tern, 
 
 #333 
 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 The great speec 
 Conf Pam 12mo #393 
 
4 
 
 THE FLOWERS COLLECTION 
 
 THE GREAT SPEECH 
 
 OP 
 
 Mm, A. II. STEPHENS, 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE 
 
 THE. GEORGIA LEGISLATURE, 
 
 On Wednesday Night, March 16th, 1864, 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED EXTRACTS PROM 
 
 GOV. BROWN'S MESSAGE 
 
 TO THE- 
 
 GEORGIA LEGISLATURE. 
 
 At the hour of n\ (/clock, P. M., the Hall had been fill- 
 to its utmost capacity by members of the Legislature and 
 citizens generally, and as the vast assemblage within saw 
 the beloved form of Georgia's proud and noble son, every 
 eye grew bright with joy, and a hearty and unanimous ap- 
 plause bid him welcome. 
 
 Mr. Stephens ascended the Speaker's stand and spoke as 
 follows : 
 Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Rejtresentatives : 
 
 In compliance with your request, or at least with that of 
 a large^portion of your respective bodies, I appear before 
 you to-night to speak of the state of public affairs. Never, 
 perhaps, before, have I riseu to address a public audience 
 under circumstances of so* much responsibility, and never 
 did I feel more deeply impressed with the weight of it. — - 
 Questions of the most momentous importance are pressing, 
 upon you for consideration and action." Upon these I am 
 to address you. Would that my ability, physically, and 
 in all other respects, wero commensurate with the magni- 
 
 f^n 
 
 
2 
 
 tude of the occasion. We are in the midst of dangers and 
 perils. Dangers without and dangers within, Scylla oii 
 the one side and Charybdis on the other. War is being 
 waged against us by a strong, unscrupulous and vindic- 
 tive foe ; a war for our subjugation, degradation and ex- 
 termination. From this quarter threaten the perils with- 
 out. Those within arise from questions of policy as to the 
 best means, the wisest and safest, to repel the enemy, 
 achieve our independence, to maintain and keep secure, our 
 rights and liberties. Upon the decision of these questions, 
 looking to the proper development of our limited resources, 
 wisely and patriotically, so that their entire efneiency may 
 be exerted in our deliverance, with, at the same time, a 
 watchful vigilance to the safety of the citadel itself, as 
 much depends as upon the skill of oUr comma rulers and the 
 valor of our citizen soldiers in the field. Everything dear 
 to us as freemen is at stake. An error in judgment, though 
 springing from the most patriotic motives, whether in 
 councils of war or councils of state, may be fatal. He,there- 
 fore, who rises under such circumstances to offer words of 
 advice, not only assumes a position of great responsibility, 
 but stands on dangerous ground. Impressed profoundly 
 with such feelings and convictions, I should, shrink from 
 the undertaking you have called me to, but for the strong 
 consciousness that where duty leads no one should ever fear 
 to tread. Great as are the dangers that threaten us, peril- 
 ous as is our situation — and I do not intend fro overstate or 
 understate, neither to awaken undue apprehension, or to 
 excite hopes and expectations never to be realized — peril- 
 ous, therefore,, as our situation is, it is far, far from being 
 desperate or hopeless, and I feel no hesitation in saying to 
 you, in all frankness and candor, that if we aire 'rue to our- 
 selves, and true to our cause, all will yet be well. 
 
 In the progress of the war thus far, it is true the?e is 
 much to be seen of suffering, of sacrifice and ot 'desolation ; 
 much to sicken the heart and cause a blush for civilization 
 and Christianity. Cities have been taken,, towns have been 
 sacked, vast amounts of property have been pureed, fields 
 have been laid waste, records have been d.< Stroyed, churches 
 have been desecrated, women and children have been driv- 
 en from their homes, unarmed men have been put to death, 
 States have been overrun and whole populations made to 
 groan under the heel of despotism; all these rungs are 
 seen and felt, but in them nothing is to b* Been to cause 
 
dismay, much less despair ; these deeds of ruin and savage 
 barbarity have been perpetrated only on the outer borders, 
 i3n the coast, and on the line of the rivers, where, by the aid 
 of their ships of war and gunboats, the enemy has had the 
 advantage ; the great breadth of the interior — the heart of 
 our country — has never yet been reached by them ; they 
 have as yet, after a struggle of near three years, with un- 
 limited means, at a cost of not less than four thousand- mil- 
 lions of dollars (bow much more is unknown) and hundreds 
 of thousands of lives, been able only to break the outer shell 
 of the Confederacy. The only signal advantages they have 
 as yet gained have been on the water, or where their land 
 and naval forces were combined. That they should have 
 gained advantages under such circumstances, is not a mat- 
 ter of much surprise. Nations in war, like individual men 
 or animals, show their real power in combat when they 
 stand upon the advantages that nature has given them, and 
 fight on their own ground and in their own element. The 
 lion, though king of the forest, cannot contend successfully 
 with the shark in the water. In no conflict of arms away 
 from gunboats, during the whole war, since the first battle 
 of Manassas to that of Ocean Pond, have our gallant sold- 
 iers failed of victory when the numbers on each side were 
 at all equal. The farthest advance into the interior from 
 the base and protection of their gunboats, either on the coast 
 or the rivers, that the enemy has been able to make for 
 three years was the late movement from Vicksburg to Me- 
 ridian, and the speedy turn of. that movement shows noth- 
 ing more clearly than the difficulties and disadvantages at- 
 tending all such ; these things should be noted and mark- 
 ed in considering our present situation and the prospects of 
 the future. In all our losses up to this time, no vital blow 
 has ever been given either to our cause or our energies. — 
 We still hold Richmond, after repeated efforts to take it, 
 both by force and ^strategy. We still hold on the Gulf, 
 Mobile, and on the Ocean front, Wilmington, Savannah 
 and Charleston. These places have been, and are still held 
 against the most formidable naval armament ever put 
 afloat. 
 
 At Charleston the enemy seem to direct all their power, 
 land and naval, that can be brought to bear in combination 
 — all their energy, rancour and vengeance. 4< Carthago de- 
 lendaest" is their vow as to this devoted city. Every means 
 that money can command and ingenuity suggest, from the 
 
hugest engines of war never before known to the fiendish 
 resort of Greek fire, have been and are being applied for its 
 destruction. For nearly nine months the city, under the 
 skill of our consummate commander, his subordinates, and 
 the heroic virtues of our matchless braves in the ranks, still 
 holds out against all the disadvantages of a defence without 
 suitable naval aid. That she may eontinue to hold out, 
 and her soil never be polluted by the unhallowed foot print 
 of her vandal besiegers, is, of course, the earnest wish of 
 all. But even if so great a disaster should happen to us as 
 the loss of Charleston, be not dismayed, indulge no senti- 
 ment akin to that of despair— Charleston is not a vital part. 
 We may lose that place, Savannah, Mobile, Wilmington, 
 and even Richmond, the seat of government, and still sur- 
 vive. We may lose all our strong places — the enemy may 
 traverse our great interior as they have lately done in Mis- 
 sissippi, and we may still survive. We should, even under 
 such calamities j be no worse off than our ancestors were in 
 their struggle for independence. During the time that 
 < 'tried men's souls" with them, every city on the coast, 
 from Boston to Savannah, was taken by the enemy. Phila- 
 delphia was taken, and Congress driven away. South Car- 
 olina, North Carolina, portions of Georgia, Virginia, and 
 other States, were overrun and occupied by the enemy as 
 completely as Kentucky, Missouri, Louisiana, and Tennes- 
 see are now. Take courage from the example of your an- 
 cestors — disasters caused with them nothing like dismay or 
 despair — they only aroused a spirit of renewed energy and 
 fortitude. The principles they fought for, suffered and en- 
 dured so much for, are the same for which we are now 
 struggling — State Eights, State Sovereignty, the great 
 principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence — the 
 right of every State to govern itself as it pleases. With 
 the same wisdom^ prudence, (orecaste and patriotism, the 
 same or equal statesmanship on the part of our rulers in 
 directing and wielding our resources, our material of war, 
 that controlled public affairs at that time, in the camp and 
 in the cabinet, and with the same spirit animating the 
 breast of the people, devotion to liberty and right, hatred 
 of tyranny and oppression, affection for the cause for the 
 cause's sake ; with the same sentiments and feelings on the 
 part of rulers and people in these days as we're in those, we 
 might and may be overrun as they were ; our interior may 
 be penetrated by superior hostile armies, arid our country 
 
laid waste as theirs was, but we can never be conquered, 
 as they never could be. The issues of war depend quite as 
 much upon Statesmanship as Generalship ; quite as much 
 upon what is done at the council board as upon what is done 
 in the field. Much the greater part of all wars, is busi- 
 ness—plain, practical every day life business ; there is in it 
 no art or mystery or special knowledge, except good, strong, 
 common sense— this relates to the finances, the quarter- 
 master's and commissary's departments, the wavs and 
 means proper— in a word to the resources of a country and 
 its capacities for war. The number of men that can be 
 spared from production, without weakening the aggregate 
 strength — the prospect of supplies, subsistence, arms and 
 munitions of all kinds. It is as necessary that men called 
 out should be armed, clothed, shod and' fed, as that they 
 should be put in the field— subsistence is as essential as 
 men. ^ At present we have subsistence sufficient for the 
 year, if it is taken care of and managed with economy. — 
 Upon a moderate estimate, one within reasonable bounds* the 
 tithes of wheat and cprn for last year were not less, in the 
 States- East of the Mississippi, (to say nothing of the other 
 side,) than eighteen million bushels. Kentucky and Ten- 
 nessee are not included in this estimate. This would bread 
 an army of five hundred thousand men and one hundred 
 thousand horses for twelve months, and leave a considera- 
 ble margin for waste or loss. This we have without buy- 
 ing or impressing a bushel or pound. Nor need a bushel 
 of it be lost on account of the want of transportation from 
 points at a distance from railroads. At such places it could 
 be fed to animals, put into beef and pork, and thus lessen 
 the amount of thes.e articles of food to be bought. Upon a 
 like estimate the tithe of meat for the last year will supply 
 the army for at least sixlmonthg — rendering the purchase 
 of this article necessary for only half the year— the surplus 
 in the country, over and above the tithes, is ample to meet 
 the deficiency. All that is wanting is men of business ca- 
 pacity, honesty, integrity, economy and industry in the 
 management and' control of that department. There need 
 be no fear of the want of subsistence this year, if our offi- 
 cials do their duty. But how it will be next year, if the 
 policy adopted by Congress, at its late session, is carried 
 out, no one can safely venture to say. 
 
