Year: 1863

]
law, but his clemency, through the iron CRATES of
prisons, with less legal redress for their wrongs
than the duskv slaves of the Carolinas. The writ
OF habeas corpus was originated for the sole pur-
pose of controlling one man and his subordinates;
and vet it is claimed, in this. enlightened age,
that that very man can control It. 1t has been
the master of every Executive since il was known
among men, but in these modern DAYS the major
ity of the American Congress assert that the
President of the United States has become its
master You might as well lock the convict in
his cell and give him the key, and expect 10 find
him there when you return, as 10 expect the ex
ecutive ruler of nation to abide within the linn
its of constitutional restraint when the people
have surrendered to him the only engine of power
which they hold over the question. You might
as well expect an enemy who had laid siege TO
city TO refrain from entrance when the gates were
thrown open and the sword delivered up as to
expect official station TO respect at all times pop
ular rights when all their safeguards are aban-
doned to their ancient enemy. Sir, the very pur-
pose, the single object for which the writ of ha-
beas corpus has survived the lapse of centuries
and rocked the world with revolutions would be
utterly defeat I if the President of the United
States can sus end its operations and paralyze it
by his touch. 1t might as well never have adorned
the pages OF jurisprudence, 1t becomes q useless,
an idle thing by such construction. 1t is only





the citizen of his liberty contrary to law; and ac-
cording to the construction of the supporters of
this Administration, that attempt need never
fail. for it Is within the power of the President TO
remove every obstacle which stands in his way
by the suspension of this writ.


Let this construction be maintained, and the
cause of liberty recedes back into the twilight
dawn from which it emerged nearly a thousand
years ago. Then there was no law for the king
except his arbitrary will; and there will be no
other law here now for the President. Every
effort made in behalf of free government will have
been made in vain The Barons will have assem-
bled in vain. John Hampden, on the plains of
Chalgrave, will have died in vain. Our own mar
tyred host. robed in glory, who fell for freedom
on the battle fields of the Revolution, will have
tasted the bitterness of death in vain The lights
which have been hung up over our heads by the
wisdom and the sufferings of the past will all be
stricken down. Magma Charta will fall from its
exalted sphere like falling star and our own
Constitution, like the eagle towering in his pride
of place, will be by housing owl hawked at and
killed. The gloom of absolutism will once more
fill the sky, and it will only be left to American
citizens to creep around in its shadows as secret
and stealthy mourners at the tomb of liberty.
One mans supremacy, the everlasting foe to free
institutions, will be complete. In tine place of
written constitutions and laws we will enjoy the
government of one mind and one will embittered
and swayed by the passions and preiudices which
make their home in every frail mortal breast No,
sir; this darling writ of the people, which has
caused the venerable statesman to abound in
warm and swelling periods of eu!ogium, and the
cool lips of the Judge to indulge in unwonted
judicial eloquence; this guardian Of every home;
this saint in every freeman's calendar; this friend
of every fireside; this kew to every dungeon; this
l nf xba oh
lost and to visit those that are sick and in prison,
was not born to be suspended and crucifed at
the command of some ruling Cesar. The people
who made it, and who own it by the title of
hundred battles fought for its principles, can
alone through their representatives, say when
thev are willing TO waive for season its protec-
ton and enact its temporary suspension. Not
only is this the law, as decided by every Court
in the history of English and American jurispru-
dence, but it is also the law as decided by every
maxim of reason. by every principle of political
philosophy


If err, Mr.. Speaker, in asserting that the
Parliament alone in England, and the Congress
alone in the United States, can Judge of the ne
cessity and exercise the power of suspending the
writ of habcaS corpus, err in most noble COM
pany. / am but but following at an humble dis
tance in the footsteps of those whose illustrious
names have long since become proverbs of wis
dom and Justice. If am lost and going astray
in the doctrines have enunciated to-day | am
consoled with the reflection that j am wandering
with Blackstone, with Hale, with Mansfield, with
Coke that | share nv delusion with Kent, with
Story, with John Marshall. If am insensible
at this time TO the claims of modern political law
yers, it is because nv mind is absorbed in the
contemplation of the teachings of those whose
names are of the immortal few not born to die.
If turn deaf car on this occasion 10 the arro-
giant pretensonS of provost marshals and police
officials, the representatives of executive usurpa-
tions, it is because prefer to fix INV attention
upon lofty and yirtuouS class, the latchets of
whose shoes thev are no worthy to unloose. If
/ am to be denounced 20 NJ utterances here in
behalf of liberty and iustI, the eager servility
of the hour the storm will % nd its fury in vain
on nv head sustained and protected as am bv
the unanimous voice of those whom mankind has
been taught to revere benefactors Of the human
race NY eve shall not be withdrawn from the
Constitution as the guardian of liberty. / will
not turn away from the written law. iudicially
expounded, for any consideration of earthly
importance. II is 10 me the star that hovered
over the cradle of liberty in its infancy the spirit
which upheld and strengthened 1t when tempted
in the wilderness, and the power which will roll
away the stone from it, tomb If il should ever
again be BETRAYED and nut to death.


l belong, sir, to profession which is glorious
in history. rejoice that have spent some of
the DAYS of my manhood in the study of a science
in the adornment of which ErSkine and Curran,
Webster and Grimkc spent their lives. The le-
gal profession has had much TO bear in the hos
tile criticism provoked by on unworthy class who
inhabit the vestibule of her temple and allure to
their meshes the unwary pilgrims who seek her
shrine for substantial relief The artful trickery
Of ienoble minds has been assigned as an attri-
butte of the profession of the law, and its lower
walks; that pestiIential brood which swarms
around the base of the pedestal of honorable
fame has to the casual observer, sanctioned such
view. But this is all unjust. There is an at
mosphere near the sun in which the great jurists
of twenty generations dwell. They have been
the forcrunners of legal liberty They have never
hung upon the skirts of governmental progress.
Other professions have formed technical barri-
cades against the advance of popular freedom,
and questioned the divinity of the people; but
those who have drunk deep from the fountains of
that perfection of reason, English and Ameri-
can law, recognize the voice of the people as the
voice of God. 1t is matter of record that the
legal profession ms been the patient the toiling
and the inspired handmaiden of liberty. / might
dwell upon its services and recall the circum-
stances, in historical order, whio;. will forever
commend its fame to the lovers Of free institu-
tons. if the fleeting hour assigned 70 me would
allow But these things will all suggest them
selves to the student of the law and the student
of history. pause, however. to inquire whether
nv brethren OF the law have forgotten the ex-
amples of the past; whether the exalted chivalry
of the profession is deadl Do vou stand by
power with its robes of purple, or do you stand
by the oppressed in destitution? Is your motto
the scepter of exaggerated and bloated authority.
or is il the farmer at his plow-hsndle, in grand
though humble demand for his right as a free
man under the Constitutioni The mission of