Of his peerS.' The part not
italicised is contained in the 9th Amend.
ment to the National Constitution, pro-
posed l think by Virginia in $50, and is
also contained 1 think, in every State
Constitution that has been made since.
The terms "due process Of law" has been
uniformly construed to mean, for causes,
and in the mode, existing laws prescribe
Hence Justices Of the peace have uniform
ly imprisoned and deprived persons Of
property which they honestly believed
they owned, without. the intervention of
juries; so our courts Of chancery through.
out the country, are daily deciding on the
rights, and transferring from one person
to another through their commissioners,
immense properties without the intorven.
ton ofjuries, that is "tho Judgment Of
their peers" so in our army in pursuance
of the articles of war established by Con.
gress, members of the U. s. Army are
tried and deprived OF their liberty, and
often lives, by courts martial, composed
always OF SupertoTS, and not OF their equals
in rank, in other words their "peers,"
which literally means equals in rank, and
In common law parlance ordinarily
jury Of twelve men. What use or appli.
cation the Conventionists expected the
phrase to have in our system of govern.
ment, am unable to conceive; unless it
be to give rise to endlesslaw.suits. For
while they give justices of tho peace
Jurisdiction in civil matters, to decide,
and deprive parties Of property to
the amount Of 500, and unlimited
power to arrest and commit in GRIM
inal caseS-they expressly forbid their
having iuries in any case. Neither have
they any provision requiring our chan.
Gerry courts to invoke the aid Of ilrieg.
Sec. 18th Of same article provides that
when man sues directly in the County
Court for any sum over $20--say
SPOOL, he shall have jury Of ticIue men
to try the same; but if he sues before a
for 500 90, and afterwards
appeals to the county courts, the Legis.
lature may authorize less number than
Twelve iurymen totry such appealed case. |
The wisdom and purpose of this distinc.
non are too subtle for my comprehension,
they concede that our present
uries OF SIC men, that may be required
before justices, satisfies the 7th amend.
nent OF the Federal Constitution.
Art. 4th, Sec. 18th declares in effect
hat our people shall not be required to
prove their right TO vote and have their
names entered on q register at any timc-I
and Sec. 4S, Art. expressly iorbids II.
This OF course throws upon the officers
experimenting tho election, the duty to
near evidence and decide, while the cleo.
lion is going on-all the various and often
intricate questions that arise touching the t
qualification to vote of the numerous
persons Offering. Nearly every State in
he Union has law requiring these uues.
ions to be heard and decided, and the
names Of all such as are found qualified
o vote entered ona register, previous to
ne day Of eICctIonj so that the superin-
on the day Of election have only
% attend to receiving the votes OF those
whose names have been previousIv
registered, and also such as are
lole TO show reasonable cause for
not having previously attended,
proved their right to vote, and had their
lanes registered. Our present Constitu.
ion authorizes the Legislature 10 make
'imllar law. What conld have been the
motive for the Conventionists thus throw.
ng upon the superintendent the hearing
md deciding the various question that
rise, and attending to receiving the
,allots, keeping order Sc, at one and
he same timer 1t certainly confines the
tearing and decision OF these important
Iuestions to a few moments Of time BY
Ulcers who have enough else to attend to.
The test oaths they have so much
omplained oil, would applv enuallv IN