Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-05-18
MARTIAL LAW.
When II Was First Declared in Our Country
and What Was Done.

After its first defeat Spain, fearing
riots and disturbances, has promptly
declared martial law. The modcum of
individual liberty possessed by the citi-
zens under the constitutional monarchy
is thus snatched away and as rigorous
rule as that of Charles I. or Philip
H. again instituted. The martial law
of the Spanard is rigorous, one-man
no-trial rule. With the American it is
constituted for the most part the de-
prival of that privilege which our An
glo-Saxon ancestors extorted from
King John at Runnymede, and which
has constituted the bulwark Of their
liberties for these nearly eight centu-
ries, the privilege of habeas corpus. the
right of the accused to immediate trial.
In the United States the privilege of
the writ was never suspended before
1861 by the Federal government, though
state governments in several Instances,
as in the Dorr rebellion in Massachu-
sets had done 50. In the Burr con-
spirdcy case ana the Jackson case At
New orleans, Federal officers had re-
fused to obey the writ
ION the breaking out of the rebel
lion says Alexander Johnston, the
historian. president Lincoln, after
calling out $1,000 men and procaiminS
the blockade. authorized the command
ing general on April y. 1861. to suspend
the writ Of habeas corpus between Phil
adelphia and Washington
The order was shortly afterward ex-
tended to Florida. Chief Justice Tancy.
however, issued writ, and when il
was refused hy Gen. CadWallaier. 49,
feTred the matter to the President.
The attorney general gave q decision IN
favor of the Presidents power to de-
clare martial law, and then to suspend
the writ.
arbitrary arrests" were made in
large numbers throughout the North
by order of the state department. In
1852 the war department assumed sole
power Of arrest. From July to Octo-
Der, 1861. la persons were imprisoned
in For, Lafayette alone, among the N
state judges, mayors of cities, members
of Maryland's Legislature. persons en-
gagged in peace meetings." editors of
newspapers. and those accused of being
spies. I}y act approved May 4, 1853.
Congress authorized the President.
whenever in his Judgment it was nee
Gssary. to suspend the writ anywhere
in the United States. but the pow er
WAS left to Federal judges under cor
tain restrictions tO issue the writ. In
1861 a congressional investigation dis
closed the fact that the power Of arrest
without trial had been much abused
and used by persons to punish personal
enemies. The recurrence of such abuses
was prevented, but the past could not
be undone.
The supreme court in 1856 in the
Afilligan case oVCrthreW the whole doe
trine of military arrest and trial Of
private citizens in peaceful states. 1t
held that Congress could not give
power to military commissions to Try
convict, or sentence in q state not in
vaded nor engaged in rebellion.
About So 900 cases of military arrests
were reported during the war. During
the ku NluX troubles in the South
after the war the President was en-
powered to suspend the writ of habeas
corpus in places where these outrageS
Wera committed. In the Confederate
states in 1864 the writ was suspended
owing to the numerous trials 10 avoid
conscription.