Indiana -- General assembly--House-- Convrutter OF THE COMMITTEE ON ARBITRARY ARRESTS, IN THE STATE OF INDIANA, AUTHORIZED BY RESOLUTION OF THE HOUSE OF FIVE THOUSAND COPIES ORDERED TO BE PRINTED. INDIANA UNIVERSITY Does (Main) INDIANAPOLIS: JOSEPH J. BINGHAM, STATE PRINTER. 1863. $7 ARBITRARY ARRESTS IN INDIANA. EVIDENCE ACCOMPANYING THE REPORT OF THE HOUSE COMMITTEE OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON ARBITRARY ARRESTS IN THE STATE OF INDIANA. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, On motion of the Hon. Jason B. Brown, of Jackson county, the following resolutions were adopted: WHEREAS, The Constitution of the United States and of the State of Indiana solemnly guarantee to the people thereof freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the sacred right of the writ of habeas corpus, security from arrest without due process of law, and that in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, and have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses, counsel, &c.; and, WHEREAS, We have witnessed, within the past twenty months, the violation of all these provisions so indispensable to a free government and necessary for the enjoyment of public liberty, by means alike arbitrary, violent, insulting, and degrading to a degree unknown to any government on earth, except those avowedly and notoriously wicked, cruel, and despotic; and, WHEREAS, We, the Representatives of the people, now assem bled in a legislative capacity, charged with the high duty of enacting laws for the protection of the people and the preservation of their rights, deem it our first duty to ascertain the facts connected with the criminal usurpations and wrongs which have been prac ticed by political arrests, and in order to give those who have unlawfully made them, or caused them to be made, the prominence to a position of lasting infamy their conduct merits, alike as punishment and as a warning to others hereafter, and to enable us to act intelligently and efficiently in providing such legislation as will prevent their repetition, therefore, Resolved, That a committee of seven be appointed by this House, whose duty it shall be to report to this body the number of arrests for political causes made within the limits of the State, and all the facts connected with each, showing by whose order, procurement or influence, either immediate or remote, the arrests. |