 # This brings me to the main objects of this address, a re- 
 view of those Acts of Congress to which your attention has 
 
6 
 
 \ 
 
 been specially called by the Governor, and on which your 
 action is invoked — these are, the currency, the military and 
 the habeas corpus suspension acts. It is the beauty of our 
 system, of government, that all in authority are responsible 
 to the people. It is, too, always more agreeable to approve 
 than to disapprove what our agents have done. But in 
 grave and important matters, however disagreeable or even 
 painful it may be to express disapproval, yet sometimes the 
 highest duty requires it. No exceptions should be taken 
 to this when it is done in a proper spirit, and with a view 
 solely for the public welfare. In free governments men 
 will differ as to the best means of promoting the public 
 good. Honest differences of opinion should never beget ill 
 feelings, or personal alienations. The' expressions of differ- 
 ences of opinion do no harm when truth alone is the object 
 on both sides. Our opinions in all such discussions of pub- 
 lic affairs should be given as from friends to friends, as from 
 brothers to brothers, in a common cause. We are all 
 launched upon the same boat, and must ride the storm or 
 go down together. Disagreements should never arise, ex- 
 cept from one cause^ — a difference in judgment,, as to the 
 best means to be adopted, or course to be pursued, for the 
 common safety. This is the spirit by which I am actuated 
 in the comments I shall make unpon these Acts of Con- 
 gress. 
 
 As to the first two of these measures, the Tax Act and 
 Funding Act, known together as the financial and currency 
 measures, I simply say, in my judgment, they are neither 
 proper, wise or just. Whether in the midst of conflicting 
 views, in such diversity of opinion and interest anything 
 better could be obtained, I know not — perhaps not. — 
 With that view we may be reconciled to what we do not 
 approve. It is useless now to go into discussions of how 
 better measures might have been obtained, or how bad ones 
 might have been avoided — the whole is a striking illustra- 
 tion of the evils attending first departures from principle — 
 the "facilis descencus Averno." Error is ever the prolific 
 source of error. Our present financial embarrassments had 
 their origin in a blunder at the beginning, but we must 
 deal with the present, not. the past. These two Acts make 
 it necessary for you to change your legislation to save the 
 State from loss. As to the course you should adopt to do. 
 this, I know of none better than that recommended by the 
 Governor. His views and suggestions on this point seem, 
 to be proper and judicious. 
 
The Military Act by which conscription is extended so a* 
 to embrace all between the ages of seventeen and fifty,, and 
 by which the State is to be deprived of so much of its labor 
 aml.stripped of the most efficient portion of her enrolled 
 militia, presents a much graver question. This whole sys- 
 tem of conscription I have looked upon from the beginning 
 as wrong, radically wrong in principle and policy. Con- 
 trary opinions, however, prevailed. But whatever, differ- 
 ent ot opinion may have been entertained as to the con- 
 stitutionality of the previous Conscript Acts, it seems clear 
 to my mind that but little difference can o*ist as to the un- 
 eonstij nationality of this late act. The act provides for the 
 organizing of troops of an anomalous character— partly as 
 militia and partly as a portion of the regular armies. But 
 in fact, they are to be organized neither as militia or part 
 of the regular army. We have but two kinds of forces, the 
 regular army and the militia— this is neither. The men 
 arefb he raised as conscripts for the regular forces, while 
 their officers are to be appointed as if they were militia. If 
 they were intended as militia, they should have been called 
 out, through the Governor, in their present organizations 
 —it as regular forces they cannot be officered as the act pro- 
 vides. It is most clearly unconstitutional. Who is to com- 
 mission these officers? .The Governor cannot, for they are 
 taken from under his control ; the President cannot consti- 
 tutionally do it, for he can commission none except by and 
 wuh the advice and consent of the Senate. It is for you to 
 say whether you will turn over these forces, and allow them 
 to be conscripted, as is provided, leaving the question of 
 constitution the courts, or whether you will hold 
 
 them in view of agricultural and other interests, or for the 
 execution of your laws, and to.be called out for the public 
 defense in case of emergency by the Governor when he sees 
 the necessity, or when they are called for as militia by the 
 President. The Act upon its face, in its provisions for de- 
 tails, seems to indicate that its object is not to put the whole 
 ot them, in the field. Nothing could be more ruinous to our 
 cause if such were the object and intention and should it 
 ever be carried into effect. For. if all the white labor of the 
 country, from seventeen to fifty— except the few exceptions 
 stated—be called out and kept constantly in the field, we 
 must fail, epontr or later, for want of subsistence and other 
 essential supplies. To wage war successfully, men at home 
 are as necessary as men in the field. Those in the field 
 
inust be provided for, and their families at home must he 
 provided for. In my judgment, no people can successfully 
 carry on a long war, with more than a third of its arms- 
 bearing population kept constant] v in the field, especially 
 if cut off by blockade, they are thrown upon their own in- 
 ternal resources for air necessary supplies, subsistence and 
 munitions of war. This is a question of Arithmetic on well 
 settled problems of political economy. But can we succeed 
 against the hosts of the enemy unless all able te'bear arms 
 up to fifty years of age are called to, and kept in the field ? 
 Yes, a thousand times, yes, I answer, with proper and skill- 
 ful management. If we cannot without such a call, we can- 
 not with it, if the war last long. The success of Greece 
 against the invasion by Persia — the success, of the Nether- 
 lands against Philip— the success of Frederic against the 
 allied powers of Europe— the success of the Colonies, against 
 Great Britain, all show that it can be done. If our only 
 hope was in matching the enemy with equal numbers, then 
 our case would be desperate indeed. Superior numbers is 
 one of the chief advantages of ^the enemy. We must avail 
 ourselves of our advantages. We should not rely for suc- 
 cess by playing into his hand. An invaded people have 
 many advantages that may be resorted to to counterbalance 
 superiority of numbers. These should be studied, sought 
 and brought into active co-operation. To secure success, 
 brains must dp something as well as muskets. 
 
 Of all the dangers that threaten our ultimate success, I 
 consider none more iminent than the policy embodied in this 
 Act, if the object really be, as its broad terms declare, to put 
 and keep in active service all between the ages of seventeen 
 and fifty, except the exempts named. On that line we will 
 most assuredly, sooner or later, do what the enemy never 
 could do, conquer ourselves. And if such be not the object 
 of the A.ct — if it is only intended to conscript men not in- 
 tended for service, not with a view to fill the army, but for 
 ^the officials to take charge of the general labor of the coun- 
 try and the various necessary avocations and pursuits of 
 life, then the Act is not only wrong in principle but exceed- 
 ingly dangerous in its tendency. 
 
 I come now to the last of these Acts of Congress. The 
 suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in certain cases. — 
 This is the most exciting, as it is by far the most important 
 question before you. Upon this depends the question, 
 whether the courts shall be permitted to decide upon the 
 
constitutionality of the late Conscript Act, should you sub- 
 mit that question to their decision, and upon it also depend 
 other great essential rights enjoyed by us as freemen. This 
 Act, upon its face, confers upon the President, the' Secretary 
 of War, and the General commanding in the Trans-Missis- 
 sippi department, (the two latter acting under the control 
 and authority of the President) the power to arrest and im- 
 prison any person who may % simply charged .with certain 
 acts, not all of them even crimes under any law ; and this 
 is to be done without any oath or affirmation alledging 
 probable cause as to the guilt of the party. This is attempt- 
 ed to be done under that clause of the Constitution which 
 authorizes Congress to suspend the privilege of the writ of 
 habeas corpus in certain cases. 
 
 In my judgment, this act is not only unwise, impolitic 
 and unconstitutional, but exceedingly dangerous to public 
 liberty. Its unconstitutionality does not rest upon \he idea 
 that Congress has not got the power to suspend^the privi- 
 lege of this writ, nor upon the idea that the power to sus- 
 pend it, is an implied one, or that clearly mplied powers 
 are weaker as a class and subordinate to others positively 
 and directly delegated. 
 
 I do not understand the Executive of this State to put his 
 argument against this Act upon any such grounds. He 
 simply states a fact, as it most clearly is, that. the power to 
 suspend at all is an J implied power. There is no positive, 
 direct power delegated to do it. The power % however, is 
 clear and clear only by implication. The \anguage of the 
 Constitution, that "the privilege of the writ of habeas cor- 
 pus shall not be suspended unless, when in cases of rebel- 
 lion or invasion, the public safety may require it," clearly 
 expresses the intention that the power may be exercised in 
 the cases stated ; but it does so by implication only, just 
 as if a mother should say to her daughter, you shall not go 
 unless you ride. Here the permission and authority to go 
 is clearly given. This and this only, I understand the 
 'Governor to mean^when he speaks of the power being an 
 implied one. He raises no question aR to the existence of 
 the power 'or its validity when rightfully exercised, but he 
 maintains, as I do, that its' exercise must be controlled by 
 all other restrictions in the Constitution bearing upon its 
 exercise. Two of these are to be found in the words accom- 
 panying the delegation. It can never be exercised except 
 ia rebellion or invasion. Other restrictions are to be found 
 
10 
 
 io other parts of the Constitution. In the amendments to 
 the Constitution adopted after the ratification of the words 
 as above quoted. These amendments were made, as is ex- 
 pressly declared in the preamble to them, to add "further 
 declaratory and restrictive clauses," to prevent misconstruc- 
 tion or abuse of the powers previously delegated. To un- 
 derstand all the restrictions, therefore, thrown around the 
 exercise pf this power in the Constitution, these additional 
 "restrictive clauses" must be read in conjunction with the 
 original grant, whether t^at was made positively and di- 
 rectly or by implication only. These instructions, among 
 other things, declare that "no person shall be deprived of 
 life, liberty or property without due process of law," and 
 that the nght of the people to be secure in their persons, 
 houses, paper* and effects, against unreasonable searches 
 and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrants shall 
 issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affir- 
 mation, and particularly describing the place to be search- 
 ed, and the person or thing to be seized." 
 
 All admit that under the clause as it stands in the origi- 
 nal grant, with the restrictions there set forth, the power 
 can be rightfully exercised only in cases of rebellion or in- 
 vasion^ "With these additional clauses, put in as further 
 restrictions to prevent the abuse of powers previously dele- 
 gated, how is this clause conferring the power to suspend 
 the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, now to read ? In 
 this way, and in this way only : "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 lit) person "shall be deprived of life, liberty or 
 property- w ithout due process of law. ' ' And further, "The 
 right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, 
 pipersand effects againstunreasonable searches andseizures, 
 shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon 
 probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and par- 
 ticularly describing the place to be searched and the persons 
 or things to be seized." 
 
