drafted into the militia shall be allowed to go to a foreign country; and all Marshals, Deputy Marshals, and military officers of the United States, are directed, and all police authorities, especially at the ports of the United States on the seaboard and on the frontier, are requested to see that this order is faithfully carried into effect. And they are hereby authorized and directed to arrest and detain any person or persons about to depart from the United States, in violation of this order, and report to L. C. Turner, Judge Advocate, at Washington City, for further instruction respecting the person or persons so arrested or detained.

"Second. Any person liable to draft, who shall absent himself from his county or State, before such draft is made, will be arrested by any Provost Marshal or other United States or State officer, wherever he may be found within the jurisdiction of the United States, and conveyed to the nearest military post or depot, and placed on military duty for the term of the draft; and the expenses of his own arrest and conveyance to such post or depot, and also the sum of five dollars as a reward to the officer who shall make such arrest, shall be deducted from his pay. "Third. The writ of habeas corpus is hereby suspended in respect to all prisoners so arrested and detained, and in respect to all persons arrested for disloyal practices.

(Signed)

EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War."

It was by virtue of the first of these two orders, and before an attempt had been made to assume the arbitrary power to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, that most of those who had been kidnapped during the months of August and September, 1862, were deprived of their liberty.

It will be noticed — and the reader's attention is specially called to the fact that it was designed to try those who were arrested under the order of the 8th of August, by a Military Commission. Why this was not done is simply because the elections of October admonished the Administration that it could not go much farther in subjecting American freemen to the despotism of arbitrary power, with impunity. The Military Commission was named, and ready to try the victims, and of course to convict them of any crime of which the tyrants chose to accuse them; but after the

result of the elections became known, the Commission was diverted to another purpose.

G.

It was not until the 24th of September, 1862, that the President ventured to assume to himself arbitrary power, and avow the act publicly. This he did by an order of that date, which is as follows:

PROCLAMATION OF SEPTEMBER 24, 1862.

"Whereas it has become necessary to call into service not only volunteers, but also a portion of the militia of the States, by draft, in order to suppress the insurrection existing in the United States, and disloyal persons are not adequately restrained by the ordinary process of law from hindering this measure, and from giving aid and comfort, in various ways, to the insurrection: "Now, therefore, be it ordered:

"1. That, during the existing insurrection, and as a necessary measure for suppressing the same, all rebels and insurgents, their aiders and abettors, within the United States, and all persons dis couraging volunteer enlistments, resisting militia drafts, or guilty of any disloyal practice, affording aid and comfort to the rebels against the authority of the United States, shall be subject to martial law, and liable to trial and punishment by court-martial or military commission.

"2. That the writ of habeas corpus is suspended in respect to all persons arrested, or who are now, or hereafter during the rebellion shall be, imprisoned in any fort, camp, arsenal, military prison, or other place of confinement, by any military authority, or by sentence of any court-martial or military commission. "In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

[L. 8.]

"Done at the City of Washington, this twenty-fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the inde pendence of the United States the eighty-seventh. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

"By the President.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."

It looks significant that this order is countersigned by Wm. H. Seward, and not Edwin M. Stanton. Following this order for the suspension of the habeas corpus, the following extraordinary announcement was made from the War Department:

H.

ORDERS OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR, PROMULgated SEPTEMBER 26, 1862.

"First. There shall be a Provost Marshal General of the War Department, whose headquarters will be at Washington, and who will have the immediate supervision, control, and management of the corps.

"Second. There will be appointed, in each State, one or more special Provost Marshals, as necessity may require, who will report and receive instructions and orders from the Provost Marshal General of the War Department.

"Third. It will be the duty of the special Provost Marshal to arrest all deserters, whether regulars, volunteers, or militia, and send them to the nearest military commander or military post, where they can be cared for and sent to their respective regiments; to arrest, upon the warrant of the Judge Advocate, all disloyal persons subject to arrest under the orders of the War Department; to inquire into and report treasonable practices, seize stolen or embezzled property of the Government, detect spies of the enemy, and perform such other duties as may be enjoined upon them by the War Department, and report all their proceedings promptly to the Provost Marshal General.

"Fourth. To enable special Provest Marshals to discharge their duties efficiently, they are authorized to call upon any available military force within their respective districts, constables, sheriffs, or police officers, so far as may be necessary, under such regulations as may be prescribed by the Provost Marshal General of the War Department, with the approval of the Secretary of War.

"Fifth. Necessary expenses incurred in this service will be paid in duplicate bills, certified by the special Provost Marshal, stating time and nature of service, after examination and approval by the Provost Marshal General.

"Sixth. The compensation of special Provost Marshals shall be dollars per month; and actual travelling expenses and post. age will be refunded, on bills certified under oath and approved by the Provost Marshal General.

"Seventh. All appointments in this service will be subject to be revoked at the pleasure of the Secretary of War.

"Eighth. All orders heretofore issued by the War Department, conferring authority upon other officers to act as Provost Marshals, except those who receive special commissions from the War Department, are hereby revoked.

"By order of the Secretary of War.

L. THOMAS, Adjutant General."

This completed the assumption of arbitrary power: nothing more was needed to exercise it universally throughout the whole country—in that portion of it where the people were pursuing their usual peaceful avocations of life, as well as in that portion of it occupied by hostile armies. These orders, one and all, not only usurped the legislative powers of Congress, but the judicial authority of the Courts; nay, powers of government are assumed in these orders, which the Constitution does not invest in any department of the Federal Government, but, on the contrary, reserves them especially to the people. But of what avail is it that such is the fact? The people acquiesced in these assumptions of power, and many of them approve of and commend them.

1.

DUPLICITY OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR-PUBLIC ORDER FOK THE RELEASE OF PRISONERS OF STATE-PRIVATE ORDER TO DISREGARD THE ONE PUBLICLY PROMULGATED.

The clamors of the people against the imprisonment of political offenders wrung from the Secretary of War an order from his Department, dated the 22d of November, 1862, for the discharge of "all persons now in military custody," who

had been arrested on the alleged ground of discouraging enlistments, etc.

The order was as follows:

"WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, November 22, 1862. "Ordered: 1. That all persons now in military custody, who have been arrested for discouraging volunteer enlistment, opposing the draft, or for otherwise giving aid and comfort to the enemy, in States where the draft has been made, or the quota of volunteers and militia has been furnished, shall be discharged from further military restraint.

"2. That persons who, by authority of the military commander or Governor in rebel States, have been arrested and sent from such State for disloyalty or hostility to the Government of the United States, and are now in military custody, may also be discharged upon giving their parole to do no act of hostility against the Government of the United States, nor render aid to its enemies. But all such persons shall remain subject to military surveillance and liable to arrest on breach of their parole. And if any such persons shall prefer to leave the loyal States on condition of their not returning again during the war, or until special leave for that purpose be obtained from the President, then such person shall, at his option, be released and depart from the United States, or be conveyed beyond the military lines of the United States forces.

"3. This order shall not operate to discharge any person wh has been in arms against the Government, or by force and arms has resisted, or attempted to resist the draft, nor relieve any person from liability to trial and punishment by civil tribunals, or by court-martial or military commission, who may be amena ble to such tribunals for offences committed. "By order of the Secretary of War.

E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant General."

While this order was promulgated to satisfy the public, a secret private order was issued at the same time to the commanders of the Bastiles, not to release any political offenders under the public order.

The following is a copy of this secret order: