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Maj. Rep. Joint Select Com.] [Adj. Ses. 1864-. 
 
 Reported by Mr. Warren, of Beaufort, from Joint Select Committee. 
 
 W. W. Holden, Printer to the State. 
 
 MAJORITY REPORT OF JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE 
 UPON THE SUBJECT OF THE SUSPENSION OF 
 THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS. 
 
 The Joint Select Committee to whom were referred so 
 much of the Governor's message as relates to the act of Con- 
 gress suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, 
 and certain resolutions introduced in the House of Commons 
 upon the same subject, have had the same under considera- 
 tion. The undersigned, a majority of the committee, enter- 
 tain the opinion that the act is unconstitutional, unnecessary, 
 and dangerous to liberty, and believe it to be the duty of the 
 General Assembly to protest against it, and to urge its repeal. 
 They think also, that it i:3 eminently proper to consider in 
 this connection the leading features of the " act to organize 
 forces to ser^e during the war." The former act leaves the 
 personal liberty of the citizen without guarantee or protec- 
 tection, while the latter asserts a general power in Congress 
 which affects the freedom and sovereignty of the collective 
 body of the people, and the very existence of the State gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 The undersigned, therefore, ask leave to report the accom- 
 panying resolutions as a substitute for the resolutions referred 
 to the committee, and recommend their passage, 
 
 E. J. WARREN, Chm'n, 
 EUGENE GPJSSOM, 
 E. F. WATSON. 
 

 RESOLUTIONS CONCERNING CERTAIN ACTS OF 
 THE LATE CONGRESS OF THE CONFEDERATE 
 STATES. 
 
 Resolved, That while the people of North- Carol in a have 
 
 2 ever been and still are anxious to strengthen the adminis 
 
 3 tration of the Confederate government in every legiti- 
 
 4 mate way, and to promote the success of the common 
 
 5 cause, in order that we may have a speedy and honorable 
 
 6 peace, they view with deep concern and alarm the re- 
 
 7 peated and manifest infractions of the Constitution by the 
 
 8 Congress of the Confederate States, and this General As- 
 
 9 sembly doth, in their name, protest against such infrac- 
 10 tions as of pernicious example and fatal tend^- -^.\ 
 
 Resolved, That the act of the late Cjv ress enlitled 
 
 2 " An Act to suspend the privilege of th< . i >f Habeas 
 
 3 Corpus in certain cases," violates the h in ntal maxim 
 
 4 of republican government which re<gu ret separation of 
 
 5 the departments of power, clothes the Executive with ji - 
 
 6 dicial functions which Congress cannot constit :ut ion ally 
 
 7 confer even on the judiciary itself, and sots at naught the 
 
 8 most emphatic and solemn guarantees of the Constitution. 
 
 Resolved, That this General Assembly, representing the 
 
 2 people of North-Carolina, doth not consent to the sacrifice 
 
 3 of the v' il principles of free government, in a war car- 
 4: ried on solely to s' and perpetrate them, aud doth 
 
 5 declare that no " conditions of pub-ic danger," present or 
 
 6 prospective, g robaWe or possible, can render the liberties 
 
 7 of the people inco rpatiblo with the pnl " • safety. 
 
 Resolved, That the Act of the same C Tress, entitled 
 
 2 " An Act to organize forces to serve during the war," de- 
 
 3 daring all white men residents of the Confederate States 
 4: between the ages of seventeen and fifty to bo in the mili- 
 
 5 tary service, embracing in its provisions every State of5- 
 
 6 cer in all the departments, Executive, Legislative and Ju- 
 % dicial, and subjecting all the industrial pursuits of the- 
 
2 Resolutions on IIabeas Corpus. 
 
 8 country to military supervision and control, reduces the 
 
 9 State governments to mere provisional administrations, de- 
 
 10 pendent on the grace and favor of Congress and the Ex- 
 
 11 ecutive, is destructive of State sovereignty, and imports 
 
 12 an assertion of the power on the part of Congress to con- 
 
 13 vert the Confederate government into a consolidated inili- 
 
 14 tary despotism. 
 
 Resolved, That this General Assembly doth therefore 
 ■2 request onr Senators and Representatives in Congress to 
 
 3 use their best, endeavors to procure a repeal of the first 
 
 4 mentioned act, and such modifications of the second tfc 
 
 5 shall secure the t rights, and preserve the integrity of the 
 t> States of the Confederacy. 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be trans 
 
 2 mitted to each of our Senators and Representatives in 
 
 3 Congress. 
 
Hollinger Corp. 
 P H8.5