RATES OF ADVERTISING.
Four linen or less constitute half a square. Ten dines
or more than four, constitute a square.
Half sq., one day..... sto 30 i on. sq., one day . ..« $0 60
t 6 one w e* . ... 1 uoe week.... 200
" one month.. 800 " one mouth.. Buo
" three months 500 " three menthol° 00
it - s i x , n ths.. 800 " six months.; 15 00
" one year ..... 12 00 " one year.... 20 00
mr- plain ea s notices inserted in the LOCAL COLIIIIN,
or before marriages and deaths, ran MINTS Pia LINZ for
each insertion. To merchants and others advertising
by the ar, nbaral terms will be offered.
117 Th e number of insertions must be designated on
the advertisement.
fEr Marr iages and Deaths will be inserted at the same
rates as reguar advertisements.
Itlistellantoug.
PENSIONS, BOUNTIES, BACK PAY,
Wu Claim and Claims far Indemnity.
STEWART, STEVENS, CLARK & CO.,
Attorneys and Counsellors-at-Law, and Solicitors
for all kinds of Military Claims,
450 PENNbYLVANIA. AVENUE,
WASHINGTON, D. C. ..
This firm, having a thorough knowledge of the Pen
sion Business, and being familiar with the practice in
all the Departments of Government, believe that they
can afford greater facilities to Pension, Bewity, and
other Olaimants,for the prompt and successful accom
plishment of business entrusted to them, than any other
firm in Washington. They desire to secure such an
amount of this business as will enable them to execute
the badness for each alaimant very cheaply, end on the
beads of their pay contingent upon their success is each
case. For this purpose they will secure the services of
Law Firms in each prominent locality throughout the
States - where each - business may be had, furnish such
with all the necessary blank forms of application and
evidence requisite printed pamphlet instructions, and
circulars ' for distribution in their vicinity, with asso
ciates names inserted, and upon the due execution of
the papers and transmission of the same to them by
their local associates, they will promptly perform the
business here.
v. Their charges will be ten donarifer Offierrr and
live
dollars for privates, for each Pension or Bounty and
Pay obtained, and ten per cent. on amount of
Claims for Military Supplies or Claims for Indemnity.
Kr Soldiers enlisted since the let of March, 1861., in
any kind of service, Military' or Naval, who are disabled
by disease or wounds, are entitled to Pensions. All
soldiers who servo for two years, or during the war,
should it sooner close. will be entitled to $lOO Bounty.
Widows of soldiers who die or are killed, are entitled to
Pensions, and the $lOO Bounty. If there be no widow,
then the minor children. And if no minor children,
then the father, mother, sisters or brothers are mitt
-Aid as above to the $lOO Bounty and Back Pay.
JOSEPH B. STEWART,
NESTOR L. STEVENS,
EDW &RD CLARK,
OSCAR A. STEVENS,
WILLIS E. GAYLORD.
WASEtEGTOE, D. C.,1882.
Ur- Apply at our office or to our Associate at
nnsisauss, PA.-40Eiti A. BIGLIIR, Attorney and
gouutiellor.
Pirrsinnie, EA.—ARUM= /a RIDDELL, Attor.
bays-at-Law.
Porravflaas, PA.—WM. R. SMITH, Attorney and
Counsellor.
PHILADELPHIA', PA.—J. G. XINNICHELD, 46 Alwood
street, WM. M. SMITH, Attorney . and Counsellor.
WAsarsolos, PA.—BOYD ORIIMRINOS, Attorney
and Counsellor.
0211-dly -
JACKSON & CO.O
SHOE STORE,
tieg MARXIST lITARST,
HARRISBURG, _PA.,
Where they fiend to devote their entire time to the
manufacture of
BOOTS AND SHOES
an kinds and varieties, in the neatest and most bah
enable styles, and at satisfactory prices.
Their stock will consist, in part, of Gentlemen's Rai
Collared Patent Leather Boots and Shoes, latest styles;
Ladies' and Misses' Gaiters; and otherAhoes is great
variety; and in fact everything connected with the
Shoe business- •
CUSTOMER WORKwEI partlenlurly attended to,
and in all Mel will satisfaction be warranted. Last.
Mud up by one of the beet makers in the country.
T.he long practical experience of the undersigned, and
their thorough knowioaem-4, ',in, th e y
tramt, be emincient guarantee to the public lame
Alli ho them justice, and furnish them an article the
WIC recommend itself for utility, cheapness and dura.
bility. rjark9] JACKSON dr. 00.
MURINGER'S PATENT BEEF TEA ,
a solid, concentrated extract of
BEEF .AND VEGETABLES,
Convertible immediately into a nourishing and deli
cious soup. Highly approved by a number of cminght
physicians.
This admirable article condensed into a compact form,
all the substantial and nutritive properties of a large
bulk of meat and vegetables. The readiness with which
it dissolves into a rich and palatable Soup, which would
'require hours of preparation according to the usual
method, is an advantage in many situations of life, too
obvious to need urging. Its highly nourishing qualities
combined with its delicacy, renders it invaluable for the
sick; while for those in health, it is a perfectsubstite
for fresh meat and vegetables. It will keep good in any
slim ate.