 The attempted exercise of the power to suspend the priv- 
 ilege of the writ of habeas corpus in this Acts, is in utter 
 disregard in the very face and teeth of these restrictions, as 
 much so as a like attempt in time of profound peace would 
 be in disregard of the restrictions to cases of rebellion and 
 invasion, as the Constitution was originally adopted. It 
 .attempts to provide for depriving persons "of liberty, with- 
 
11 
 
 ■out due process of * law." It attempts to annul and set at 
 naught the great constitutional "right" of the people, to 
 be secure in their persons against "unreasonable seizures." 
 It attempts to destroy and annihilate the bulwark of per- 
 sonal liberty, secured in our great chart to the humblest as 
 well as the highest, that "no warrants shall issue but upon 
 probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation," and 
 "particularly describing the person to be seized." Nay 
 more, it attempts to change and transform the distribution 
 of powers in our system of gorernmeut. It attempts to de- 
 prive the Judiciary Department of its .appropriate and le- 
 gitimate functions, and to confer them upon the President, 
 the Secretary of War, and the General Officer commanding 
 the Trans-Mississippi Department, or rather to confer them 
 entirely upon the President, lot those subordinates named 
 in the Act hold their places at his will, and in arrests un- 
 der this Act are to be governed by his orders. This, by 
 the Constitution, never can be done. Ours is not only a 
 government of limited powers, but each department, the 
 legislative, executive and judicial, are separate and distinct. 
 The issuing of warrants, which are nothing but orders for 
 arrests against civilians or persons in civil life, is a judicial 
 function. The President, under the Constitution has no 
 power to issue any such. As commander-in-chief of the 
 land and naval forces, and the militia when in actual ser- 
 vice, he may order arrests for trials before Courts Martial, 
 According to the rules and articles of war. Bur he is cloth- 
 ed with no such power over those not in the military ser- 
 vice, and not subject to the rules and articles of war. This 
 Act attempts to clothe him with judicial functions, ifYid in 
 a judicial character to do what no judge, under the Consti- 
 tution, can do : issue orders or warrants for arrests, by 
 which persons are to be deprived of their liberty, imprison- 
 ed, immured in dungeons, it may be without any oath or 
 affirmation, even as to the probable guilt of the party ac- 
 cused or charged with any of the offences or acts stated. 
 This, under the Constitution, in my judgment, cannot be 
 done. Congress can confer no such power upon our Chief 
 Magistrate. Thei% is no such thing known in this country 
 as political warrants, or "letters de catchet." This Let 
 attempts to institute this new order of things so odious to 
 our ancestors, and so inconsistent with constitutional lib- 
 erty. 
 
 This act, therefore, is unconstitutional, not because Con- 
 gress has not power to suspend the privileges of the writ of 
 
12 
 
 habeas corpus, but because they bave no power to do the thing 
 aimed at in this attempted exercise of it. Congress can 
 suspend the privilege of the writ — the power is clear and 
 unquestioned — neither is the power, as it stands, objeetion- 
 ■able. Georgia, in the Convention, voted against the clause 
 Conferring it in the Constitution as originally adopted— 
 that, perhaps, was a wise and prudent vote. But, with 
 the restrictions subsequently adopted, there can be no well 
 grounded objection to it. It is, under existing restrictions, 
 a wise power. In time of war, in cases of rebellion or in- 
 vasion, it may often be necessary to exercise it — the public 
 safety may require it. I am not prepared to say that the 
 public safety may not require it now. I am not informed 
 of the reasons which induced the President to ask the sus- 
 pension of the privilege* of the writ at this time, or Con- 
 gress to undertake its suspension as provided in this Act. 
 1, however, know of no reasons that require it, and have- 
 heard of none. But in the exercise of an undisputed pow- 
 er, they have attempted to dp just what cannot be done — 
 to authorize illegal and unconstitutional arrests — there can 
 be no suspension of the writ, under our system of govern- 
 ment, against unconstitutional arrests — there can be no 
 suspension allowing, or with a view to permit and author- 
 ize, the seizure of persons without warrant issued by a ju- 
 dicial officer upon probable cause, supported by oath or af- 
 firmation — the whole Constitution must be read together, 
 an<J so read and construed as that every part and clause 
 shall stand and have its proper effect under the restrictions 
 of other cause's. 
 
 If any conflict arises between clauses in the original and 
 the amendments subsequently made, the original must 
 yield to the amendments a» a will, previously made, always 
 yields to a modifications of a codicil. Such, of course,, 
 was the condition of the old Constitution with its amend- 
 ments, when the States of this Confederacy adopted it— 
 and it was adopted by these States wi|h the meaning, force 
 and effect it then had. In construing, therefore, those parts; 
 of the old Constitution which we adopted, we stand just 
 where we should have stood under like circumstances, un- 
 der it. Witlrthese views it will clearly appear that, under 
 our Constitution, Courts cannot be deprived of their right 
 or he relieved of their duty to enquire into the legality of 
 all arrests except in cases arising in the .land and naval- 
 forces or in the militia, when in actual service — for the 
 
13 
 
 government of which a different provision is made in the 
 Constitution. Under a Constitutional suspension of the 
 privilege of the writ all the Courts could do, would be to 
 see that tie party was legally arrested and held — upon 
 proper warrant — upon probable cause, supported by oatfi 
 or affirmation setting forth a crime of some violation of 
 law. Literally and truly then the only effect of a Consti- 
 tutional exercise of this power over the writ of habeas cor- 
 pus by Congress, is to deprive a person, after being legally 
 confined, of the privilege of a discharge before trial, by 
 giving bail, or on account of insufficiency of proof as to 
 probable oauffe or other like grounds. This privilege only 
 can be suspended, and not the writ itself. The words of 
 the Constitution are aptly chosen to express the purpose 
 and extent to which a suspension can go in this country*. 
 With tlris view, the power is a wise one. It can work no 
 serious injury to the citizen and it sufficiently guards the 
 public safety. The party against whom a grave accusa- 
 tion is brought, supported by oath or affirmation, founded 
 upon probable cause, must be held for trial, and if found 
 to be guilt} is to be punished according to the nature of 
 his offence. The monstrous consequences of any other 
 view of the subject are apparent. The exercise of the pow- 
 er by Congress may be either general or limited to special 
 eases as in this instance. If it had been general under 
 any other vrew what would have been the condition of 
 every citizen in the land ? The weaker would have been 
 completely in the power of the stronger without remedy or 
 redress. Any one in the community might seize for any 
 motive or for any purpose, any other, and confine him 
 most wrongfully and shamefully. Combinations of sever- 
 al against a few might be formed for a like purpose, and 
 there would be no remedy or redress against this species of 
 licensed lawlessness. The Courts wo*uld be closed — all 
 perscm.s.l security and personal safety would be swept away. 
 Instead of a land of' laws, the whole country would be no 
 better than a White-friars domain — a perfect Alsatia. — 
 This would be the inevitable effect of the exercise of the 
 power, by a general suspension, with any other view of 
 the subject, than this presented. The same effects as to 
 outre >n personal rights must issue under a limited 
 
 suspension confined to any other view. No such huge and 
 enormous wrongs can ever spring from our Constitution if 
 it be rightly administered. So that the conclusion of the 
 
u 
 
 whole matter is well stated by the Governor in&islate 
 Message, in the brief comprehensive, but exact terms — 
 ** Th* only suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas 
 corpus known to our Constitution and compatible with the 
 provisions already quoted, goes to the simple extent of pre- 
 venting the release, under it, of persons whose arrests have 
 been ordered, under Constitutional warrants from Judicial 
 Authority/' 
 
 On this subject much light is to be derived from English 
 history. Our whole system of Constitutional liberty rests 
 upon principles established by our Anglo Saxon ancestors. 
 But between their system and ours, there are several differ- 
 ences that should be noted and marked — and none more 
 striking and fundamental than the difference between the 
 two upon this subject. With them the right of personal 
 security against illegal arrests, was wrested from the Crown 
 by the Parliament, and established by Magna Charta, the 
 bill of rights, t'he abolition of the star chamber, and the 
 grant of the writ of habeas corpus, which is the means of 
 redress against violations of law, and other wrongs against 
 rights secured and acknowledged. In the abolition of tha 
 court of star chamber, the power was taken from the King, 
 his heirs and successors forever, and every member of his 
 privy council, to make any arrest of any person for any of- 
 fense or alleged crime, except by due process of law. By 
 this act, the power of the King to issue warrants or orders 
 of arrest, unsupported by oath or affirmation, setting forth 
 probable cause, which before, had been claimed as a royal 
 prerogative, was taken away from him and his successors 
 forever. The ruling monarch, Charles I, gave his consent 
 to the act and yielded the power. He afterwards broke his 
 pledge. Civil .commotions ensued from this and other, 
 causes. He lost his head upon the block. The subsequent 
 history of that strife between the people and the Crown of 
 England, on this and other matter, is not now pertinent to 
 the object before us. Suffice it to say that it ended in the 
 settlement as it is termed between the Parliament and their 
 new sovereigns, William and Mary, in 1688-' S9. In this 
 settlement, all the ancient rights and liberties of the Eng- 
 lish people, including the .right of the writ of habeas cor- 
 pus., were re-affirmed andsecured. Such were the liberties 
 inherited is a birth right, that our British ancestors brought 
 with them to this continent. The principles established 
 in England, after centuries of struggle and blood, formed 
 
15 
 
 the basis xijpon which the great structure of American cdr> 
 stitutional liberty was erected. But the striking difference 
 between their system and ours to which I have alluded and 
 which should never be lost sight of, is that with them, all 
 power originally belonged to the Crown. All rights and 
 liberties were grants from the Crown to the Parliament) 
 and through them to the people, while with us all power 
 originally belonged to the people — and essentially, still re- 
 sides with them. They have appointed agents to perform 
 the functions of government in the different departments, 
 executive, judicial and legislative, under the form of gov- 
 ernment set forth in the Constitution, clothed with the ex- 
 ercise of certain delegated, specific and limited powers, la 
 England it is cornjjetent for the Parliament at any time to 
 return the Crown all the powers heretofore extorted from 
 their kings. They can repeal any day Magna Charta, the 
 habeas corpus act and the whole bill of rights, and render 
 the ruling monarch as absolute as either of the Tudors or 
 Stuarts ever claimed or wished to be. The principles of 
 Magna Charta as to personal liberty and the right of the 
 writ of habeas corpus to secure these rights are put in our 
 fundamental laws, and cannot be violated by Congress, for 
 their powers are limited, and they are themselves bound by 
 the Constitution. That the British people would ever sub- 
 mit to a surrender of their -rights by Parliament, no one 
 *ean for a moment believe. But Parliament claims to be 
 omnipotent and could make the surrender, if they chosato 
 run the risk. Hence analogies between this country and 
 that on the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus and the 
 effect of such suspension, either generally or specially,,- 
 should be closely scanned ; even in England, so great is the 
 regard for liberty, suspensions have been rare since the set- 
 tlement of 16SS- ? 89. The writ was suspended there in 
 1715 and in 1745— and in 17&8 it was suspended in Ireland 
 with the power conferred on the lord lieutenant to make ar- 
 rests. Under the system of government in England, the 
 Parliament could confer this power upon the Crown or the 
 lord lieutenant, or upon any other person they saw fit. — • 
 Not so with our Congress, under our Constitution. In crit- 
 icisms upon the Governor's Message, these suspensions have 
 been alluded to against the positions of the message. They 
 are not in conflict at all. What the Governor state3'is that 
 he is not aware of any "instance in which the British King 
 has ordered the arrest of any person in civil life in any other" 
 
16 
 
 manner than by judicial warrant issued by the established 
 courts of the nation, or in which he ha* suspended or at- 
 tempted to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas cor- 
 pus, since the bill of rights and. the act of settlement passed 
 in 1689." He did not say that Parliament had not sus- 
 pended it, or that our Congress could not suspend it, in a 
 proper way, but that even in England, where Parliament 
 was unrestrained, they had not, since the settlement con- 
 ferred upon the Crown, the power to make arrests, so far as 
 he was aware. 
 
