The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1876-04-20

not IIBub.
We hope Mr.. Emmitt may undertake
the completion of the road.
Those green souls who think that the
Democratic party--the party of rebellion
toperpetuate human bondage, has chang
ed. and is now in favor of freedom and
progress. should read the following from
the n Y. Graphic:
CONGRESSIONAL IMPRISONMENT.
The case of Mr.. Kilbourn is exciting
far more attention in the country than
the majority in the House seem aware
OF. People everywhere discuss it, and
the more they consider it the more they
condemn the course the House has pur-
sued. The personality of Mr.. Kilbourn
does not count. The people never heard
of him before and have no personal in
terest in him whatever. He may be as
honest as Henry Wilson or as speckled
as Jay Gould, Democrat or a Republi-
can, a saint or a rascal an ascetic or a
glutton. So far as the present case and
the public interest in it are concerned,
none of these things weighs one atom.
The simple fact that this man is impris-
oned by order of the House without con-
stitutional warrant and in defiance OF
the rule adopted by Congress in 1874,
beer use he refused to lay his private
books and business papers before com
mittee of the House. is all they care for
and is enough to excite public indigna-
ton. He has done what any other pri-
vate citizen should have done under
similar circumstances. He is defending
the principle of the inviolability Of pri-
vate right, even by Congress, without
constitutional warrant. And he is suffer
ing what any other private citizen may
be forced to endure at any hour il the
right is not contested. and the sacred
guarantees of personal liberty are not
maintained.
Mr.. Kilbourn's case has been simplifed
Of all extraneous and merely incidental
matters. He has repeatedly offered to
meet any challenge made by any mem
Der Of the committee or any witness that
may appear. If any one will make oath
that Mr.. Kilbourn is mixed up in trans
actions which involve the government to
the amount of one dollar or affect the
integrity of any Federal officer he will
satisfy the committee that the charge is
unfounded. He will open his hooks and
papers to throw any light they contain
on any specific case in which the public
interest 10 involved, which anybody will
come forward and declare that there is
even a suspicion that he is concerned in.
He takes a solemn oath that nothing in
his business or books infringes to the
amount of one dollar on public interests
in any way, and if his oath is not sus-
tanned by fact he is liable to punishment
for perjury. Nobody accuses him Of di-
rect completely in any offence against the
Government He stands as a private cit
izen at the bar OF q committee which.
without a definite charge or even suspi-
cion against him, demands that he shall
spread his whole private affairs out on
its table where they can be exploited
and used to his private injury and that
Of his clients. As an American citizen
he rebels against such an unheard OF in
vasion of his private rights. Were he an
English subject he could slam his door in
the face of royalty were such a demand
made upon him. But as an American his
personal liberties and rights have still
more express guarantees. They are set
forth in the language of the Constitution.
They are contained in the limitations
imposed upon Congress. They have been
set forth by such eminent judicial au
thorities as Chief Justice Story and Chan
cellor Kent Even Congress has recog-
nized them by making a special provis-
ion to cover precisely such cases as that
of Mr.. Kilbourn by referring them to
the proper legal tribunal. Yet in spite
of all defences a private citizen is i'm
prisoned, without trial or due process of
law, by the direct act of the House. for
not yielding to an order that has not
10 of
rant and is the very essence Of absolut
ism. If the House can imprison Mr..
Kilbourn in the premises, il can imprison
Mr.. A. I. Stewart or Mr.. David Dudley
Field should he refuse to lay his books
and papers upon the table Of a committee
to crafty the cupidity or spite of any
member of it. Surely it is time to seri-
ously ask whether an American citizen
has any rights Congress may not invade
or annul at pleasure.
1t is a question of personal right. Is
the private business of an American citi.
zen inviolate? If it is not. and either
House OF Congress can require any pri-
vate banker to expose all his private
transactions to a committee when not
one member of it dares to affirm that
they have the least bearing on a single
public interest, all talk about personal
liberty and the sacredness of personal
rights is idle breath. Every man does
business at the mercy of Congress. Sup
pose @ man like Mr.. Belmont were on a
committee, and for any cause were to in
sist that Vanderbilt should explain all
his railway operations, or that the repre-
sentative of the Barings should disclose
all the secret transactions of that great
house to his inspection 1t is easy TO see
at glance that nobody is safe, that no
private interest has particle of protec-
tion, that even the safeguards which the
common law throws about the poorest
Englishman are stripped away from the
citizen OF this great republic. 1t is the
principle at stake which makes the case
so important And, strange 20 say, this
great principle Of personal right is viola.
ted by a Democratic House. All through
the war the Democracy were eloquent in
their defence of this principle They in
sisted it was sufficient to protect even a
traitor while he was making war on the
nation. But they have forgotten their
own history and are swallowing their own
words. II is strange that their own re
cord does not teach them the inconsist-
ency of their proceedings. The people
recall what they have forgotten. and in
terpret their hollow professions of a
dozen years ago by their present act. 1t
is to be hoped that Mr.. Kilbourn will
stand firm to the last. His case is clear
His cause is that of every private citizen
in America.
We find the following in the Athens
Messenger: