The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-04-26

as one of its fundamental articles. Hence the thirteenth article of amendment of | that instrument
 Notwithstanding what is here said by President Grant and the Supreme Court | of the United States of the binding force of the Constitution and decisions of the | Supreme Court; and, Notwithstanding the | Cong1 ess passed the first fugitive slave | law in pursuance of the provision of the | Constitution which required and de- manced such an enactment as early as | 1793; and notwithstanding the Congress | in 1850, as a part of the compromise meas ures of that year. took action in aid of | the most strict enforcement o fthe law. l its enforcement was resisted; and in view of the decision in the case Prigg vs. | Pennsylvania in 1S42, which held that l the execution of the law of 17S3 devolved upon Federal authorities alone. several l States forbade action oy their officials. l The act of 1850 aroused much bitter feel | ing in the North. The Dred Scott decis- lon greatly intensified that feeling. Per sonal liberty laws were passed in many or the Northern States, some of them COT flicting with Federal laws and some even with the Constitution itself Massa- chusetts passed law in 1S43, the ob- ject of which was to make 1t a peaal offense in all officers and magistrates in the State tc exercise the powers con- ferred upon them oy the fugitive slave act of 1793 and to prohibit the use of the jails cf the State for the detention | of any person claimed as fugitive slave. Violent assaults were made by lawless persons at Boston on the mar shaI of the United States. and person arrested as a fugitive slave was forcibly rescued from his custody.
 Movement of States.
 What are known as Prize Cases, aris- ing out of the captures of several vessels 1 which were brought in as prizes by public ships of the United States early in the war. were decided by the Su- preme Court of the United States during It's December term. 1862
 These cases brought before the court l questions of the most embarrassing na- ture. A careful reading of the opinion of the court clearly shows the dlfiicul- ties under which that tribunal labored in shaping their opinion. The court said This greatest of civil wars was not gradually developed by popular commo- ton. tumultuous assemblies. of local un- organized insurrections. However. long may have been its previous conception. 1t nevertheless sprang forth suddenly from the brain, a Minerva in the full panoply of war. The President was bound to meet 1t in the shape it presented itself, without waiting for Congress to baptize 1t with a name; and no name given to 1t by him or them could change the fact.
 The court further said: Under the very peculiar constitution of the Gov ernment, although the citizens owe su- prtme allegiance to the Federal Govern ment. they owe also a qualified allegi- ance to the States in which they are do- miciled. Their persons and property are subject to its law. Hence. in organizing this rebellion, they have acted as States claiming to be sovereign over all per sons and property within their respective e limits, and esserting a right to absolve their citizens from their allegiance to the Federal Government. Several of these States have combined to form new Confederacy. claiming to be acknowledged by the world as a sovereign State Their right to do so is now being decided by the wager of battle. The ports and ter ritory of each of these States are held in hostility to the General Government It is no loose, unorganized insurrection. having no definite boundary or posses sion. It has boundary marked by lines of bayoncts, and which can be crossed only by force. South of this line is ene- my's territory. because 1t is claimed and held in possession by an organized. hos tile and belligerent power
 Civil Liberty Vindicated.
 Another case which attracted the atten- | ton of the whole country came before the Supreme Court in 1s66 It was the case of Lamdin P. Milligan, a citizen of the State of Indiana. who was arrested on the 9th day of October. 1864. at his home in that State. by order of Brevet- Major General Hovey, military eomman- der of the district of Indiana who was placed on trial ob the Fist day of the same month before a military commit ssion convened at Indianapolis by order of General Hovey. charged. in substance. with being a member of a secret society ] known as the Order of American Knigbts or Sens of Liberty, organized for the purpose of overthrowing the government of the United States. Milllgan was found guilty and sentenced to suffer death by hanging. He filed his petition in the United States Circuit Court for the dls- trlct of Indiana for the writ of habeas corpus. and. upon certificate of division by the judges of the court the case was brought before the Supreme Court of the United States.
 The Court in their opinion, delivered by MT. Justice Davis, say:
 No graver question was ever consider ed by this court, nor one which more , 1 uedTly COHCeTnS tue TlBHlS OI lHe WnOle people. for 1t is the birth-rght of every American citizen when charged with crime. to be tried and punished according to law The power of punishment Is alone through the means which the laws have provided for that purpose. and If they are intellectual there is an immunity from punishment, no matter how great an offender the individual may be. or how much ..is crimes may have shocked the sense of justice of the country. or en- dangered its safety. By the protection of the law human rights are secured; withdraw that protection, and they are at the mercy of wicked rulers. or the clamor of an excited people,"
 "It is claimed that martial law covers with its broad mantle the proceedings of , this military commission. The proposl- tton is this: That in a time of war the commander of an armed force Of In his , opinion the exigencies of the country de- mand 1t, and of which he Is to be judge) has the power. within the lines of his military district to suspend all civil rights and their remedies, and subject citizens as well as soldiers to the rule of his will; and In the exercise of his law full authority cannot be restrained. except his superior officer or the President of the United States.
 'If this position Is sound to the extent claimed, then when war exists, foreign or domestic, and the country Is subdivid- , ed into military departments for mere . | couvapjaoca tho commander of one of