 'At this point 1 will briefly refer to the suspension by our 
 Congress, alluded to the other night by the distinguished 
 gentleman, (Hon. A. H. Keenan,) who lately represented 
 this district ; a gentleman whose remarks I listened to 
 with a great deal , of interest, and whose personal friend- 
 ship I esteem, so highly. He referred to the Act of the 
 Confederate Congress, passed October 13, 1862, and asked, 
 Why were there no objections made to that? This Act 
 he read. I have it before me. It provides that the " Pres- 
 ident, during the present invasion, shall have the power to 
 suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in any 
 city, town, or military district, whenever, in his judgment, 
 the public safety may require it ; but such suspension shall 
 apply only to arrests made by the authorities of the Con- 
 federate government, or for offenses against the same," 
 and in section 'id, that " the President shall cause proper 
 officers to investigate the cases of all persons so arrested, 
 in order that they may- be discharged if improperly detain- 
 ed, unless they can be speedily tried in due course of law." 
 The 3d section limits the Act to thirty days after the meet- 
 ing of the next Congress. 
 
 The answer to the inquiry, why there was no noise made 
 ahout this act, while there is so much made about the one 
 lately passed, is two-fold. In the first place : this act ap- 
 plied "only to arrests made by the authorities of the Con- 
 federate government" — "for offenses against the same." — 
 The proper authorities for issuing warrants to arrest are 
 the courts, whose duty it is to issue Warrants for arrests 
 whenever offenses or crimes are charged upon oath or affir- 
 mation, stating probable cause. The section directing the 
 President to cause "proper officers to investigate the cases," 
 etc., in its immediate connection with the proceeding, had 
 nothing in it calculated to awaken, alarm or excite objec- 
 tion, for by "proper officers" all naturally supposed judi- 
 
, ' • 17 
 
 cial officers only could be meant — judges who would or might act in 
 discharging under writs of habeas corpus, if that privilege had not 
 been suspended. In this connection these words seemed naturally 
 enough to have a meaning far different from what they have when ta- 
 ken from their context and put into this late act, in which it is clear 
 enough they are there intended to apply to other than judicial officers. 
 There was net then, <nor now, any objection, as far as I ara aware of, to 
 the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus; in any 
 city, town, 'or district, or generally throughout the country, if Con- 
 gress really has good reasons to believe the public safety requires it, 
 and if the power to suspend be constitutionally exercised. The ob- 
 jection to the late act is that it attempts to do what cannot constitu- 
 tionally be done. 
 
 But, in the second place, in answer to the inquiry, why no noise 
 was made about the act of October, 1862, I need only say that upon 
 the bare statement of the real and substantial objections to that act, 
 it was admitted to be unconstitutional and void, because it attempted 
 to confer the power to suspend upon the President,' when, in his jo;**. 
 ment, the public safety required it in the localities embraced ' in it$ 
 terms. Congress alone, under the Constitution; has the pow^r to sus- 
 pend the privileges of the writ. They cannot confer this power upon 
 the President or any body else. This is conclusively admitted both 
 by Cougress and the President in the lite act, for it is set forth in the 
 preamble, "Whereas, the power of suspending the privileges of said 
 writ is vested solely in the Congress," etc. This is an admission on 
 the record that the other act was unconstitutional and void. But, to 
 my mind, it is just as clear that Congress cannot confer upon the 
 President, or any other officer but a judicial one, the power to issue 
 orders or warrants for the arrest of persons in civil life, as it was then, 
 and on the passage of a similar act previously, that they could not 
 confer the power upon the President to suspend the privilege of the 
 writ of habeas corpus. The late act is just as void as the previous 
 ones, and for a like reason. In it Congress has attempted to do what 
 they had not power to do. -The first act' on the subject was assented 
 to on the 27th Feb., 1862. That attempted to confer on the Presi- 
 dent the power not only to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas 
 corpus in certain cities, towns, military districts, etc., but to declare 
 martial law, etc. This soon after was amended. But no one can say 
 that during the progress of these events that I was silent My senti- 
 ments upon the subj ^ct of martial law, against the unconstitutional 
 usurpations of power, were- proclaimed throughout the Confederacy, 
 as they are now, and will be proclaimed against the dangerous depart- 
 ures from principle in this act. Martial law has been abandoned, and 
 I trust the departures from principle in this act will be too. I speak 
 upon these as I wrote upon thjse. I have no inclination to arraign 
 the motives of those who disagree with me. Great principles are at 
 stake, and I feel impelled by a high sense of duty, when my opinions 
 are sought,- to give them fully, clearly, and earnestly. 
 
18 
 
 A few thoughts more upon the subject in another view. These re- 
 late to the object and workings, of the act, if it be sustained aud car- 
 ried out. You have been told that it affects none but the disloyal,. 
 none but traitors, or those who are no better than traitors, spies, 
 bridge burners and the like, and you have been appealed to and asked 
 if such are entitled to your sympathies ? I affirm, and shall maintain 
 before the world, that this act affects and may wrongfully oppress as 
 loyal and as good citizens and as true to our cause, as ever trod the 
 soil or breathed the air of the South. This I shall make so plain to 
 ' ou that no man will ever venture to gainsay or deny it. This long 
 jr.' . ' of offenses set forth in such array in the thirteen specifications,, 
 as I view, them, but rubbish and verbiage, which tend to cover 
 ,' . \de what in its workings will be found to be the whole gist, of tire 
 . "Vhether such was the real object and intention of its framers 
 ,' . - . .xjates, I know not. Against their motives or patriotism I 
 
 n aOVr ; n g tQ gay> j ta k e fo Q a(}t ag j g Q{ j - fc ^pjjg w jj | e gj st Q f 
 
 aye notm r ag a pp earg U p 0n jt 8 f ace) covered up in the fiftii specifi- 
 Jt lies, so t;, , he m i dd i e f t } ]e aetm i t j g embraced in the 'words— -"and 
 cation,^ near i id military service." 
 
 attempts to n\\ \n indisputable attempt to deny every citizen in thU 
 Here: is a pla.- /ight, if ordered into service, to have the question 
 "broiid tand the 1 \ e to military duty under the laws tried and adjudi- 
 whetlxr he is liabi ? Whether such was the real object and inten- 
 cated by the courts , d for the bilJ> j know not> but g^ would be 
 
 tiou of those who vot «| sustained and enforced. A man over fifty 
 its undeniable effect l % dozen ^^ in t ^ e fieldj w j 10 jj a8 done everv . 
 years of age, with halt i , cauge £ mm tlie - beginning of the war, may, 
 thin? in his power for tlu , g ecre tary of War, be arrested by the sub- 
 under instructions from tb. , to camp, upon the assumed ground that, 
 enrolling officer and ordered ^ Un(]cr fchlB kw> Jf j fc be a kw he 
 in point of tact, he is under L >dregg> A case to iii ustra te by occurred 1 
 would be without remedy or r. %[l 0rderg were igsued tQ examine 
 within my own knowledge last i the ' a2eg of persons ^ and instructions 
 the census returns of 18bU, as to ^ governed as to the age of parties 
 given to sub-enrolling omcers to ded fco . th& cengug retunjs> the 
 by those returns. In the case aim rf ^^ Rq teBted that he 
 patty, was not forty-five at the time < , lfL _ that the return mg en . Qn _ 
 bad not made the census returns hims. he ^ ^ tQ oye hy ey ._ 
 eous, % was not given unaer oat h-toat ^ forfevr . five aua not ji:lble 
 dence entirely satisfactory that ^ was o . geryice _ Hig ^.^ of 
 under the law,, as it then stood, to mihtary ^ { J Qf f J ^ 
 
 the writ of habe% corpus-his righ A ,ic > ha%e ^J ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 law settled by the courts was not then susp. ^ ^ 
 
 charged. But what would he . hu , taation a ^ 
 
 liho circumstances, i this act be held to ^ d law _ abiding ma ' n 
 act afficts none but the disloyal «dM»o^ ^ 
 
 can justly complain of it ! As I view it, its main 
 doorl of justice^ against thousands of „ ^™f£$ ^ 
 appeal to the courts for thoir legal rights, xaKo 
 
IS 
 
 vrho availed themselves of the law to put in substitutes— seme for one 
 motive, and some for another— «onie, doubtless, for not only <*ood 
 but patriotic motive*, believing thaj, they could render the country 
 more service at home than in the field. I know one who has put in 
 two, one when the call was for those up to thirty-five years of age 
 the other when the call was to forty-five. One of these substitutes 
 was an alien, whose services could not have been commanded by the 
 government, and who is now at Charleston, and has been during the 
 whoie siege of that place. This man who pat in these two substi- 
 tutes, remained at home most usefully employed in producing provis- 
 ions for the army. All his surplus went that way, while he had two 
 men abler bodied than he was, fighting for him in the field. Who 
 would say that such a man is disloyal to the cause, if, believing in his 
 heart tuat he was not liable under his contract, as he supposed with 
 iiis government, he should appeal to the courts to decide the question 
 whether he is liable under the law or not ? As to the law allowing 
 substitutes m the first instance, and then the law abrogating or annul- 
 Vv? lfc V ° alllDg the P ridci P als ^ the field, I have nothing to say 
 What I maintain is, that it is the great constitutional right of any and 
 every party affected by the last of these acts on the subject, to have 
 the question of his legal liability judicially determined if he chooses 
 £nd then as a good law-abiding citizeu act accordingly. 
 
