Year: 1863

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but we viii be dropped,in gloom and despair by
the wayside.


Sir. times like the present are always full of
danger to the rights of the. people, In an hour
like this if we expect to retain the institutions of
liberty, an increased degree of vigilance is re-
quired. For when the elements of political or
ganizatiOn are in commOtiOn, and disorder per-
vades the whole face of affairs, bad men in au-
thority unbridle the spirit of tyranny in their
breasts and leap over the walls Of constitutional
restraint Such periods in history have been the
rich hs%ests of despotism When the thunder
rolls along the sky and midnight gloom increases
the tetors of the storm, the savage beasts of
the desert 90 forth and raven. for their prey.
The rulers of nations do the same. Benja-
min was a raveping wolf, and stands as the en-
blem of unlawfulsand sanguinary power Sedi-
tions Rnd civil wars are the unhappy occasions
for tie exercise of this baleful propensity which
high official station so generally begets in the
heart of man. And, Mr.. Speaker, the mournfpl
evidences are thick and fearful on every hand,
whichever way we turn, that the public confu-
sion which now reigns in our own once peaceful
land has brought with it to us this pernicious
evil in its most frightful and aggravated forms.
Disaster has followed disaster in terrible and
startling rapidity to a people who two short
wears ago had never tasted the cup ofhumiliation
or sorrow Our territorial, grandeur has been
torn and disputed by the sword, homes have been
desOlated and filled with the bitterness of DEATH
debt and taxation tower up like a gloomy spec
ter in our midst and cast an appalling shadow
over the hopes of the present and of future gen.
erations of labor for more than hundred years
to come; but such scenes have not sOftened the
heart of Executive authority, tempered the inSa-
table lust of personal domination, or stayed the
hand of official trespass and oppression any
Il. D.,
public than they have in the administration of
Governments of former ages. The usurper seizes
the moment when the Constitution of his coun-
try is weakened by some deadly peril to assist in
breaking it down. He watches the opportunity
when the laws are unsettled to trample them un-
der his feet and substitute his own imperious and
unhaHowed will in the place of their welldefined
and peaceful operations.


Mr. Speaker, on the oath day of last Septem-
Der the President of the United States, in few
brief lines published in the newspapers and STYLED
a proclamation, declared that the people of this
country were under martial law, and that all
civil rights and remedies touching their personal
libesties were suspended. The blow was sud-
den, quick, and radical 1t was piece of the in
evitable logic of Executive encroachment. Ty-
ranny has its rules of action as well other sys-
tens of wrong. Chicanery, fraud, and subtle.
obscure false-dealing characterize its attempts
when it does not feel secure in more daring eff
forts. But this act of the President and his Cab
met is the unblushing assumption of power which
has ceased to respect or fear the Constitution or
laws which the people have made, and which
these servants of the people have sworn TO sup
port. 1t throws aside all disguise, tears off its
vail, and displays the horrible features of des-
pOtism to American citizens. Will any member
of this House dispute the correctness of the
terms which l employ! Let us divest ourselves
of all passion and resentment Let us take a
calm view of facts and principles as history will
do, and, by the steady light of truth and reason,
let us examine and discover, if we can, what the
Administration now in power has done in be-
half of the Constitution of the fathers and in
behalf of the cause for which this Republic was
founded


The object for which our ancestors revolted
from the British empire, and enacted that sub
lime tragedy of history, the American Revolution,
was to secure to the citizen more liberty and per-
sonal security than he possessed under the juris-
dictiOn of the British crown. Their complaints
were not against the Constitution of England,
but against a weak king and wicked ministry,
who violated it in order to Oppress the subject.
They studied the dangerous nature Of lawless
executive during seven years of grief. of bitter
ness, and of blood When day dawned on their
independence, the great secret of free government
was no longer a secret to them. They had learned
it, and learned it forever in the high and holy in
spiration of battles fought for the inherent right
to govern themselves Their wisdom then sue
ceeded their swords, and the American Constitu-
ton became the offspring of the American Revo-
ton, and inherited all its ideas. In immediate
view of the unparalleled struggle which had Just
closed, and of the causes which produced it, the
Constitution of the United States came forth
from the hands of its trainers. the great mission
ary of freedom to the-ctizens of this chosen land
first, and afterwards to the whole earth. This is
the spirit with which it was born, and such the
purpose for which it was set apart. 1t is an old
maxim of law that every instrument shall be con-
strued and Interpreted accordineto the intention
of those who made it. This maxim was followed
until thesey modern days have engendered not
merely a spirit of false construction, but of open
and audacious usurpation, such as never haunted
the disordered brain of George Ill, even in his
hours of madness. i am not about here to enter
into an elaborate discussion of the various pri-
mary functions Of the Constitution 1t is the
text book of the peoples happiness and security,
and they know it by heart but in order that the
dangers which now assai it here in the house of
its pretended friends, may be more risinly seen,
may be allowed to dwell a moment on some of
its simplest but most important features.


BY the letter and by the spirit of the Constitu-
ton. this is peculiarly and eTnphaiicallv popu-
lar Government. The people make every part
Of it, uphold the entire fabric, and control its
whole economy. 1t is true that the Constitution
makes three departments in which the powers of
the Government are placed, but the voice of the
people is supreme over them all. The Executive
can make no law, annul no law, change no law
He is not responsible for the laws. as he finds
them. They are made by the people in their
legislative capacity and he is simply their serv-
ant to execute their will thus expressed. The
department of the judiciary was created to inter-
pret and pronounce the meaning of law; and if
the law as thus declared by the courts is not in
accordance with the popular wishes, it is TO be
corrected by new legislation. But one depart
ment cannot invade or coerce the other, when
each confines itself to its constitutional bounda-
ries. These rules are very old and very familiar;
but they assume a new and wonderful signifi-
canoe in the light of present events They are
like the face of an old frieni beheld Unexpectedly
under terrible and startling circumstances. do
not allude to them at this time because / suppose
they are new to the humblest mind in the land
] allude to them, however sir, for the purpose of
asserting, as ! do here now in my place as a
Representative Of the people, that the present
Executive of this Government has usurped the
powers of the judicial and the legislative depart
ments of the Constitution to an extent which is
totally subversive of republican institutions, and
not to be borne by free. people. I make the
charge and will submit the proof to my candid
countrymen


Ii will not be denied on this floor or elsewhere
that the suspension OF the writ OF habeas corpus
by proclamation, to which have alluded. closed
thr civil Courts of this country from ocean to
the other against the trial Of any one arrested by
the order Of the President or his subordinates. 1t
gave to the vaults of the prison. bDt not TO
the bar OF Justice. II IS part.of the nature OF