Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1872-06-05
The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas
COrDUS.

Corpus.
The writ of Ha5eas Corpus has, for hun.
dreds Of years, been considered one of the
s1rest and most sacred bulwarks of personal
liberty. Our readers need no history of it.
origin or its uses. 1t is, in its purpose and
use, a defense against arbitrary exercises o
power. 1t is the process, favored in every
government, which makes the smallest claim
to be government of the people, through
which the citizen restrained of his liberty
may compel legal inquiry into the lawful
ness of that restraint.
In the constitution Of Vermont this writ /:
made Of perpetual force The language is
a. The writ of habeas corpus shall, IN no case
''bc suspended. 1t shall bea writ issuable OF
right: and the general assembly shall
ssmake provision to render it a speedy and
effectual remedy in all cases proper there
for" Judges and courts have no discretion.
They cannot refuse to issue the writ. OFF,
GERS and persons holding prisoners in custody
must obey the writ. The enforcement OF
the provision of the constitution is amply
provided for by statute: and our readers
will particularly remember how this writ
was, BY special statute, made the defense of
the liberties of the citizen against the in
human fugitive slave law.
This writ is also carefully guarded in the
constitution of the United States 1t is
therein declared that d" the privilege Of the
writ Of heJeas corpus shall not be suspended
unless in cases of rebellion or invasion the
public safety may require it,
Early in the rebellion President Lincoln
suspended the privilege of the writ and
afterward, as there was very good reason for
doubling his power to do 50, except by
authority of an act of Congress, an act was
passed authorizing the President to suspend
the privilege of the writ during the rebellion.
The rebellion having ended of course this
law expired by its own limitation.
At the first session of the present Con-
eress a law was passed commonly known as
the Ku Klux act. One section Of this law
is as follows
SEC 4. That whenever in any State or
part of State the unlawful combinations
named in the preceding section Of this act
shall be organized and armed, and so numer-
Gus and powerful as to be able, by violence,
to either overthrow set at defiance the
constituted authorities of such State, and of
the United States within such State, or when
the constituted authorities are in completely
with. or shall cOnnive at the unlawful pur-
poses of, such powerful and armed cOmbina-
tiOns and whenever, by reason of either or
all Of the causes aforesaid, the conviction OF
such offenders and the preservation of the
public safety shall become in such district
impracticable, in every such case such com
I III
the government of the United States, anC
during the continuance of such rebellion
and within the limits of the district which
shall be so under the sway Il areOf, such
limits to be prescribed by proclamation, II
shall be lawful for the President of the
United States, when in his judgment the
public safety shall require 1t, to suspend the
privileges Of the writ of hd6eds corpus, to
the end that sucl rebellion may be over
thrown. Prorided, That all the provisions Of
the second section of an act entitled " An act
relating to hdbeds corpus, and regulating ju-
dicial proceedings in certain cases, approved
March third, eighteen hundred and sixty
three which relate to the discharge Of pris-
Oners other than prisoners of war, and to the
penalty for refusing to obey the order Of the
court shall be in full force so far as the same
are applicable to the provisions of this sec
ton Provided further, That the President
shall first have made proclamation, as now
provided by law, commanding such insur-
gents to dispense And prOUided also, That
the provisions of this section shall not be in
force after the end of the next regular ses-
sion Of Congress.
A bill passed the Senate and was sent
recently to the House to extend the provis-
ions of the above section until the end of the
next session Of Congress. A motion made
by Judge Poland, in the House, Tuesday Of
last week, to take up this bill for consid era
ton, failed, majority voting against it. A
majority of the Republicans voted for the
motion. Twenty-three Republicans, among
them Mr. WILLARD and Nh. SMITH of Yer
mont, voted in the negative; and we think
we do JUDGE POLAND only justice when we
say that he doubts the propriety of passing
the BILL and made the motion, not because
he believes such legislation wise, so much as
because the House portion of the Ku-Kluz
committee. Of which he is chairman. in.
structed him to report such bill After
the vote was taken JUDGE POLAND briefly
stated his position as follows:
| desire to say, in connection with
the bill just voted upon, that the sam,
bill was reported to the House and tn,
Senate respectively by the joint select Com
mittee on the Condition of the late
Insurrectionary States. That bill having
passed the Senate, l felt it my duty to call i
to the attention of the House and have {
vote upon it. Our committee having leav,
to report at any time, had majority voted
in favor of the bill upon the vote lust taken
should Immediately have offered the bill
that was reported by the committee to the
House, which is identical with the Senat,
bill But inasmuch as this vote has disclos
ed that a majority of this House are opposed
TO the bill, / shall not offer the House bill
until / have further instructions from tn
committee to do so.
Some Of the newspaper discussion re
specting this bill seems to have proceeded