It is peculiarly well adapted FOR TRAVELERS, by
land or sea, who can thus avoidthose accidentaldeprwa
Nona of a comfortable meal, to which they are so liable.
!OR INVALIDS, whine capricious appetite can thus
be satisfied in a moment.
FOR BPOBTSIERN and EXCURSIONISTS. to whom,
both its compactness and easy preparation will recom
mend it. For sale by
sepTSI-tf
6HARTER OAK
FAMILY FLOUR!
VNEXCELLED BY ANY IN THE ?I:STATES
AND SURZNIOR TO ANT ,
1V - 40 . 1e" .13 XV 7/a 113
OFFERED IN PENNSYLVANIA!
IT 13 MADE OP
CHOICE MISSOURI WRITE WHEAT.
.117" Delivered any place in the city free of charge
Terms cash on deanery.
kV) WM. DOCK, 3a., & CO.
QOLDIER'S CAMP COMPANION.-
kJ A very convenient Writing Desk; also, Portfolios,
Memorandum Books, Portmonnalea, ,at
8011EFFE11 2 8 BOOKSTOBII
CnEESE!!-100 Boxes Prime Cheese
on consignment) for sale at leathern market rate.
jgo WM. DOCK, Ja., & CO
NOTIONS.—Quite a variety of useful
and entertainingarticles—cheap — at
SCHEMER'S BOOIESTORN.
WANTED.—A GOOD 0001 i at the
BOMAIARDNEB nom. Apply immediat
ET WINE I ! I—We are closing out
1C 1 1"2X strvutioz LOT at iess than cost!
j M.DOCS. In CO.
99 W
RIME POTATOES !-A LARGE LOT
P
Net received and tor aide low.
octid-dtf Wm_ DOOR, Js„ & GO.
CE MEAT' Very superior, just
received and for sale by WM. DOCK, jr.. & CO.
ei_ODENSBD MILK '—Just received
ILI Aid for gale by WIC DOWC. jr.„ & CO.
TTERMETICALLY SEALED .
1.1 Peaches, Tomatoes, Lobster, Salmon, Oysters,
Spiced. Oysters, for lode by WM. DOCK, jr., & CO.
SMOKED HALIBUT I—A very ohoice
w ucle, just received and for sale by
WM. DOCK, jr., & CO.
PRENCH MUSTARD, ENGLISH and
Domea ti o rieirlee, (by the dozen or hundred,) Su
perior Solid 014 Ketchup, Sauces and condiments of
every description, for sale by
my 26 WM. DOCK, Js., & Co
TARE TROUT ! !—A small invoice of
LAKE TEOUT, (lifseinaw,) trimmed, and the
4tudity «A NO_ 1, 17 just received and for sale very low
ti 7 Wird. DOCK, Ja., & CO
WAR I WAR t —BRADY, No. 62
Market street, below Third, has received slarge
assortment of SWORDS, games and BALTS, which h
*ill On very low, auo-otr
eELF SEALING- FRUIT JARS !-
Best and Cheapest M the markets! Can and
examine them.
1?OR RENT—Two desirable OFFICE
ROOMS, second story front of wrath , . Bonding
corner of Market *mare and Market street. Applyal
kis &dee sopa/Me
ILACKEREL III
IIEIMBL, Non. I, 2 and 3, in all sized packages
new, and.•aek/ackags -aranestsd. Just reeeleed, 118111
or wile low 11 WX. DOGE , Ja.. & 00-
WM. DOCK. 7a., do Co
wm. moos, 0, & 00
-, - ..------'-- •.',-". t 1.7=- •' - --[=
_.- ,-,,, , •-. _: - . ---, •
atrioit ._
..,_
. '-^"ir-• --
----:, :• t .
..
.:' ' I 1 I I I I
ill , =
~, I Hi. ,11- 1
... • . s
. . •
~, . i
VOL. 6 -NO. 183.
Business into.
DR. C. WEICHEL,
SURGEON AND OCULIST,
RESIDENCE THIRD NEAR NORTH UNJUST.
lie is now fully prepared to attend promptly to the
duties of profession in all its branches.
A Long are Tsar atoosservi. sessnass. Brimstones
juatiies him in promising fin and ample satisfaction to
all who may favor him with s call, be the dimeise Ohronle
or um ether nature. utle-d&wl7
WM. H. MILLER, •
ATTORNEY AT LAW. '
orrioa IN
SHOEMAKER'S BUILDINGF 4
SECOND sTitSET,
BETWEEN. WALNUT AND EMMET RIME,
no2lll Nearly opposite the Buehler House. tra,war
T HOS. C. MeaDOWELL,
ATTORNEY AT j..AW,
MILITARY CLAIM AND PATENT AGENT.
Office in Burke's Row, Thintstreet, (Up Stairs.)
