The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1876-09-20

Under tf il or Ter the marshsl of the Dis
trict of Vermont arrested a man. The
prisoner applied for a writ of habeas cor
Dus to the district judge OF the United
States Judge Smalley. The writ issued,
ard the marshal made return that he held
the prisoner in custody by virtue of the
above mentioned order OF the secretary OF
war.
THE JUDGE SAID:
eff that order is TO receive the construc-
tions the marshal claims for it. then more
than thirty thousand men in the states OF
New EDgland and In New York, many OF
them of very limited intelligence and of
low moral character, were authorized to
arrest any cilizsn within those ststes, from
the lowest to the highest, without COM
p 'aint, without warrant, and without even
informing their prisoner by whom or OF
to autborizs each of the I'd sers or agents
to determine who are guilty of dlsloysl
prsctices-s phrase hitherto unknown, and
as yet uDde6ned in this scountry-and each
to give his own construction to the term;
and If any of these IL rquisitOrs pretend 70
think that a citizen has done or said any
thing which he chooses to consider dis
loyal, the poor unfortunate, though
he may be the most worthy, loyal and
patriotic person In the community
may be thrown into prison
sDd deprived of all opportunity of being
heard before court or jury 20 establish
his Innocence or of being confronted with
the witnesses sgaiost him or of even ascsr-
tanning the offense with which he is
charged. Those who claim to exercise this
extraordinary power may be governed by
whim or CAPRICE, personal ill-ieeling, po-
liticsl or religious prejudice, the hope OF
pecunisry gain, or any other of the many
unworthy motives which Influence hu-
man action; and yet sll classes of cirzsns,
from the day lab rer in the field t. the
senator in the legislative halls of the coup-
try, are subject to this despotic power
None are exempt" "This
order WIS made and the action under it
was bad, before any attempt was made to
establish martial law. Can il be con
tended that with the
CONSTRUCTION CLAIMED FOR 1T,
il is not in direct violation to section 8, o.
article of the Constitution, and OF article
four OF the amendments thereto, which de-
clsres tsat"the right of the people to bose
cure in their persons, ETC., shall not be
viola'ed," and that "no warrants shall is
sue but upon probable cause, supported by
oath or affirmation, and psrticu arly de-
persons or things to be zed, and of arti-
cle 5 OF the amendments which declares
that no person shall be deprived o. life,
liberty or property without due process Oi
law" Ii there be any forcs in language,
il appesrs 10 me too PLAIN for discussion.
that either the Constitution or the order
must fall" Ii the arrest ano
detention in this case be sustained it strikes
a much more deadly aud fatal blow to civil
II w
which the British Cabinet ordered Co b.
issued against the printers and phil shers
OF the North Briton, No. 40, in 1853 Ibt
parties aggrieved in that case sought re-
dress before that illustrious and fearless
Judge and protector of civil liberty, Ch Q
Justice Pratt (Lord CsmdeD) who hel,
warrants to be Iilegsl, ho liberated the no.
torious Wilkes from the Tower OF Lon
don upon a writ of hsbess corpus, snC
under whose Instruction British iuries
gave, in two cases, e3o0 damages each,
whilst in the other two the counsel 'or The
crown consented TO verdict OF G200 dam
ages each, rather than have them 20 to q
jury" us the British Magma
Cpsrts any more sacred than the Uuiteo
States Constitution? Are the rights sno
liberries OF the British subjec5 any NOR
securely pro ects d tEAn those of the Amer
lean citizsr ? Even the French arrests
under toe le tres de cscnet, by whicn the
BDurbOns filled the PRISON OF the B4stile,
and thereby contributed so largely to the
first French revolution, had more of the
semblsnce OF justice than the arrest IL
his Case, tor those letters name the person
to be aIr-s'td, thou b they as igDed n,
cause and ellowt d no btartng." lex ,rte
Field, Bletcb., @. G. r o. 63 Udder =
-imilar order a man wss arrested in
New York, and brought before
Judge Hall by hsbass corpus and dis
charged. After considering ,he order IL
connection with the constitution,
JUDGE HALL SAID:
"My personal confidence In the integri.
ty, patriotism and good sense OF the Prs 81
dent, IS well as the respect due to th
high flee he holds, com pels me to req uire
the most conclusive evidence upon tn.
point, before adopting the conclusion that
he has ever deliberately sanctioned so ps.
psble a violation of the constitutional
rights OF the citizsns of the loyal 81 ates rs
the order of the War Depsri ment, thus
construed, would justify and require" "A
Western Law MonGhIy, 49l. Tue circulsI
informs the msrshals LDst in s ats 10
which the sheriff can appoint any mum Der
OF deputies he M y think proper. tbs mar
shall can do the esme. In ths Stare in
WniCu bNto - WAlNbon. THO Cau dD-
point as many as be desires. In fact, there
seems to 90 no limit TO the num- mber o.
depati's which the msrshsl may appoint
in any Sts.e. The only Law on the subject
is Quad in section $50 of Revised stat
Ut. 9, wnicD authorizes the marshal co ap-
poiut Zone or more depnLies." So that
tie United States msrshals arc author zed
TO sppoiDt. If they think proper, every
Republican voter In the United
States deputy marshal, and
the circular Of tie attorney general de-
clsres that these Republican voters, armed
with d. putty msshal's commission, may
arrest, "~tSh or without process" all the
other people of the United s ates, who
may appear at the places OF registration or
election, Tor any offsnse, re al or i'm sginsry,
which these Republican voters may fiDo
or suspect that man has committed or Is