 Take another illustration of the practical workings of the act -a. 
 Congress by law exempted from conscription such State officers as the 
 legislatures of the respective States might designate as proper to be 
 retained tor State purposes. At your last session you, by resolution, 
 designated all the civil ami militia officers of the State. A late order 
 has been issued by Gen. Cooper, as is seen in the papers, doubtless 
 under order from the Secretary of War, to enroll and send to camp a 
 large number of these officers— amongst others, justices of the peace 
 tax receivers and collectors. This order is clearly against the Jaw of 
 Congress and your solemn resolution. It is in direct antagonism tc 
 the decision of the Supreme Court of this State, in the very case in 
 wined they sustained the power of Congress to raise troops by con- 
 scription, but in which they held that the power was limited, and that 
 the civil officers of the State could not be constitutionally conscripted 
 I use the word conscripted purposely— I know there is no such word 
 in the English language— neither is there any sueh word as conscrib/% 
 the one usually in vogue now a days. A new word had to be coined 
 tor a process or mode o* raising armies, unheard of and undreamed of 
 by our ancestors, and I choose to coin one which best expresses my 
 idea ot it. But under this order of General Cooper, is it not the right 
 of these officers, is it not the right of the State, to have the question 
 ot their liability to conscription determined hy the judiciary 1 Is it 
 not the duty of Congress to compel the Secretary of War and General 
 Cooper to aoide by that decision and to obey their own laws, instead 
 ot attempting to close the doors ot the courts against the adjudication 
 ot all such matters that come within the sphere of their constitutional 
 duties. * 
 
20 
 
 Again, Congress, by the last section of the first conscript act, de~ 
 clared that all .who were or should be subject to it might, previous to 
 enrollment, volunteer in any company then in the service. Not- 
 withstanding this express law of Congress, securing the right of any 
 person liable to conscription to volunteer in any company then in the 
 service previous to enrollment, General Cooper has issued an order 
 by direction of the Secretary of War, doubtless, denying this right 
 to volunteer in any company then in existence, unless "the number in 
 such company is less than sixty-four men. Unier this illegal order 
 a number of as brave, gallant, chivalrous, noble spirited youths as 
 ever went forth to battle for their country and peril their lives tor con- 
 stitutional liberty, will be deprived of their birth right — the right to 
 have questions of law, affecting their liberty, determined by the courts 
 • — if this act, closing the court against them, shall be held to be valid. 
 Tell me not the act affects none but traitors, spies, and the disloyal ! 
 I neard not long since in Albany, a father carried his son to the dis- 
 trict enrolling officer; he had jus"t arrived at the age when he was 
 liable to conscription ; hie never wished him to go to the war as a con- 
 script. His older brothers had gone before him, they went out early 
 in the war as volunteers, and they formed part of that living wall of 
 freemen which still stands between us and a ruthless foe. He told 
 the enrolling officer, in substance, that he had brought this boy, the 
 Benjamin of his heart, as another offering on the altar of his country. 
 Ho was going as a rolupteer under the clause of the act alluaed to ; 
 he had selected the company to which his brothers belonged- He 
 was told this could not be allowed. At this the father was greatly 
 surprised and mortified, as may be readily understood ; he insisted 
 upon the rights of his son. Great as his surprise was at* first, how- 
 ever, greater was it still to be. The son was ordered to jail, to be 
 sent to the camp of instruction, to be assigned to any company his of- 
 ficers might choose. The high spirited youth, scorning conscription, 
 offering himself as a volunteer, asking nothing but his legal rights, 
 instead of being sent on with cheers by the crowd, and a father's part- 
 ing blessing,, was sent to jail as a felon ! 
 
 Can any one say that this- was not a most shanjeful outrage? 
 . It is, however, but one of a thousand cases like it that may occur, 
 and probably will occur, should this law be held to be constitutional; 
 and if the doors of the courts are to be closed against all who may be 
 ordered to the military service, without regard to law, I have here 
 two letters which will further illustrate how this act will work. They 
 are both addressed to the Governor. One is from a Mr. Samuel H. 
 Parker, written in Charleston jail. [Here Mr. S. read the letter, 
 stating that the writer was a native Georgian. That he lived in Whit- 
 field county. That he was forty-seven years of age, as the rocord 
 would show, then in. Whitfield county. That he was at his home with 
 his wife, (who was then sick,) with ten small chihlren, on the 27th 
 of February, of this year, when a party on horses came and arrestqd 
 him, and carried him to Dalton. And from Dalton he was carried to 
 
21 
 
 Atlanta. He protested that he was over age, and not liable to mili- 
 tary duty — that he was forty-seven years old. He was told that that 
 was the right age to make a soldier in South Carolina, and he was 
 sent to Charleston, where he was put in jail. He appealed to the 
 Governor of his native State, and the State of his residence, to hme 
 justice done him ] Of this Mr. Parker, said Mr. S., I know noth- 
 ing except what is stated in this letter. It may be false, and yet it 
 may be true. If true, justice ought to be done to a man so greatly 
 outraged and wrooged. But whother true or false, the courts ought 
 never to be closed against an inquiry iuto the facts, and never will 
 be, so long as personal security has any protection in this country. 
 
 The other letter is from the Hon. John Oats, a member of this- 
 House, from the county of Murray. It is dated the 11th of this 
 month, the day after the meeiiug of this session. [Here Mr. 8. read 
 Mr. Oa s' letter, stating that he was detained at Atlanta under very 
 painful circumstances. His oldest son, who had been in the army, 
 was subject to epilepsy, and had been discharged in consequence. — 
 That afterwards he had been carried before a board of physicians, who 
 pronounced his case incurable, a.nd he was giveu a certificate of final 
 discharge, on the grounds of permanent disability. That on the 
 morning Mr. Oats left home for Milledgeville, the provost guard at 
 1 a! ton went to his bouse, at Spring Place, and carried his son off to* 
 Dalton. They carried him from there to CartersvilL to Capt. Siarr, 
 the enrolling officer for the 10th Congressional District, and he, know- 
 ing all about. his case, sent him back to Dalton, stating in writing on 
 the order that he was sent there under, that according to law, and his 
 orders trom the War Department, he was not liable to conscription. 
 Tha f on his return to Dalton they put him in irons and assigned him 
 to Charleston, to go into the fortifications, and that he expected him 
 in Atlanta that evening. He was walling with the best counsel he 
 could get/ to see if there was any virtue in the writ of habeas corpus. 
 He asked that the Governor would get som3 member to procure for 
 him leave of absence from the House.] 
 
 Well, for Mr. Oats, said Mr. Stephens, and his afflicted son, there 
 is some virtue yet in the writ of nabeas corpus. 
 
 But what virtue would be in it, if it is denied under this act, to all 
 who attempt to avoid military service ? Nothing could induce ine to 
 read such letters on such an occasion, but a sense of duty, to show 
 you what will be the stnte of things all over the country,, under the 
 operations of such a law, when orders are issued for its enforcement 
 and to put you on your guard against the flippant phrase that the an 
 will affect none but traitors, spies and disl »yal people. Had it been 
 in operation,, and the courts regarded it. Mr. Oats' son, who had 
 served his country faithfully, as long as he was able, might now have 
 been beyond remedy, beyond redress and beyond hope. Will you 
 say, can you say, that the courts ought to be, or can bi closed against 
 such monstrous wrongs ? Will you not rather put upon the attempt 
 to do it the seal of your unqualified condemnation ? Tell me not, to 
 
22 
 
 put confidence in the President That he will never abuse the power 
 attempted to be lodged in his hands. The abuses may not be by the 
 President. He will not execute the military orders that will be giv- 
 en. This will necessarily devolve upon subordinates, scattered all 
 over the country, from the Potomac to the Rio Grande. He would 
 have to possess two superhuman attributes; to prevent abuses-^omni- 
 science, and omnipresence I ' 
 
 These things our forefathers knew, and hence they threw around 
 the personal security of the free citizens of this country a firmer, safer, 
 surer protection than confidence in any man, against abuses of power, 
 even when exercised under his own eye and by himself That pro- 
 tection is the shield of the Constitution. See to it that you do not in 
 an evil hour tear this shield otf and cast it away, or permit others to 
 do it, lest in a day you wH not of you sorely repent it. 
 
 Enough has been said, without dwelling longer upon this point, to 
 fihoWj without the possibility of a d<£ibt, that the act does affect others, 
 and large classes of others than' spies,- traitors, bridge burners and 
 disloyal persons— that the very gist of the act, whatever may have 
 been the intent or the motive, will operate most wrongfully and op- 
 pressive on as loyal, as patriotic, and as true, men as ever inherited a 
 freeman's birthright under a Southern sky. You have also seen that ' 
 there is and can be no necessity for the. passage of such an act, even 
 if it were constitutional, in the case of spies, traitors or conspirators. 
 For, if there be a traitor in the Confederacy — if such a monster exists 
 — if any well grounded suspicion is entertained that any such exists, 
 why not have him legally arrested by judicial warrant upon oath or 
 affirmation, setting forth probable cause, and theu he can be held un- 
 der a constitutional suspension of the privileges of the writ — he can 
 be tried, and, it found guilty, punished. What more can the public 
 safety by, possibility require? Why dispense with the oath? Why 
 dispense with judicial warrants? Why put it id the power of any 
 man on earth to order the arrest of another on a simple charge, to 
 which nobody will swear? Who is sife under such a law? Who 
 knows, when he goes' fjrth, when or whether he shall ever return ? 
 The President, according to this act, is to have power to arrest and 
 imprison whoever he pleases, upon a bare charge, made, perhaps, by 
 an enemy of disloyalty. The party making the charge not being re- 
 quired to swear to it ! Who, I repeat, is safe or would be under such a 
 law? What were the objects of 'the act, in these clauses, as to trea- 
 son, disloyalty, and the others, I do not know. To me it seems to be 
 unreasonable to suppose that it was to reach real traitors and persons 
 guilty of the offenses stated. For that object could have been easily 
 accomplished without any such extraordinary power. I was not at 
 Richmond wh^n the act passed. I heard none of the discussions, and 
 knew none of tho reasons assigned by the President in asking it; or 
 the members or Senators who voted for it. I was at home, prostrate 
 with disease, from which I have not yet recovered, and by reason of 
 which I address you with so much feebleness on this occasion. Bufe 
 
23 
 
 I have heard that one object was to control certain elections and ex- 
 pected assemblages in North Carolina, to put a muzzle upon certain 
 presses and a bit in the mouth of certain speakers in that State. If 
 :his be so, I regard it the more dangerous to public liberty 1 know 
 nothing of the politics of North Carolina — nothing 0/ the positing f 
 her leading public men. It there be traitors there, let them be con- 
 stitutionally arrested, tried and punished. No fears need be indulg- 
 ed of bare error there, or anywhere else, if reason is left free to com- 
 bat it. The idea is incredible, that a majority of the people of that 
 gallant and noble old State, which was foremost in the war of the rev- 
 olution in her memorable Mecklenburg declaration of independence 
 err, if let alone, ever be induced to prove themselves so recreant to 
 the principles of their fathers as to abandon our cause and espouse the 
 despotism of thj North. Her people, ahead of all the Colonels, first 
 flaunted in the breeze the flag of Independence and State Sovereign- 
 ty,. She cannot be the first to abandon it — no, never ! I cafnot be- 
 lieve it! If her peopje were really so inclined, however, we could 
 not prevent it by force — we could not, under the Constitution, it' we 
 would, and we ought not if we could. Ours is a government founded 
 upon the consent of sovereign States, and will be itself destroyed by 
 the very act whenever it attempts to maintain or perpetuate its exis- 
 tence by force over its respective members. The surest way to check 
 any inclination in North Carolina to quit our sisterhood, if any such 
 really exist oven to the most limited extent among her people, is to 
 show them that the struggle is continued, as it was begun, for the 
 maintenance of constitutional liberty. If, with this great truth ever 
 before them, a majority of her people should prefer despotism to lib- 
 erty, I would say to her, as to "a wayward sister, depart in peace." 
 I want to see no Maryland this side of the Potomac. 
 
