and against Judge IIall for issuing a writ of habeas corpus for the release of a certain legislator, whom General Jackson had ordered to be arrested under military law; whereupon General Jackson ordered immediately the arrest of Judge Hall for his judicial act, in issuing the writ of habeas corpus, and he was accordingly arrested. Soon peace was declared with Great Britain, and Judge Hall was released by order of General Jackson, and afterward the Judge had the General brought before his Court to answer for his conduct in the matter; was fined by the court one thousand dollars, and in after years every Democrat in Congress voted to refund to General Jackson the said fine, which was done.

Stephen A. Douglas, the great champion of Democracy in his day, advocated the passage of the law refunding to General Jackson, and alleging that Judge Hall did wrong in fining General Jackson at all; and that the arrest of the Judge by General Jackson was right, and the Democratic votes in Congress indorsed the sentiments of Stephen A. Douglas.

Thus was set the great example of suspending the writ of habeas corpus, and of making arbitrary arrests, and proclaiming martial law in time of war.

And this example was set by the great apostle of Democracy of his day, and was so approved by his party. Posterity will bless and honor the acts of that great patriot, soldier, and statesman. So will posterity and mankind throughout the civilized world, who love free government and our noble union of States, honor and bless the name of "honest OLD ABE" LINCOLN for treading in the footsteps of the hero of New Orleans.

If any cause of complaint may exist, we venture to say that the future historian of America, and the readers of the acts of this great rebellion in after times, will wonder with shame and astonishment why it was that this Administration did not, with a more swift vengeance, punish the outlaw and traitor in whatever part of the United States he was found.

From the evidence before the country, we of this time should have no complaint to enter against the President and those executing the laws under him, unless for the mercy exercised by him and his supporters against the rebels and traitors of the land.

As to the constitutional power of the President to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, and of making arrests of disloyal persons in time of war, invasion, or rebellion, there can be no doubt. His war power under that instrument makes him the Commander-in

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Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and that same Constitution requires that he shall see that the laws of the land are faithfully executed, and that in cases of invasion and insurrection the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus may be suspended.

Some say that Congress ought to pass a law on that subject: First, to give the President power to do these things before he can act, and, as a reason, they say the President might act tyrannically if this was not the case. This amounts to no argument whatever, for the reason that the President, if corrupt, could be as tyrannical one way as well as the other.

On that subject the people must, as they always have trusted, continue to trust to the honesty, of the President. If in such cases the President abuses his constitutional trusts there are but two ways to remedy the evil; one by impeachment and the other at the ballot-box.

Again, in the interim of Congress, the members all being at home, from three to five thousand miles apart, some in the Eastern States, some in the Pacific States, and scattered all over the land. Suddenly the country is invaded, or an insurrection or rebellion breaks out, so great and so cunningly arranged that the insurgents or rebels are able to capture a majority of the members of Congress, what is the President to do? Shall he let the Government go overboard by default? No, sir! He must execute the laws under the Constitution, and in doing so he has the right and power to arrest, imprison, chain or hang every traitor in the land. And this awful penalty should be meted out to all those who give aid and comfort to the same. And to save the Constitution unimpaired, he might, if white agents gave out, employ black agents to kill white traitors.

Right here we may notice another class of constitutional objectors, who declare that in all cases, whether in peace or in war, the military power of the nation must be in subjection to the civil authority.

In time of war the civil authority must only be in subjection to the military whenever public safety demands it.

If this was not so, under the Constitution, then there could never be a battle fought against rebels, for the Constitution expressly declares, that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.

That is, no man shall lose his life, under the Constitution, until a court of competent jurisdiction has heard his or her cause, and

found the accused guilty of a crime against the United States worthy of death, and thereupon the court pronounces sentence of death, and the person is executed accordingly. And this same process must be gone through with, in regard to liberty and property: that is, life, liberty, and property, must be taken away by judicial judgment and decree.

Now this is all right, and applies to times of peace; but has nothing at all to do with the rights of war under the Constitution. Apply this kind of interpretation to about thirty thousand armed rebels, with guns in their hands, and you will find that judgments of courts are not for their case. The Union army comes in sight of them, and is about to begin to shoot, when some guardian of human liberty, with his hat full of writs of habeas corpuses, comes up, and this walking commentary of the Constitution cries, with a loud voice, "stop!"

"Here's work of another kind. In our peculiar form of government, the military must always be in subjection to the civil authority; therefore, call a jury to try these thirty thousand fellows, before you take their life; for that is the only way to get a man's life from him, under our Millennium Constitution."