Having formed a connection with parties in Wash
ington City, who are reliable business men, any buil
nem connected with any of the Departments will meet
with immediate and careful attention. mike
CHARLES F. VOLLMER
UPHOLSTERER,
Chestnut street, four doors above Second,
(Oproelve 1746111$GTOV Hoes 110171111,)
Is Prepared to furnish to order; in the very best style of
workmanship, Spring and Hair Mattresses, Window Cur
tains, Lounges, and all other articles of Furniture in his
line, on short notice end moderate terms. Having ex
perience in the business, he feels warranted in asking a
share of public patronage, confident of his ability to give
satisfaction. janl7-dtf
SILAS WARD.
NO. 11, NORTH THIRD ST., HARRISBURG.
STEIN.WAY'S PIANOS,
SIRLODRONS, VIOLINS, GUITARS,
Banjos, Flutes, Fifes, Drums, Accordease,
819111108, 8111125 AND ZOOK MUSIC, &0., &C.,
PHOTOGRAPH FRAMES. ALBUMS,
Large Pier and Mantle Mirrors, Square and Oval Frame
of every description made to order. Reguilding done.
- Agency for Howe , s Sewing Machines.
1.17 Sheet Mneie sent by Mail_ octl-1
JOHN W. GLOVER,
MERCHANT TAILOR!
Has just received from New York, an assort
ment of •
SEASONABLN GOODS,
whloh he offers to his customers and the public so
nov22) MODERATE PRICES. dtli
SMITH & EWING,
ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW,
THIRD STREET, Harrisburg,
Practice in the several Courts of Dauphin county. Col
lections made promptly. A. C. SMITH,
feb26 J. B. EWING. .
COOK, Mexchant Tailor,
tJ # - 21 oREsNur ST.; between Second and Front,
Has Just returned from the city with an assortment of
CLOTHS, CA SS IMF' to
WaiNgi r raT sold at moderate pricas and ziade
• up
Clothing and Gentlemen's Furnishing Goods.
nov2l-17d
DENTISTRY..
B. M. GRUA, D. B. S.,
N 0 . 119 MARKET STREET,
EBY & KUNKEL'S BUILDING, UP STAIRS.
janB-tf
Alt-ELIO-lOUS BOOK STORE,
ACT AND SUNDAY SCHOOL DATOSITORY,
E. S. GERMAN.
wr SOUTH IiBOOND FITDDET, ABOVII OILBEINIIT,
1113118151310, PA.
Depot fortkosale of Btereoaaopea,StereosaopieViawa,
Hada and Musical Inatramenta. Mao, subscriptions
taken for religious publications. notiO-dy
JOHN G. W. MARTIN,
FASHIONABLE
.oARE , WRITER,
11111 MUM, HARRIBBI3IIO, PA.
/11lmanner of VISITING, WEDDING' AND .0 PSI
NESS CARDS executed in the moat artistic styles and
most reasonable terms. deci.4-dtf
FRANKLIN HOUSE,
BALTIMORN, MD.
This pleasant and comma:lions Hotel has been tho
roughly re-fitted and re-furnished. It is pleasantly
situated on North-West corner of Howard and Franklin
streets, a few doors west of the Northern Central Rail
way Depot. livery attention paid to the comfort of his
guests. G. LBIBBNItIN4, Proprietor,
jell-tf (Late of Boling Grove. Pa.)
THEO. F. BOHEFFER
BOOK, CARD AND JOB PRINTER,
NO, 18 MARIEOT STRII7.I, HARRISBURG.
117 - Particular attention paid to printing, ruling and
binding of Railroad Blanks, Manifeata, Insurance Poli
cies Checks, Bill-Heads, de.o.
Wedding, Visiting and Bushman Cards printed at very
low prices and in the best style. jar=
DYOTTVILLE GLASS WORKS,
PHILADELPHIA ,
MANTIVAIITIIII
CARBOYS, DEMIJOHNS,
WINK, BORT" MINERAL WATER, PIOHLD AND
PRESERVE BOTTLES
O 'ovate DESCRIPTION.
H. B. & 3. W BBNNIRB,
oal9-dli 'Z7 South Front eteret`PhiladelPhis.
MUSIC STORE!
N 0.98 MARKET STRIFE, SARUM:MO, PA.
WONT MUSIC, PIANOS,
MELODEONS, GUITARS,
VIOLINS, BANJO STRINGS,
Ot every desaription.
DRAMS, PIPES, FLUTES, ACCORDIONS, etc. st
the lowest CITY PRICES, st
W. MOORS'S MUSIC STORE,
• No. 88 hiAsitlri BOUM.
A. BOOK FOR THE TIMES 1
American Annual Cyckpedia and Register of
Important Events for the Year 1861. In 1 vol
8 vo. over 750 pages. Cloth 03, Leather $3.60.
Published by D. Appleton t Co., New York.
The design of this work is to furnish a record of all
the important knowledge of the year. The events of
the war, owing to their prominence, will of course, oc
cupy a conspicuous part, but all other branches—gob
ence, Art, Literature, the Mechanic Arts, &c. will re
ceive due attention. The work will be published ex
clusively by subscription, and ready for delivery in Tune
next.
