The daily gazette., 1875-02-17
A BILL OF ENORMiTlES,
From the New York Herald

Is HIS Ecceilency LusdneF
1t is safe to assume that the extraor
dinary and alarming bill agreed on by
the Republican caucus at Washington
embodies the views and wishes of the
President. This caucus measure is not
endorsed by the recognized Republi-
can leaders in either branch of Con
sress, and the small fry Of Republican
members would not have ventured to
90 counter to the wishes of the able
men Of their party unless they were
carrying out the wishes of the Presi-
dent. We may therefore, assume that
his Excellency desires and covets the
extraordinary powers which the eau
Gus bill seeks to confer upon him.
The writ of habeas corpus is the
ordinary safeguard against unjust i'm
prisonment 1t merely entities the
prisoner to be brought before judge
authorized by law to decide whether
his arrest and detention are legal. A
suspension of the writ OF habeas cor
pus confers upon the President the
right to arrest and imprison citizens on
his own mere discretion, depriving
them OF any right to know whether
When the habeas corpus is suspended
the President can snatch up any CitiZ-
en- in any part Of the country and put
him in perpetual Imprisonment by his
arbitrary will, and the victim has no
means of redress. He may be the most
innocent man alive, and be able to es-
tablish his innocence by the strongest
evidence; but the power of the Presi
dent to arrest him and keep him in
perpetual custody without judicial
inquiry confounds all distinction of
guilt or innocence, and makes the ar.
bitrarY will OF the President the sn.
preme law.
The suspension OF the habea5 cor
pus would make the President an ir
responsible despot. It would enable
MIN to imprison any citizen whom hf
disliked, or against whom he had &
prejudice, without any sort OF respon
slbility 10 the judicial tribunals
There is no detinable distinction be
tween an absolute depotism and Il re-
public In which the Executive is all
thorlzed to suspend the writ Of habea
corpus, The suspension OF this grea
writ, which have Tor centurie
been regarded as the chiet bulwark o
freedom, is simply a free permission
to the Executive to arrest end impr
son anybody he pleases on his ow
mere discretion, without any sort c
accountability tor abuses Of power
The billsagreed on IN the Rcpublica
caucns authorizes the President to d,
clare martial law and suspend the h,
beas corpus in any part of the Unite
States, making him the sole Judge {
the necessity in every case II tn
monslrous bill should become la
President Grant would be absolu,
master OF the liberty OF every citize
OF the United States. 1t would onl
be necessary for him to proclaim ma
tial law in any State to enable him
arrest and imprlson his political o,
ponents, without any power on the
part to have their cases brought b
fore a judicial tribunal to decit
whether there were any grounds f
their arrest Such law would NAL
one man the absolute master of Il
liberty of every citizen. Under it
could arrest and imprison anybody
pleased and nobody could call him
account.
The merest glance at the Constit
ton will suffice to show that the su
pension of the writ of habeas corp,
cannot be justified under present sci
cumstances. The Constitution do
not permit that great bulwark of libe
fy to be suspended In mere anticipate
OF danger, Its language is that "tl
privilege of the writ of habeas corn,
shall not be suspended unless when
cases of rebellion or invasion, the pu
lie safety may require it," There
at present no rebellion, there is at pr
sent no invasion, and in the prese
condition of the country the habe
corpus cannot be constitutionally su
pended. The Constitution does n
permit its suspension Emancipation