Year: 1863




Act to indemnify the President and other per-
sons for suspending the. privilege of the writ of
habeas corpus, and acts done in pursuance
thereof"


Mr.. VOORHEES, said:


Mr.. Speaker, the American people will
learn with amazement that the bill now un-
der consideration has once passed this House
without debate. Itreturns here now with amend
ments made bv the Senate and the Chairman of
the Committee of Ways and Means, Mr.. Ste
vens, with an obedient majority at his command,
sought on Thursday last to again secure the ae-
ton of this body upon the momeEtous and vital
principles which it involves without permitting
single word of discussion. And L hold my posi-
ton on this floor to-day, not because the pro-
scriptive majority on the opposite side of this
Chamber concede the freedom of debate but be-
cause a manly, determined minority enforced it
by resort to those rules of parliamentary law
which were made for their protection. Let this
fact be understood. Let it 20 into history as
part of the condemnation which there awaits the
party now in power, that the voice of the people,
speaking through their Representatives, has been
stihed in this Hall during the present session. on
questions which Overturn and revOlutionize the
principles of republican government. The un-
holy spirit of despotism breads the doctrines of





ness The spirit of liberty lives In an atmos-
phere al with the contests between truth and
error and invites the humblest citizen of the Gov
ernment to exercise his judgment freely and with
out restraint upon all questions of public in
terest


Mr.. Stevens: When this bill was called up
felt no disposition to discuss it; and said that
unless some gentleman wanted TO discuss it /.
would ask for the vote. / then said that, as
IL - n
move to postpone it.


Mr.. Voorhees,: l give the gentleman the ben
eft of his statement. l had information, how
ever, from those who visited him at his seasxof
very different character; and the proceedings on.
this floor by which debate was obtained, gave
convincing proof that my information
rect.


Sir, the bill now before the House has no par
allel in the history of this any other free peO-
pie. 1t is entitled can act to indemnify the
President and other persons for suspending the
privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, and acts
done in pursuance thereof" But it embraces
even more than its startling title would indicate.
1t gives to the Executive and all his subordinates
not merely security for crimes committed against
the citizen in times past but eonfers license to
continue in the future the same unlimited exer-
else of arbitrary power which has brought dis
grace and danger to the country. propose, to
the best of my ability this day, to show that
neither indemnity for the past nor impunity for
the future can be bestowed on those who have
violated, and who propose further to violate, the
great and fundamental principles of constitu-
tional liberty.


Sir the proper division and lawful exercise of
the powers of Government constitute question
of supreme and paramount importance. 1t stands
preeminent over all others. No people in the
history of the world ever long maintained ses-:-
rity from the foot Of the oppressor who lost sight
of this fundamental truth. The sentinel who
stands guard over the citadel of popular liberty
can only protect and defend his sacred trust bv
keeping his vigilant eve steadily fixed on the
movements of power. Every attempt TO divert
his attention by proclaiming other and moro i'm
pOrtant objects or by lulling him to sleep at his
post, comes from enemy to free government.
Every attempt to convince the public mind that
there NAV be higher duties for the citizen TO per-
form than TO preserve inviolate the inalienable
rights of person, property, and the pursuit of
happiness, is an assault upon the existence of
this Republic and a sacrilege against God.


To measure out the ,metes and bounds of
power, and establish them Unconstitutional land
marks sufficiently plain and strong to resist the
encrOachments of executive authority, has been
the lofty purpose of every friend of freedom who
has left his name TO illuminate the annals of
human conduct. Such names belong to the peo-
pie, and are household deities around the humble
hearthstones of those who eat their bread in the
sweat of their faces and find safety alone in the
well defined limits of the laws under which they
live. The Surveyor with his chain can run the
lines and plant the corner stones along the bOr-
ders of kingdoms, empires, States and Terrific
ries; but statesmen and philosophers have taxed
all the hours since the dawn of civilization with
the efforts of ncessant industry in circumscribing
and restraining the lawless and impatient spirit
of power. Vast armies have been marshaled
and great battles fought the earth has been turned
from its primeval peace and purity into one
mighty sepulcher, and the sky has been rent with
the voice of mourning in order to appease the
lust of conquest and to extend the physical bOun-
diaries of a country TO a mountain, river, or an
invisible, air-drawn line, which is disputed by
armed force; but one drop of blood from the
veins of John Hampden or Joseph Warren; one
handful of dust from the graves of Saratoga or
Camden; one expiring sigh from the lips of Bo-
zaris or Winkelreid; one relic from the plains of
old Platea or Marathon is more valuable and
more glorious in the cause of human progress,
and more acceptable in the presence of infinite
justice and eternal right than all the wars of in
vasion and subjugation with which.the world has
resounded from Issus TO Austerlitz. bow be-
fore the shrine which liberty has erected 10 the
names OF Washington and Of AlgernOn Sidney
of the elder Brutus and of Thomas jefferson
invoke their memories and the guidance of their
spirits while i denounce measure which surren-
ders back to the hands of power all those grand
achievements in the cause of human freedom
which have rendered their names immortal.


Sir, we live in the midst Of storm and revolu-
ton. A memorable epoch in history is trans
piring in our view. The air is dark With tire ele-
ments of strife and of change. The commissions
which have signalized the past are being repro
duced in the present. The mnrderous roar Of
cannon, the sanguinary crash of war, and the
pallid, appealing faces of the dead mark our
time and our country as they have marked all
climes and ages heretofore. History is being
rewritten; and what man has done man il doing
again. / see nothing new in the calamties which
now assal the destiny to which weaspire We
are treading over again the footsteps of genera
tions which have passed away. Mutation and
change is the order of the world. Stability and
permanence in the works Of human hands is the
Utcpian dream of abstract speculation. The
different forms which Governments have assumed
to redeem society from chaos constitute no ex-
ception to this remark. On the contrary, all
history stands as an awful witness to the fact that
no Government has ever yet been's established
which has been exempt from the fierce blasts of
human passion and human ambition.


But instability and tempestuous struggles do
not necessarily roll backward, or even check the
wheels of progress. Great principles are inn
mortal They cannot die. The forms in which
they are encased may perish and decay TO dust;
but like the liberated soul truth puts on new
glories in every phase Of her existence. Our
course Is onward, like the mighty river. to the
ocean Of destiny. / believe in the steady ad-
vancement and ultimate civilization of the world
by the benignant power Of higher and purer
gospel than that of hate OF offorce. The trinity