Also, new complete
Itentonls Debater 4f Cesers 32 l lo vobrwisse and PAO
per volsotte.
Beaton's Thirty Years in U. S. Senate, 2roolumes, $2.50
and $3 per IDOL
Cyclopedia of American Etognenct, containing the
speeches of the most eminent Orators of America, 14
steel portraits, 2 ends. $2. 50 each.
Parton's Life and Times of Andrew Assam, a vehrWll4,
$2.60 each.
Address J. P. STRABBACIGH, Harrisburg, Pa.
General Agent tor D. APPLETON & 00.
Per Oirculare deocripiave et Annual Cyclopedia.
saril&d&wtr.
gWEET CIDER !—A very superior lot
Just received and for sale by WIII• DOON.Jr., &00.
POTATOES.-800 BURR 14 1,8 OF A
diapirder quality just rewind and for 1110 low, by
WIC DUCK, 11., & 90.
IVIED PEACHES-PARED AND
lINPAERD—inat received by
WM. 10011. & 00.
HARRISBURG, PA., SATURDAY, APRIL 4.1863.
CIF :11 atriot * itint
SATURDAY MORNING, APRIL 4 1863
INDEMNIFICATION BILL
,SPEECH
01'
HON. D. W. VOORHEES,
OF INDIANAt
IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES,
February 18, 1863.
DONTINIJED.I
Mr. Speaker, we cannot over-estimate the
value of the victory obtained by the popular
will, over the.doctrine of one-man power when
the Great Charter was extorted from England's
perfidious king. Every enlightened lover of Ka
man freedom has borne testimony to the im
portance of t his grand achievement. The great
Earl of Chatham, in pleading the cause of con
stitutional liberty in 1770, paid tribute to it as
follows:
si It is to your ancestors, my Lords, it is to
the English barons that we are indebted for
the laws and constitutions we possess. Their
virtues were rude and uncultivated, but they
were great and sincere. Their understand
ings were as little polished as their manners ;
but they had hearts to distinguish right from
wrong; they had heads to distinguish truth
from falsehood ; they understood the rights of
humanity, and they had spirit to maintain,
them.
„ My Lords, I think history has not done
justice to their conduct: when they obtained
from their sovereign that great acknowledg
ment of natural rights contained in Magna
Charta, they did not confine it to themselves
alone, but delivered it as a common blessing
to the whole people.”
Sir James Mackintosh dwells upon it in
glowing periods. Says that brilliant historian
and statesman :
di Whoever, in any future age or unborn na
tion, may admire the felicity of the expedient
which converted the power of taxation into the
Shield of liberty, by which diecretienary and
secret imprisonment was rendered impractica
ble, and portions of the people were trained
to exercise a larger share of judicial power than
ever was allotted to them in any other civilized
state, in such a manner as to secure, instead of
endangering publie tranquility ; whoever ex
ults at the spectacle of enlightened and inde
pendent assemblies, which, under the eye of a
well-informed nation, discuss and determine
the laws and policy likely to make communities
great and happy ; whoever is capable of com
prehending all the effects of such institutions,
with all their possible improvements upon the
mind and genius of a people, is sacredly bdund
to speak with reverential gratitude of the au•
thors of the Great Charter. To' have produced
it, to have preserved it, to have matured it,
constitute the immortal claim of England upon
the esteem . . pf mankind., ",
thus esteemed by the wisest minds of the world
to be worthy of such lofty encomiums ? Why
does it tower up with such magnitude over all
other considerations in the construction of free
governments? The answer is very simple,
plain, brief. It is because, in the language of
Hume, the historian— 1
"This famous deed either granted or secured
very important liberties and privileges to every
order of men in the kingdom—to the clergy, to
the barons, and to the people." r
It is immortal and dear, sir, to all people,
and more especially to the American people at
this time, because in the discussion of its prin
ciples Hallam declares :
"From the era, therefore, of King John's
charter it must have been a clear principle of
our Constitution that no man can be detained
1 in prison without trial."
1 It is an authority in point to-day against
the daily practices of those 'who no w adminis
ter the affairs• of this Republic, because Sir
James Mackintosh has pronounced its "crown
ing glories," which fill the world with grateful
admiration, to be "those essential clauses
witibla protect the personal liberty and property
4401 freemen, by giving security from im
prisonment and arbitrary spoliation."
Such, sir, are its claims upon the dearest af
fections of mankind. It was born in the hearts
of a proud, free race, and its mission on earth I
was to confront and resist that pernicious
dogma of tyrants, that the liberties of the peo
ple can in any event be left to the control of
any solitary individual, whether he be called
czar, emperor, king, or/ president. And in
every contest with its enemy it has been even
tually victorious. The people of England com
pelled their sovereigns to solemnly ratify it
more than' thirty times in the space of four
hundred years.
But bearing in mind the causes which pro
duced Magna. Charta, and the great object it
was designed to accomplish, let us take ano
ther step in the history of the progress of per
sonal liberty and personal security. In 1627
commenced that wonderful English revolution
which fills so many memorable and bloody
pages of history. It commenced over the old
question of power.' The King arrested Hamp
den, Darnel, and other citizens for refusing to
pay certain taxes, and threw them into prison.