 Another serious objection to the measure, showing: its impolicy, is 
 th^ effect it will have upon our cause abroad. I have never louked 
 to foreign intervention, or early recognition, and do not now. Euro- 
 pean governments have no sympathy with either side in this strug- 
 gle. They are rejoiced to see professed republicans cutting each 
 other's throats, and the failure, as they think, of the great experi- 
 ment of self-government on this continent. They saw that the North 
 went into despotism immediately on the separation of the Ssuth, and 
 their fondest hopes and expectations are that the sa ne destiny awaits 
 us. This has usually been the fate of republiqs. This is the senti- 
 ment of all the governments in Europe. But we have friends dure, 
 as you heard hst night, in the eloquent remarks of the gentleman 
 [Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar] who addressed you on our foreign relations, 
 and who has lately returned from those couu tries. Those friends are 
 anxiously and hopefully watching the issue of the present convict. In 
 speeches, papers and reviews they are defending our cause No ar- 
 gument used by them heretofore has been more effectual than the con- 
 trast drawn between the Federals and the Confederates upon the sub- 
 ject of the writ of habeas corpus. Here, notwithstanding our dangers 
 
24 
 
 and perils, the military has always been kept subordinate to the civil 
 authorities. Here all the landmarks of English liberty have been 
 preserved and maintained, while at the North not a vestige of them 
 if left. There, instead of courts of justice with open doors', the coun- 
 try is dotted all over with prisons and bastiles. No better argument 
 in behalf of a people struggling for constitutional liberty couJd have 
 been presented to arouse sympathy in our favor. It showed that we 
 were passing through a fiery furnace for a great cause, and passing 
 through unscathed. It showed that, whatever may be the state of 
 things at the North, at the South, at least, the great light of the prin- 
 ciples of self-government, civil and religious liberty, established on 
 this continent by our ancestors, which was looked to with encourage- 
 ment and hope by the down-trodden of all nations, was not yet extin- 
 guished, but was still burning brightly in the hands of their Southern 
 sons, even burning the more brightly from the intensity of the conflict 
 in which we are engaged. To us, in deed and in truth, is committed 
 the hopes of the world as to the capacity and ability of man for self- 
 government. Let us see to it that these hopes and expectations do 
 not fail. Let us prove ourselves equal to the high mission before us. 
 One other only that relates tfthe particularly dangerous tendency 
 of this Act in the present state of the country, and the policy indi- 
 cated by Congress. Conscription has been extended to embrace all 
 between seventeen and Sfty years of age. It cannot be possible that 
 the intention and object of that measure was really to call and keep 
 in the field all between those ages. The folly and ruinous conse- 
 quence of such a policy is too apparent. Details are to be made, and 
 must be made, to a large extent. *'The effect and object of this meas- 
 ure, therefore, was nor to raise armies or procure soldiers, but to put 
 all the population of the country between those ages under military 
 law? Whatever the object was, the effect is to put much the larger 
 portion of the labor of the country, both white and slave, under the 
 complete control of the President. Under this 3ystern almost all the 
 useful and necessary occupations of life will be completely under the 
 control of one man. No one between the ages of seventeen and fifty 
 can tan your leather, make your shoes, grind your grain, shoe your 
 liors. , Jay your plough, make your wagon, repair your 'harness, su- 
 perintend your farm, procure your salt, or perform any other of the 
 necessary vocations of life, (except teachers, preachers and physicians, 
 aiid a very few others) without permission from the President. This 
 is certainly an extraordinary and a dangerous power. In this con- 
 nection take in view this habeas corpus suspension act, by which it 
 has been shown i,he attempt is made to confer upon him the power to 
 order the arrest and imprisonment of any man, woman or child in the 
 Confederacy on the bare charge, unsupported by oath, or any of the ■ 
 acts for which arrests are allowed to be made. Could the whole 
 country be more completely under the power and control of one man, 
 except as to life and limb? Could dictatorial power le more com- 
 plete? In this connection consider, also, the strong appeals that 
 
• 25 
 
 have been made for some time past, by leading journals, openly for a 
 dictator. Comiug events often cast their shadows before. Could art 
 or ingenuity have devised a shorter or a surer cut to that end, for all 
 practical purposes, than the wnole policy adopted by the last Congress, 
 and now before you for consideration ? As to the objects, or motives, 
 or patriotism of those who adopted that policy, that is not the ques- 
 tion. The presentation of the case as it stands is what your atten- 
 tion is called to. Nor is the probability of the abuse of tie power 
 the question Sv.me, doubtless, think it is for the best interests of 
 the country to have a dictator ? Such are not unfrequently to be met 
 with whose intelligence, probity and general good character in pri- 
 vate life are not to be questioned, however much their wisdom, judg- 
 ment and principles may be deplored. In such times, when consid- 
 ering the tacts as they exist, and looking at the policy indicated in 
 all its bearings, the most ill-timed, delusive and dangerous words that 
 can be uttered are, can you not trust the President? Have you not 
 confidence in him that he will not abuse the powers thus cpnfided in 
 him ? To all such questions my answer is, without any reflection or 
 imputation against our present Chief Magistrate, that the measure of 
 my confidence in him, and all other public officers, is the Constitu- 
 tion. To the question of whether I would not or cannot trust him 
 Tffith these high powers not conferred by the constitution 
 my answer is the same that I gave to one who submitted a plan for a 
 dictatorship to me some months ago : "I am utterly opposed to every- 
 thing looking to or tending towards a dictatorship in this country- 
 Language would fail to give utterance to my inexpressible repugnance 
 at the Dare suggestion of such a lamentable catastrophe. There is 
 no man living, and not one of the illustrious dead, whom, if now liv- 
 iving, I would so trust " 
 
 in any and every view, therefore, I look upon this habeas corpus 
 suspension act as unwise, impolitic, unconstitutional aid dangerous 
 to public liberty. 
 
 But you have been asked what can you do? Do? You can do 
 much, 'if you believe the act to be unconstitutional, you can and 
 ought so to declare your judgment to be. 
 
 What can you do? What did Virginia and Kentucky do in 
 1797-98, under similar circumstances f What did Jefferson do, 
 and what did Madison do, and what did the legislators of those 
 States* then do ? . 
 
 Though a war was then threatening w'th France — though armies 
 were being raised — though Washington was called from his retire- 
 ment to take command as lieutenant-general — though it was said 
 then as now, that all discussions of even obnoxious measures of Con- 
 gress would be hurtful to the public cause, they did not hesitate, by 
 solemn resolves 'by the Legislatures, to declare the alien and sedition 
 laws unconstitutional and utterly void. • Those acts of Congress, in 
 my judgment, were not more clearly unconstitutional, or more dan- 
 gerous to liberty, than this act now under review. What can you 
 do ? You can invoke its repeal, and ask the government officials and 
 
26/ 
 
 the people in the meantime, to liet the question of constitutionality lie- 
 submitted to the courts, and both sides abide by the decision 
 
 Some seem to be of the opinion, that those who oppose this act are 
 for a counter-revolution. No such thing. I am for, no counter-rev- 
 olution. The object is to keep the present one, great in its aims and 
 grand in its purposes, upon the right tract — the one on which' it was 
 started, and that on which alone itcaa attain noble objects and majes- 
 tic achievements. The surest way to prevent a counter-revolution, 
 is for the State to speak out and declare her opinions upon this sub- 
 ject For as certain as day succeeds night, the people of this Con- 
 federacy will never live long in peace and quiet under any govern- 
 ment .with the principles of this act settled as its established policy, 
 and held to be in conformity with the provisions of its fundamental 
 law. The action of the Virginia Legislature in 1779, «aved the old 
 government beyond question, from a counter and bloody revolution ; 
 kept it on the right track for sixty years afterwards, in its unparallel- 
 ed career of growth, prosperity, development, progress, happiness, 
 and renown. All our present troubles, North and South, sprang 
 from violations of those great constitutional principles therm set 
 forth. 
 
 Let no one, therefore, be deterred from performing his duty on 
 this occasion by the cry of counter-revolution, nor by the cry that it 
 is the duty of all, in this hour of peril, to support the government. — 
 Our government is composed of executive, legislative and: judicial 
 department, under the Constitution. He most truly and faithfully 
 supports the government who supports and defends the Constitution. 
 Be not misled by this cry, or that you must not say anything against 
 the administration, or you will injure the cause. This is the argu- 
 ment of the pr-acher, who doubted that his derelictions should not be 
 exposed, because if they, were, it would injure his . use fulness v as a. 
 minister. Derelict ministers are not the cause Listen to no such 
 cry. And let no one be influenced by that other cry, of the bad ef- 
 fect of such discussions and such action will have upon our gallant 
 citizen soldiers in the field. I know something of the feeling -of these 
 men. I have witnessed their hardships, their privations ana their 
 discomforts in camp. I have witnessed and ministered to their want* 
 and sufferings from disease and wounds in hospitals. 
 
 I know something of the 'sentiments that actuated the great major- 
 ity of them, when they quit home, with all its endearments, and went 
 out to this war — not as mercenaries or human machines; but as intel- 
 ligent, high-minded, noble-spirited gentlemen, who ^ere proud of 
 their birthright as freemen, and " who, knowing their rights," dared 
 maintain them, at any and every cost and sacrifice. The old Barons 
 who extorted magna charta from their oppressor and wrong-doer by a 
 resort to arnfs, did not present a grander spectacle for the admiration 
 of the world when they went forth to their work, thoroughly imbued 
 with a sense of the right for the right's sake, than this gallant ban<$ 
 of patriots did when they went forth in this war, inspired with no 
 
27 
 
 motive but a thorough devotion to and an ardent attachment for con- 
 stitutional liberty To defend this and maintain it inviolate for them- 
 selves and tnose who should come after them, was their sole object. 
 Their ancient rghts, usages, institutions and liberties were threaten- 
 ed by an insolent foe, who had trampled the Constitution of our com- 
 mon ancestors under foot. They and we all had quit the Union when 
 the rights of all of us were no longer respected under it, but we had 
 rescued the Constitution— the ark of the covenant— and 'his is what 
 they went to defend. These were the sentiments with w'hi6h your 
 armies were raised as if by magic. These are the sentiments with 
 which re-enlistments for the war have been made. These are the 
 sentiments with which your ranks would have Deen filled to the last 
 maD whose services can be relied upon in action if conscription had 
 never been resorted to. 
 
