New-York tribune., 1917-07-27
Constitution No Shield to Public Enemies
By Henry 4. Forster

the detention and confinement in military
custody during the war OF any ns'urA''S
person whom the Minister OF Detehee oe
reved to be disaffected or disloyai' "i'hou'
the production of any evidence "ha'e'.i'
vas unbeld on the principle Of the necessity
of dictatorship during nationai "ai
Iloyd v. Wallach, 90 Commonwealth L. H.
299, 31O-311.)
The Elphinstone Case
In 1918. after the Mahratta Government Al
pcona had been overthrown, the pelsh"a 'or
native absolute sovereign surrendered ana
his country was conquered. LORD Eiphih-
stone. the commissioner commanding the
occupied territory, seized the treasure and
account books in the custody OF the late
treasurer Of the native government hoS-
t;I;ties had ceased and the civil and criminal
courts of the East India Company were open
The treasurer's executors recovered jug
ment for what the Municipal Court OF bonn
bay held was the private property or pFNa'e
| +raosure of the native ruler, as weil as the
treasurer's own property, which had peeh
herded with the private treasure Inc
priyv Council held that no civil court nAu
jurisdiction, that recourse could only DC hau
70 the government of India for redress
(EInbinstone V. Bedreechund, l Knapp, r ~
| S16, 36o-1.)
Tho Milligan case is not in point. Inc oniy
question actually there decided was ,he iesai'
! but not constitutional, question tha' .ne
| ..otrte relied upon as basis for the mill
t.,y courts did not in fact give authority 10
establish them in the places "he''
we're set up :; ~.
c.;ohor chief of the Prussian spies IN the
vars Of 1866 and 1870, says IN MS h'en'',l.
thot in the presence Of Won biSmateS a.
."IJ ~ officer Of the Prussan General o'ah
thot his (invisible) army OF 3o,ooo rlu''
.i.n sn;ss was as much Prussian army as
tho visible and much larger hsh''"e
army Of Won Moltke, and that Won oiSi"a,'N =
/ tocitIv admitted it, Lanoir, German 'ps
system in France, 7o-72)
FeudaIism Must Be Slain
Tho nil;taristic feudalism which has wan
tonly attacked US in the course
STRUGGLE for world power or dowhla" Ju',i-
fes its attempt to conquer the "oiiu ~
.or+ir, that all free governments are diS'
inteprating; that all free peoples are ei'"e'
corrunt. decadent or degenerate; that urea
tiss international law and constitutions arc
all alike nothing but scraps Of paper; tna'
! foudaIism with its war lords, krupps, spies
and cannon fodder is so superior TO all Tree
governments and all free people 'na' IL 10
above all laws, divine, international OF
human; also it asserts that no free govern
ment or free people nave any rights which
feudslism is bound to respect.
| Any who assert that the Federal Constl-
tuition inures to the benefit OF spies, secret
agents of or sympathizers with the puohc
enemy must claim that the trainers intended
! the Constitution to aid feudalism to conquer
! freedom Any who assert that the spies OF
and sympathzers with a public enemy who
desires TO conquer and plunder US, as Cortez
did to Mexico and Pizarro did to Peru, are
entitled to the protection of the Constitu-
ton must believe that the Constitution in
tended to limit and restrict the war power
so as to deprive the nation OF all means OF
| defence.
New York, July %, 1917.