They applied to the court of King's Bench for
the writ of habeas corpus, in.order that i p might
Ibe known whether their commitment was " by
the law of the land," and upqn what charge it
was made.
"The writ was granted ; but the warden of
the fleet made return that they were detained
by a warrant from the Privy Courtin', inform
ing him of no particular cause of imprison
ment, but that they were committed by the
special command of His Majesty."
We have had many • such returns in this land
of freedom during the past year, and every
mind will suggest the ready parallel by a sim
ple change of names. But in the days of
Charles I, more than two hundred years ago,
our ancestors did not allow the subject to drop
at the haughty bidding even of a king. They
met the issue. Bold and fierce diecuaion fol•
lowed, until the unwarranted arrest and im
prisonment of five Englishmen gave rise to the
famous Petition of Right, which was a clear
and explicit affirmation of the principles of
Magna Charta, ano an application of them to
existing grievances. I quote that portion of
it which so forcibly reminds us of the high
and- sacred rights which have been stricken
down by the present administration in our own
midst
"I I. And whereas, also, by the statute
called 'the Great Charter of the Liberties of
England,' it is declared and enacted that no
freeman may be taken or imprisoned, or be
disseized of his freehold or liberties, or his
free customs, or be outlawed or e xiled, or in
any manner destroyed, but by the lawful judg
ment of his peers, or by the law of the land.
"IV. Anti in the eighth and twentieth year
of the reign of King Edward 111, it was de
Glared and enacted by authority of Parliament
that no man, of what estate or condition that
he be, should be put out or his lands or tene
ments, nor taken, nor imprisoned, nor diem
herited, nor put to death without being brought
to answer by due process of law.
"V. Nevertheless, againit the tenor of said
statutes, and other the good laws and statutes
of your realm, to that end provided, divers of
your subjects have of late been imprisoned
without any cause showed ; and when, for
their deliverance, they were brought before
your justices, by your Majesty's writs of
habeas corpus, there to undergo and receive as
the court should order, and their keepers
commanded to testify the causes of their de
tainer, no cause was certified but that they
were detained by your Majesty's special com
mand, signified by the Lords of your Privy
Council, and yet were returned back to several
prisons without being charged with . anything
to which they might make answer according to
law."
The king signed new guarantees of liberty
to meet these complaints, but, in an unhappy
hour for him, broke his royal word and again
trespassed upon the rights of the people. The
struggle again commenced, and raged until
!Charles I. fell beneath the ax of the execu
tioner; and that mysterious and unexplained
enigma of history, Oliver Cromwell, triumphed
over him in the name of popular right and
constitutional government. And though the
practical fruits of this mighty revolution were
for long years turned to dust and ashes upon
the lips of England, yet the public mind of the
world had learned a grand and overwhelming
lesson. The English people taught mankind
of every age and of every country that no
sanctity,of prerogative, no dignity of blood, no
proscriptive customs, no pageantry of royal
state, no bayonets surrounding the palace, can
protect one man in plundering the multitude
of their personal liberties. It is a lesson, sir,
which the humblest American citizen knows
by heart to-day and treasures up as an ever
lasting inheritance.
But there was another great period in
tory in which our ancestors developed their
devotion to the piogress of liberty, to the
principles of Afagna Marta. In 1689 another
member of the house of Stuart, forgetful of
the fate of his father, possessed himself of the
atrocious instruments of oppression, and at
tempted to subvert the laws and the liberties
of his kingdom. But the spirit which brought
Charles I. to the block exiled James 11., and
changed the dynasty forever from the house
of Stuart. And the same causes, the BMOC
aggressions against the personal rights of the
subject, which produced the Petition of Right
under Charles 1., produced the Bill of Rights
under James 11. It was the same venerable
issue, and is contained in the following see
flood :
"1. That the pretended power of suspending
laws by regal authority, without consent of
Parliament, is illegal.
"2. That the pretended power of dispensing
with laws, or the exeetetion of laws by regal
authority as it bath been assumed and exer
cised of late, is illegal."
Mr. Speaker, we have here, then, the three
grand acts in the sublime drama of English
liberty; and the. unity of immortal principle
which pervades and eustains them all is so
AnTplete that Lord Chatham consolidated them
T t lain° rantrmepeaajtxted them to be "the
spiration was "
and to no age. Their application to civil
rights was as universal as mankind itself.
They speak in tones of hope, of dignity, and
of manhood, to every heart worthy to be free
which beats beneath the sun. They consti
tute a frowning anti defiant bulwark against
arbitrary and. despotic power; but a radiant.
and smiling angel of liberty, peace, fraternity,
and security to the toiling millions whose
strong arms uphold the wealth, the commerce,
the progress, and the civilization of the world.