 You cannot, therefore, send these gallant defenders of constitution- 
 al liberty a more cheering message than that, while they are buttling 
 for their rights and the common rights of all in the; field, you are 
 keeping sacred watch and guard .over the same in the nublic councils. 
 Ihey will enter the fight with renewed vigor from the' assurance that 
 their toil, and sacrifice, and blood will not be in vain, but that when 
 'the strife is over and independence is acknowledged, it will not be 
 a bare name, a shadow and a mockery, but that with it they and their 
 children atter them shall enjoy that liberty for which they now peril 
 all* iSext to this, the mo t encouraging message you could send 
 them is, that while all feel that the brunt of the fight must be borne 
 by them, and the only sure hope of success is in the power of their 
 arms yet every^ possible and honorable effort will be made by the 
 ,civil departments of the government to terminate the struggle by ne- 
 gotiation and adjustment upon the principles for which they entered 
 the contest. ' 
 
 ' Gentlemen, I have addressed you longer thnu I expected to be able 
 to do. My strength will not allow me "to say more. I do not know 
 that I shall ever address you again, or see you. again. Great events 
 nave passed since, standing in this place three years ago, I addressed 
 your predecessors, on a similar request, upon the questions then im- 
 mediately pending our present Troubles. Many who were then with 
 us have since passed away. Some in the ordinary course of life, 
 while many of them bave. fallen upon the battle-field, offering up their 
 lives m the great cause in which we are engaged. Still greater events 
 may be just ahead of us. What fate or fortune awaits jou or me, in 
 the contingencies of the times, is unknown to us all. We may meet 
 again, or we may not. But as a parting remembrance, a lasting 
 memento, to be engraven on your memories and your hearts, T warn you 
 against that most insidious enemy which approaches with her syren 
 song— " Independence first and liberty afterwards." It is a false de- 
 lusion. Liberty is the animating spirit, the soul of our system of 
 government, and like the soul of man, when once lost, it is lost for- 
 ever. There is for it no redemption except through blood. Never 
 
28 
 
 for a moment permit yourselves to look upon liberty, that constitu- 
 tional liberty which you inherited as a birthright, as subordinate to in- 
 dependence. The one was resorted to to save the other. Lot them 
 ever be held and cherished as objects co-ordinate, co-existent, co- 
 equal, co-evai and forever inseparable. Let them, stand together 
 " through weal and through woe," and, if such be our fate, let them 
 and us all go down together in a common ruin. Without liberty I 
 would not turn upon my heel for independence. I scorn all indepen- 
 dence which does not secure liberty. I warn you also against anoth- 
 er fatal delusion, commonly dressed up. in the fascinating language of 
 " If we are to have a master, who would not perfer to have a Southern 
 one to a Northern one?" Use no such language. Countenance 
 none such. Evil communications are, as corrupting in politics as in 
 morals. 
 
 " Vice is a monster of such "hideous mien, 
 
 That to be hated, needs but to be seen. 
 
 But seen too oft, familiar with her face, 
 
 We first endure, then pity, then embrace." 
 
 I would not turn upon my heel to choose between masters. I was 
 not born to have a master from either the North ;Or South. I shall 
 never choose between candidates for that office. Shall never degrade 
 the right of suffrage in such an election. I have no wisn or desire to 
 J.ive after the degradation of my country, and have no intention to 
 survive its liberties, if life be the necessary sacrifice of their mainte- 
 nance to the utmost of my ability, to the bitter end. As for myself, 
 give me liberty as secured in the Constitution with all its guaranties, 
 among which is the sovereignty of Georgia, or give me death. This 
 is my motto, while living, and I want no better epitaph, when I am 
 dead! 
 
 Senators and Representatives : the honor, .the rights, the dignity, 
 the glory of Georgia is in your hands. See to it as faithful sentinels 
 upon the watchtower, that no harm or detriment come to any of those 
 high and sacred trusts, while committed to your charge. [Immense 
 cheers and applause.] 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE MESSAGE OF GOV. 'BROWN. 
 
 THE CURRENCY. 
 
 The late action of the Congress of the Confederate States upon the subject of 
 the currency has rendered further legislation necessary in this State' upon that 
 question. It cannot be denied that this act has seriously embarrassed the finan- 
 cial s stem of this State, and has shaken the confidence of our people in either the 
 justice of the late Congress or its competency to manage our financial afi'airs. — 
 Probably the history ot the past furnishes few more striking instances of unsound 
 policy combined with bad faith. 
 
 The government issu s its Treasury note for $100, and binds itself two years af- 
 ter a treaty of peace between the Confederate States and the United States, to pay 
 the bearer that sum ; and stipulates upon the face of the note that it is fundable 
 in Confed erate States stocks or bonds, and receivable in payment of all public duea 
 except expot t duties. The Congress, while the War is still progressing, passes a 
 statute that this bill shall be funded in about forty days or one- third of it 6hall be 
 
29 # 
 
 repudiated, and that a tax of ten per cent a month shall be paid for it after that 
 time by the holder, and it shall no longer be receivable in payment of public outs, 
 and if it is not funded by the 1st of January next the whole debt is repudiated. — 
 Did the holder take the note with any such expectation ? Was thisitbe contract, 
 and is this the way the government is to keep its faith ? If we get rid of the old 
 issues in this way what guaranty do we give for better faith in the redemption of 
 the next issues ? Again, many of the notes have the express promise on their face 
 that they shall be funded in eight per cent bonds. When ? The plain import is, 
 and so understood by all at the time of their issue, that it may be done at any time 
 before the dayiixed on the face of the note for its payment. With what semblance 
 of good faith then does the government before that time compel the holder to re- 
 ceive a four per cent bond, or lose the whole d"bt? and what better is this than 
 repudiation ? When was it ever before attempted by any ' government to compel 
 the funding of almost the entire paper currency of a country amounting t 
 or eight hundred millions of dollars in forty days ?• This is certainly a new chap- 
 ter in financiering. 
 
 The country expected the imposition of a heavy tax, and all patriotic citizens 
 were prepared to pay it cheerfully at any Reasonable saciifice; but repudiation 
 and bad faith were not expected, and the authors of it cannot be held gm,il 
 The expiring Congress took the precaution to discuss the measure i; 
 pion ,• so that the individual act of the representative could not reach his constit- 
 uents, and none could be annoyed during its consideration by the murmurs ot'pub- 
 lic disapprobation being echoed back into the Legislative Hall. And to make as- 
 surance doubly sure, they fixed the day for assembling of their successors, at a 
 time too late to remedy the evil, or afford adequate redVeSfl for th»- wrong. 
 
 These secret sessions of Congress are' becoming a blighted curse to the country. 
 They are used as a convenient mode of covering up from the people, such acts or 
 expressions of their representatives as will not bear investigation in the light of 
 day. Almost every act of usurpation of power, or of bad faith, has been conceiv- 
 ed, brought forth and nurtured, in secret session. It I mist ike not the British 
 Parliament never discussed a single measure in secret session during the whole pe- 
 riod of tie Crimean War. But it it is necessary to discuss a few important mili- 
 tary measures, such as may relate to the movement of armies, &c, in secret ses- 
 sion, it does not follow that discussions of questions pertaining to the currency, tho 
 suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, and the like, should all be conducted in 
 secret session. The people should require all such measures to be discussed with 
 open doors, and the press should have the liberty of reporting and freely criticis- 
 ing the acts of our public servants In this way the reflection of the popular will 
 back upon the representatives, would generally cause the defeat of such unsound 
 measures, as those which are fastened upon the country in defiance of the will of 
 the people. 
 
 * * * * * * . * 
 
 SUSPENSION OF THE HABEAS CORPUS. 
 
 I cannot withhold the expression of the deep mortification I feel at the late ac- 
 tion of Congress in attempting to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas cor- 
 pus, and to confer upon the President powers expressly denied to him bv the Con- 
 stitution of the Confedurate States. Under pretext of a nece-sity which" nur whole 
 people know do*s not exist in this case, whatever may have been the motives, our 
 Congress, with the absent and at the request of the Executive, has" struek'a fell 
 blow at the liberties of the people of these States. 
 
 The Constitution of the Confederate States declares that "The privilege of the 
 writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in casts of rebellion or 
 invasion the public safety may require it." The power to suspend the habeas cor- 
 pus at all is derived, not from express and direct delegation, but from implication 
 only, and an implication can never be raised in opposition to an express restric- 
 tion. In case of any conflict between the two, an implied power must always yield 
 to express restrictions uoon its exercise. The power to suspend 'the privilege of 
 the writ of habeas corpus derived by implication- must therefore be always limitei 
 by the express declaration in the Constitution that : 
 
 •'The light of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, 
 against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not.be violated ; and no warrants 
 shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by 04th or affirmation, and partic- 
 ularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be s^iztd," 
 and the further declaration that "no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or 
 property, without due process of law." And that, 
 
 "In all criminal prosecutions the accuser shall enjoy the right of a speedy and 
 
so 
 
 public trial by an impartial jury of the State, or District where the crime shall 
 have been committed, which district shall hare been previously ascertained by law, 
 and to be informed of the nature and the cause of the accusation; to be confronted 
 with tbe wituesses 'against hiui ; to have compui ory process tor obtaining wit- 
 nesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence." 
 
 Thus it is an express guaranty ot the Constitution that the "persons" of the peo- 
 ple shall be s. cure, and "no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, sup- 
 ported by oath or affirmation," particularly. describing "fhe persons to be seized;" 
 that "no person shall be deprived ot liberty without due process of law," and that 
 in "all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right of a special and pub- 
 lic trial by an impartial jury." 
 