And when the next'great struggle in behalf of
constitutional liberty for the citizen against
the unlawful assumption of power by one man,
which startled the nations in 1776, had closed
in triumph on the soil of Virginia—where the , 1
voles of Patrick Henry first aroused it—the
material for those clauses of the American
Constitution which secure the personal inde
pendence and personal rights of the citizen,
was ready and ample, a rich inheritance of the
past,.and only needed to be reasserted in the
form of an organic law. Our Constitution is
simply one more denial recorded in history of
the power to transcend the written law in order
to reach and injure the citizen in the enjoy
ment of life, liberty, and property. It is sim
ply one more declaration, added to those
already made, that the people possessed an
inherent power to protect themselves against
their old enemy—executive usurpation. It
was a solemn protest, in the name of human
nature, that one man should have the liberties
of this people within his control no more for
ever. It was the promulgation of Magna Charta,
the continuation of the Petition of Bight, the
extension of the Bill of Rights, and a concentra
tion of them all. Here are the noble, familiar
sections, the due observance of which alone
renders American citizenship more valuable
than the condition of the slave on his planta-
Lion ;
"AST. IV. The right of the people to be se
cure-in their persons, houses, papers and ef
fects, against unreasonable searches and sei
zures, shall not be violated, and no warrants
shall issue but upon probable cause, supported
by oath or affirmation, and particularly de
scribing the place to be searched, and the
persons or things to be seized.
"Any. V. No person shall be held to answer
a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless
on a presentment or indictment of a grand
jury, except in cases arising in the land or
naval forces, or in the militia when in actual
service in time of war or public th.nger ; nor
shall any person be subject, for the same of
fence, to be twice put in jeopardy of life or
limb; nor Shall he be compelled, in any crimi
nal case, to be a witness against himself, nor
be deprived of life, liberty, or property without
due process of law; nor shall private property
be taken for public use without just compensa
tion
"Aux' VI. In all criminal prosecutions the
accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and
public trial, by an impartial jury of , the State
and district wherein the crime shall have been
committed, which district shall have been pre
viously ascertained by law, and to be informed
of the nature and cause of the accusation • to
be confronted with the witnesses against him ;
to have compulsory process for obtaining wit
nesses in his favor, and to have the assistance
of counsel for his defense."
• I have thus, air, given a brief and summary
view of the results which have attended a con
test between free principles and the abuse of
power for more than six hundred years in
England and America. I have endeavored to
point out the issue which has at all times been
involved. It will be observed, however, that
all these great instruments, which stand as
beacon lights of liberty along the pathway of
the last six centuries; and from which I have
so freely quoted, are only declaratory of what
the rights of man are, and depend for their
execution en an additional agency in the policy
of government. Itapta asks, as I have shown,
declared a mighty principle in the science of
just. government, and it has been repeated over
and over again many times since, and at last
tulle a polished and del ailed embodiMent in
the American Constitution ; but something
mire is necessary and indispensable in order
PRICE TWO CENTS
to carry it out and confer its practical benefits
on man kind. The Barons said that, the execu
tive should not take, imprison, or punish any
citizen of the realm, except according to the
law of the land ; the subjects of every English
king haye repeated it, and the framers of our
Constitution assert the same thing with great
particularity and care in the sections which I
have just read ; but what would all this be
worth if no means had been provided to enforce
this often reiterated principle of liberty ? It
would simply stand as an expression, a sublime
one it. is true, in favor of immutable justice and
right ; but without the machinery of some
active process of administrative law, it would
be powerless to extend succor to the oppressed.
Therefore all these proud declarations against
the infringement of personal liberty by the
exeentive,from Runnymede to the present hour,
have been accompanied by
,that messenger of
speedy justice, the writ of habeas corpus. It
executes what they declare. It gives motion
and efficacy to the laws of a free government.
It is the active agent by which the will of the
people, as expressed in the Constitution and
laws made for their own protection, is enforced.
Without it, the tyrant may laugh to the winds
every doctrine of Magna Charta, every provi
sion of our own Constitution. Without it, an
executive ruler is beyond legal restraint or
coercion, and can with impunity substitute his
own will for the Constitution and the laws.
Without it, arbitrary power may roam over the
rights of the people, like the wild boar in the
rich vineyards of Gatti, and tear and rend• its
victims at pleasure.
Sir, the habeas corpus is the life of liberty.
It is of ancient origin. It was born amid the
opening struggles of our remote ancestors in
behalf of popular freedom. It was recognized
at once by a race unwilling to accept the doom
of slaves to be a law of necessity. It sprang
from no statute. It depend for its existence
on no enactment. It is one of those high, un
repealable laws which liberty writes on the
hearts of all her weeshippers, and which, with
out the aid of legislation, became a part of
the common law of England, simply because
of that rule of God's providence which pre
scribes an eternal fitness of things. It is; per
haps, older Shan-Magna Charta itself. Hallam,
in his History of the Middle Ages, referring
to the period when the great charter was ob
tained, says:
-
"Whether courts of justice framed the writ
of habeas corpus in conformity to the spirit of
this clause, or found it already in their regis
ter, it became from that era the right of every
subject to demand It,"
And again, this great author says :
" From the earliest records of the English
law no freeman could be detained in prison
except upon a criminal charge or conviction,
or for a civil debt. In the former case it was
always in his power to demand of the Court of
'King's Bench a writ of habeas corpus ad subjiei
endunz directed to the person detaining him in
custody, by which he was enjoined to bring np
the body of the prisoner, with the warrant of
commitment, that the court might judge of its
sufficiency, and remand the party, admit him
to bail, or dis Charge him, according to the na
ture of the charge."
_T'bia_law thus described, the American col
, period of ticeir - semeilioa...-
lotion to bestow on them its blessing, for as an
eminent law writer observes:
• "And it must now be taken as a settled ax
iom of American law,
that the territory of the
colonies was claimed by right of occupancy, or
by finding it 'desert and uncultivated;' and
that the common law of England first obtained
in that part of the empire, as a law personal
to the English born colonists."
And, in the formation of our Constitution,
our fatliers assumed that it already existed in
all its ancient force and benevolent mission, and
simply made the following provision against its
suspension -
" That the privilege of the writ of habeas
corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in
cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety
may require it."
And now, Mr. Speaker, in view of the his
torical grandeur of this writ; in view of the
duties which belong to its nature to perform";
in view of the evils which it alone can restrain ;
in view of the causes which produced it, and
in view of the abuses against which it is lev
eled, I am filled with wonder and amazement
that any healthy intellect has ever been found
to entertain the opinion that it was in the power
of the executive department of any govern
ment to suspend its privilege and deny to the
people its protection. It came into existence
to compel English kings to obey the principles
of Magna Charta, and it is the only means,
this side of the sword, by which an American
I President can be made td obey the Constitution;
and yet the air is filled with a clamorous cry
that these kings and this President can escape
this obedience by nullifying, with a single
word, the only Peaceful means which the peo
ple possess to enforce it. It is the only legal
means by which the American citizen can re
sist and antagonize the most infamous outrages
against personal rights ; and yet the doctrine
is daily proclaimed here and elsewhere that it
is wholly left to the Executive to determine
whether be will be resisteti at all, or whether
he will enjoy the spectacle of a people devoted
to liberty imploring, not the law, but his cle
mency, through the iron grates of prisons,
with less legal redress for their wrongs than
the dusky slaves of the Carolinas. The writ
of habeas corpus was originated for the sole
purpose of controlling one man and his subor
dinates ; and yet it is claimed, in this enlight
ened age, that that very man can control it.
It has been the master of every executive since
it was known among men ; but in these modern
days the majority of the American Congress
assert that the President of the United Stated
has become its master. You might as !hillock
the convict in his cell, and give him the key,
and expect to find him there when you return,
as to expect the executive ruler of a nation to
abide within the limits of Constitutional re
straint 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 a city, to re
frain from entrance when the gates were
thrown men and the sword delivered up, as to
expect official station to respect at all times
popular rights when all their safeguards are
abandoned to their ancient enemy. Sir, the
very purpose, the single object for which the
writ of habeas corpus has survived the lapse of
centuries and rocked the world with revolu
tions, would be utterly defeated, if the Presi
dent of the United States can suspend its ope
rations and paralyze it by his touch. It might
as 'well never have adorned the pages of juris
prudence. It becomes a useless, an idle thing
by such a construction. It is only needed
when the Executive attempts to deprive the
citizen of hie liberty eetanry t o l aw ; and,
according to the construction of the support
ers of this administration, that attempt need
never fail, for it is within the power of the
Preeident to remove every obstacle `which
stands in his way by the suspension of this
writ.
Let this construction be maintained, and the
clause of liberty recedes back into the twilight
dawn from which it emerged nearly a thousand
years ago. Then there was no law for the
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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 Banns wilt
have assembled in vain. John Hampden, on
the plains of Cbalgrave, will have died in vain.-
Our own martyred host, robed in glory, who
felt for freedom on the battle liblds'of the Rcy
olution, will have tasted the bitterness of death
in vain. The lights which have been bung up •
over our heads by the wisdom and the suffer
ings of the past, will all be stricken down.
Magna Charta will fall from Its Milted sphere . '
like a falling star, and our own . Codatitution,-
like the eagle towering in his pride of place,
will be by a mousing owl hawked at and killed;
The gloom of absolutism will 01100 mare fin
the sky, and it will only be left to Anserican•
citizens to creep around in its ehadowCan secret
and stealthy mourners at the tomb'of liberty.
One man's supremacy, the everlasting' foe to
free institutions, will be complete. In • the
place of written oonstitntions and laws, we -
will enjoy the government of one mind and •
one wilt, embittered and swayed by' the pas
sions and prejudices which make their,heme
in every frail mortal breast. No, sir; this dar
ling writ of the people, which has caused 'the
venerable statesman to abound in warm -and
swelling periods of eulogiem, 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 key to everyAungeon ; •
this messiah of the law, which comes to redeem
the lost and to visit those that are sick and in
prison, was not born to be suspended ana cru
cified at the command of some ruling Caesar.