 The Constitution also defines the powers of the Executive, which are limited to 
 those delegated, among. which there is no one, authorizing him to issue warrants 
 or other arrests of persons not in actual military service ; or to sit as a judge in 
 any case, to try any person for a Criminal offense, or to appoint any court or tri- 
 bunal to do it, not provided for in the Constitution as part of the judiciary. The 
 power to issue warrants and try persons under criminal accusations are judicial . 
 powers which b-i.oug under the Constitution, exclusively to the judiciary and not 
 to the Executive. His power to order arrests as Commander-in-Chief is strictly 
 a military power, and is confined to the arrests of persons subject to military pow- 
 er, as to the arrests of person in the army or navy of the Confederate States ; or 
 in the militia, when in the actual service of the Confederate States, and does not 
 extend to any persons in civil life, unless they be followers of tbe camp or within 
 the lines of the army» This is clear from that provision of the Constitution which 
 declares that, 
 
 " No person shaU be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous 
 crime, unless on a presentiment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases 
 Arising in the land or naval forces, or in tbe militia when in actual service in time 
 of war or public danger/' But even here the power of the President as Comman» 
 der in-Chief is not absolute, as his powers and duties in ordering arrests of per- 
 sons in the land or naval forces, or in the militia when in actual service, are clear- 
 ly defined by the rules and articles of war prescribed by" Congress. A»y warrant 
 issued by trie President, or any arrest made by him or under his order, of any 
 person in civil life, and not subject to military command, is illegal and in plain 
 violation of the Constitution; as it is impossible lor Congress by implication to 
 confer upon the President the right to exercise powers of arrests, expressly for- 
 bidden to him by the Constitution. An effort on the part ot Congress 5 to do thia 
 is but an attempt to revive the odious practice of ordering political arrests, or is- 
 suing letters de cachet by royal prerogative so long since renounced by our English 
 ancestors, and the denial of the right of the constitutional judiciary to investi- 
 gate such cases, and the provision for Creating a court appointed by the Execu- 
 tive and changeable at his will, to take jurisdiction of the same, and are in viola* 
 tioo of the great principles of Magna Cbarta, the Bi 1 of Rights, the habeas cor- 
 pus act, and the Constitution of the Confederate States, upon which both English 
 and American liberty rest; and are but an attempt to revive the odious Star 
 Chamber court of England, which in the hands of wicked kings was ufed for ty- 
 rannical purposes by the crown until it was finally abolished by acts of Parlia- 
 ment, of 16th Charles the first, which went into operation on the 1st of August, 
 1641. This act has ever since been regarded as one of the great bulwarks of Eng- 
 lish liberty ; and as it was passed by the English Parliament to secure our English 
 ancestors against the very same character of arbitrary arrests which the late act 
 of Congress is intended to authorize the President to make, I append a copy of it 
 to this message, with the same italics and'small capital letters which are used in 
 the printed copy in the book from which it is taken It will be seen that the court of 
 the " Star Chamber," which was the instrument in the hands of the English king, 
 for invesngating his illegal arrests and carrying out his arbitrary decrees, was 
 much more respec'able on account of tbe character, learning and ability of ita 
 members than the Confederate Star- Chamber or court of " proper officers." which 
 the act of Congress gives the President power to appoint to investigate his illegal 
 arrests. . <, 
 
 1 am aware of no instance in which the British king has ordered the arrest of 
 any person in civil life, in any dither manner than by judicial wan ant, issued by the 
 established c mrt of the ream ; or in which he has suspended or attempted to 8m> 
 pend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, since the Bill of Rights and ace of 
 settlement passed in 1689. To attempt this in 1864 would cost the present reign» 
 ing Queen no less price than her crown. 
 
Si 
 
 * * * * 
 
 By an examination of the act ot Congress now under consideration, it will be* 
 Seen that it is no' an act to suspend the privilege o> the writ of habeas co pus in case 
 «f warrant, issues by judicial authority ; but t.:c main purpose of the act seems to 
 be to authorize the President to issue warrant? supported by neither oath nor af- 
 firmation and to make ar-ests of persons not in military service, upon charges of 
 a n .lure proper for investigation in the judicial tribunal* only, and to prevent th* 
 Courts from enquiring into such arrests, or granting redo/ against such illegal 
 usurpations of power, which are in direct and palpable violation of the Coneti- 
 tation 
 
 ****** 
 ( This then is not an act to suspend the privilege of the writ of baaeas corpus, in the 
 manner authorised by implication by the Cousti utidnj but ic is an act to au- 
 thorize the President to make illegal and unconstitutional arrests, in ca^cs which 
 the Conetitotion gives to lua judiciary, and denies to the Executive j and to pro- 
 hibit all judicial interference for the relief of tbe citizen, when tvranniz-d over by 
 illcgal arrest, under letters de cachet issued by Exe^'itive authority. 
 
 Instead df the legality of the arrest being examined in the judicial tribunals ap- 
 
 £-oirted by the Constitution, it is to be examined in the Confederate bUM hum- 
 or; that is, by (XficeM appointed by the President. Wh-. saj that the " Pre«i- 
 •dentshali cause proper pmeert to investigate " the legality "of arrests' made by 
 3iim? Why not permit the judges, w hose constitutional right and dutv it is to 
 do it ? 
 
 We are witnessing with too uinch indifference assumptions of power by the 
 ConlederaU government which in ordinary times would arouse the whole country 
 to indignant rebuke and stern resistance. History teacbis ua that submission t«f 
 one encr»aohweuc upon constitutional liberty is always followed by another, and 
 we sb mid no r . forget that important rights, yielded to those in power without re- 
 buke o#*prct2St. are never recovered by the people without evulution. 
 
 If this act is acquiesced ic, the President, the Secretary of War, and the com- 
 mander of the Trans Mississippi department under the control of the President, 
 each has the powW conferred by Congress, to imprison whomsoever ho chooses t 
 and it is onlj nee <ary to allege that it is done on accourt of " treas mab'e efforts" 
 or of ''conspiracies to i eaiat the lawful authority of the Confederate States,' ' or for 
 "giving aid antl comfort to the enemy," or other of the causes of arrest enumer- 
 ated in the statute-, and have a subaltern to hie his affidavit accordingly, after tbe 
 arrest if a Writ of habeas corpus is sued out, and no Court dare inquire into the 
 cause pf the imprisonment. '1 he statute makes the President and not the courts 
 thejud^eof the sudiciencj of the cause for his own acts. Either of yarn or any 
 ether citizen ot Georgia, may, at any momeut, (as Mr. V. lianaigharn was ill 
 Ohio,) be dragged from your homes at midnight by armed lorce, and imprisoned 
 at tb.3 will of the President, upon the pretext tb&t you have been guilty of some 
 oden^e of the chai actor above named, and no court known to our judiciary, can 
 inquire into the wrong or grant relief 
 
 When such bold strides towards military Jespotism and absoiute authority are 
 taken by those in whom we have confided, and who have been placed in high offi- 
 cial position, to guard and protect constitutional and persona] liberty, it is tbe 
 duty of every patriotic citizen to sound the alarm, and of the State Legislatures 
 to say*in thunder-tones, to those who assume to govern us by absolute power, that 
 there is a point beyond which freemen will not permit encrachmeat3 to go. 
 *>• * * * * * 
 
 Can the President no longer trust the judiciary with the exercise of the legiti- 
 mate powers confer. cd Upon it by the Constitution and laws? In what instance 
 have the grave and dignified Judges proved disloyal or untrue to our cause? — 
 When have tuey embarrassed the government by turning loose traitors, skulker? 
 or spies? Have the} not in every instance given the government the benefit ot" 
 their doubts in sustaining its action, though they might thereby seem to encroach 
 upon the rights of the Mates, and for a time deny substantial justice to the peo- 
 ple ? Then why this implied censure upon them ? 
 
 What justification exists uow tor this most monstrous deed, svhich did not exist 
 during th.- first or second year of tbe war, unless it be found in the fact that tho«« 
 in power have found the people ready to submit to every encroachment rather 
 than make an isiue with the government, while we are at war with the enemy, 
 and have on that account been emboldened to take the step which is intended to 
 make the President as absolute in hie -power of arrest and imprisonment as th* 
 
32 
 
 Czar of all the "Russians ? What reception would the members of Congress from 
 the States have met in 1861, had they returned to their constituents and informed 
 them that they had suspended the habeas corpus and given the President the power 
 to imprison the people of these States with no restraint upon his sovereign will ?' 
 "Why i? .ibei t\ less sacred, now than it was in 1861? And what will we have 
 trained when we have ae&ieVed our. independence of the Northern States, if in 
 our effort to do so we have permitted our form of government to be subverted, and 
 have 1- st C istitutional liberty at home ? 
 
 The hope of the country now rests in the new Congress soon to assemble. ' They • 
 must maintain '"ir liberties against encroachment and wipe this and all such stains 
 Irani the statute book, or the Sun of Liberty will soon set in darkness and blood. 
 * * * ' * * * » . 
 
 H&W PEACE SHOULD BE SOUGHT. 
 
 In view of these difficulties it may be asked— When and how is this war to ter- 
 minate ? it is impossible to say when it may terminate, but it is eas) to gay how 
 it will end. We do not seek to conquer the Northern people, and if we are true 
 to ourselves they can never conquer us. We do not seek to take from them the 
 rijrht of self government, or to govern them without their consent; and they have 
 not force enough to govern us without our consent, or to deprive us of the right 
 to govern ourselves. The blood of hundreds of thousands may yet be spilt and 
 the war will not s: ill be terminated by force of arms. Negotiation will finally ter- 
 minate it. The pen of the statesman, more potent than the sword of the warrior, 
 must do what tn. latter has failed to do. 
 
 But I may be asked how negotiations are to commence, when President Lincoln 
 refuses to receive commissioners sent by us and his Congre.-s resolves to hear^no 
 proposition for peace. I reply. that, in my opinion, it is our duty to keep it always 
 i de Northern people and the civilized world, that we are ready to nego- 
 tiate ior peace whenever the people and government of the Northern States are 
 prepared to recognise the great fundamental principles of the Declarationn of In- 
 dependence, maintained by our common ancestry — the right of all self-govern- 
 ment, and the sovereignty of the Stntes. In my judgment, it is the duty of our 
 government, after each important victory, achieved by our gallant and glorious 
 armies on die .battle-field) to make a distinct proposition to the No -thorn govern- 
 ment for a peace upon these terms. By dojng this, if the proposition is declined 
 by them, we will hold them up Constantly in the. wrong, before their own people 
 and the judgment of mankind. 
 
 If they Tefuse*to receive the commissioners who bear the proposition, publish it 
 
 in the ■ , and let the conduct of their rulers be kno wn to the people y 
 
 and there is i easonaole ground to hope that the time may not be far distant when 
 
 a returning s-ensi of justice, and a desire for self-protection^against desj otistn at 
 
 home I ttie people of the Northern Stated to hnirl from power those 
 
 •:iy t lie fundamental principle, upon which their own liberties'^ rests> ana 
 
 fin never be satiated with human blood. Let us stand on no delicate point 
 
 ette or diplomatic ceremony. If the proposition is rejected a dozen times, 
 
 let us tender it again after the next victory— that the world may be reassured, 
 
 to month, that we are not responsible for the continuance of thisde- 
 
 vastation and cam: 
 
 Let it bo repeated again and again, to the Northern people, that all we ask is 
 that tb the great principle «pon. which their own government rests—' 
 
 the- sovereignty pf the States ; and let our own people hold our own government to 
 a stri'ct account for every encroachment upon this vital .principle. " 
 
 Herein lies the simple solution of all these troubles. 
 
 If there be any doubt, or any question of doubt, as to the sovereign will of any 
 one of all the States of this Confederacy, or of any border State, whose institutions! 
 are similar to curs, not in the Confederacy, upon the subject of their present 
 'or fu'ure alliance, let all armed force be* withdrawn, and let that sovereign 
 •will be fairly expressed at the ballot box by the legal voters of the States, and 
 i;t all piriies abide by the decision. ■ . 
 
 Let ( ..el State have and freely exe-cise the right to determine its own destiny, 
 in its own way. This is all that we have been struggling for from the beginning. 
 It is a principle that secures "rights inestimable to freemen and formidable t« 
 tyrants only." 
 ■ - * * * * * * 
 
 JOSEPH E- BROWN- 
 
Hollinger Corp. 
 pH 8.5