The people who made it, and who own it by the
title of a hundred battles fought for its princi
ples, can alone, through their representatives,
say when they are willing to waive for a sea
son its protection and enact its temporary sus
pension. Not only is this the law. as decided
by every court in the history of English and
American jurisprudence, but it is also the law
se decided by every maxim of reason, by every
principle of political philosophy.
If I 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 habeas corpus, I err in most noble
company. I am but following at an humble
distance in the footsteps of these whose illus- •
trious names have long since become proverbs
of wisdom and justice. If lam lost and going
astray in the doctrines I have enunciated-to
day, I am consoled with the reflection that I
am wandering with Blackstone, with Hale, with
Mansfield, with Coke ; that I share my delusion
with Kent, with Story and with John Marshall.
If I am insensible at this time to the claims of
modern' political lawyers, it is because my mind
is absorbed in the contemplation of the teach
ings of those whose names are of the "mortal
few not born to die. If I turn a deaf ear, on
this occasion, to the arrogant pretensions of
provost marshals and police officials, the repre
sentatives. of executive usurpations, it is be-
Cantle I Tattler to fix my attention upon a lofty
and virtuous class, the latches of whose shoes
they are net. worthy to unloose. If I am to •
be_ denounced for my utterance here in behalf
.vility of
on my hea
, sus sine
by the unanimous voice of those whom man
kind has been taught to revere as benefactors •
of the human race. My eye shall not be with
drawn from the Constitution as the guardian
of liberty. I will not turn away from the
written law, judicially expounded, for any con
sideration of earthly importance. It is to me
the star that hovered over the cradle of liberty
in its infancy, the spirit which upheld and
strengthened it when tempted in the wilder
ness, and the power which, will roll , away the
stone from its tomb, if it should ever again be
betrayed and put to death. -
• I belong, sir, to a profession which is glori- -
ous in history. I rejoice that I have spent some
of the days of my manhood in the study of' a
science in the adornment of whioh Erskine
and Curran, Webster and Grimke spent their
lives. The legal profession has had , much to
bear in the hostile criticism provoked by an
unworthy class who inhabit the vestibule of
her temple, and allure to their meshes the.-
unwary pilgrims, who seek her shrine for sub
stantial relief. The artful trickery of ignoble
minds- has been assigned as an attribute of the
profession of the law, and its lower. walks ;
that pestilential brood which swarms around
the base of the pedestal of honorable.faine, has,
to the caeual observer, sanctioned such a. view.
But this is all unjust. There is an atmosphere
near the sun, hi which the great.. jurists of
twenty generations • d well. They.. have been.
the forerunners of legal liberty. They, have
never hung upon the skirts of gaxerutpental
piogress. Other professions have formed tech
nical barricades against the advancer of popular
freedom, and questioned the divinity of the
people; but those who have dritek.deep from
the fountains of that " perfectica of reason,"
I English and American law; recossise the voice
of the people as the voice of It is .matter •
of record that the legal profession has been,
the patient, the toiling, and the, inspired hand-.
maiden of liberty. I, might dwell upon its .
services, and recall the circumstances, in his
torioal order, which will! former coromenddts.
fame to the loiers of free:-institutions, if the .
fleeting hour assigned tome• would allow. But
these things will all suggest , themselves-to 'the.
student of 'the law and the student of history.
I pause, however, to isqnire whether, my,
brethern of the law have forgotten, thaexam
pies of the past; whether the exalted chivalry
of the profession is dead? Do you stand by
power with its robes of purple, or d0.y.,0u stand
by the oppressed, in destitution?. Is your motto
the sceptre of exaggerated and bloated au
thority, or is it the farmer at his plus-handle,
in grand though humble demand. for his rights
as a free men under the Constitution ?• The.
mission of the law, as the chosen, apostle of
freedom, has always been to sueaor the op-.
pressed, the feeble, the suffering, and the.
poor, to minister, in the spirit or the great
Master, to those whom Christ blessed upon the
mountain of Olives, Sir, for me, my way is
chosen. I shall turn my back on, the bland
ishments of executive power, and, thiiugh pee
son, though death assail me in the pathway of
duty, I shall follow the examples and the pre
cepts of old, and vindicate alike the dignity of
my birth, and the honer of my profession, by
defending the privileges of the people. To me
this is a labor of love. My whole nature re
sponds to its burning appeal. Wherever the
spirit of unlawful aggression has been repelled;
wherever tyranny has been defied and resisted;
wherever honest, upright manhood, in what
ever condition found, has asserted its right to
a glorious sovereign equality, there my heart
has paid a devout pilgrimage, and prayed for
the success of every effort whioh tends to en
large the liberty of the citizen...
But, sir , the blow has fallen, and I turn to
survey for a few moments its ghastly conse
quences. In defiance of sinew, in contempt
of the judiciary, in derision of the teachings of
history, and in scorn and mockery of the holy
prinoiples of personal liberty, the writ of habeas
corpus stands suspended. The will of the Fr
noire has toe more than a year been the sole
law of the land, to which the outraged isitieert.