Thus speak all that class of men who have not been blessed with a sight of that part of the Constitution known as the military part. But some wag, at this point, while the jury is being made up, urges another objection, viz: that a man can not be trietl, according to the Constitution, for a crime, where his life is at stake, unless he is personally present, and the difficulty that presents itself to the court and jury is, that these thirty thousand fellows won't consent to be arrested, for fear the writ of habeas corpus will not release them.

Now what is to be done in a case like the one just put?. Why, do just what common sense and the Constitution says do, exercise the military power; hurl the army of the country down upon the rebels, and kill every one of them, if they do not surrender.

All such as would, in times of war, make the civil authority supreme and above the military power, were begotten and brought forth by either ignorance or treason.

And all that class of persons who are constantly talking of the habeas corpus, and are very much alarmed for fear its great liberty features will be violated-they need more patriotism-for they are not such friends to human liberty as to trust that great boon to their keeping.

The Constitution of the United States is plain on the question of the writ of habeas corpus. Just such times as are now in the land, are the exact kind of times when the privileges of that great writ and charter of liberty ought to be suspended. Listen to what it says: "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when, in cases of rebellion or insurrection, the public safety may require it." That is the ring of the true metal. The President suspended its privileges when the public safety demanded it, and for it the nation and posterity will thank him.

After the resolutions, passed at the present Legislature, creating this Committee of Arbitrary Arrests, with the powers granted to said Committee, with the evidence accompanying the same, shall have been read and studied by the thousands whose minds it was intended to prejudice against the legally constituted officials of the nation, another grave constitutional question will arise, hard, indeed, to be explained by the partisan leaders who have set themselves up against the policy adopted by this Administration for the overthrow and suppression of the rebellion, which is this: "Can a State Legislature create any power, by the appointment of a Committee, or otherwise, to try the acts and official doings of the President of the United States, the Secretary of War, or the United States Marshal, acting under their authority?" We answer, no. If this be the correct answer, of which we have no doubt, then this Committeo derived no such power to act in the premises, and their proceedings are nugatory, costing the State a few thousand dollars for the purpose of creating, if possible, a little political capital against the Government, and those who are its best friends.

The impartial, loyal reader of this and after times, will be fully able, after reading the evidence taken before this Committee, whether Mr. Lincoln had abused the high trusts committed to him, and was thereby attempting to promote himself to the position of a Dictator, by destroying the safeguards of human liberty under the Constitution, or was only honestly and faithfully attempting to sustain the Government in its great struggle with the hundreds of thousands of armed and wicked rebels, and preserve, if possible, the noble and worthy Union Army. That the latter is true of the President, no man can doubt. That some errors may have been committed in this great strife for national existence, on the part of those in power, no one will deny, "for to err is human." The greatest and best men in all ages of the world have had their imperfections, yet at the same time their motives were pure and honest.

So with the President, so with Governor Morton, so with all puręminded patriots and statesmen, in this strife for liberty and free government. A careful review of the evidence adduced before the Committee, shows that scarcely one was arrested and imprisoned for a short time, but had been engaged in saying or doing some thing calculated to give aid and comfort to the enemy; such as discouraging enlistments of soldiers, resisting the draft in Blackford and Fountain counties, giving countenance to the destruction of the draft-box in Blackford county, where shouts from traitor lips went up for "Jeff. Davis" and the Southern Confederacy. And in other cases the evidence of men taken at the jail in the city of Indianapolis, against whom indictments were pending at the time for treason.

In nearly all the cases where arrests were made, the affidavit of one or more credible, competent, and loyal witnesses were taken and filed against the accused, charging them with disloyalty to the Government; and where there was no affidavit filed, arrests were made by subordinate military officers for the sole good of the cause of the country, not to destroy the last vestige of human liberty, but to preserve the nation.

And here, we may be permitted to say, had the old Democratic doctrine of General Jackson been followed out, which his friends. have heretofore sustained, many more arrests would have been made than were made, and more hemp would have been used than was used; which no doubt would have produced better results for the good of the country than were produced. A studied and searching attempt has been made by the political opponents and enemies of Governor Morton, to detract from his great and wellearned fame in his untiring devotion to the cause of his country and the noble State over which he is Governor; but in that his enemies have signally failed; their attempts and efforts in this unholy line of corrupt policy, will stink in the nostrils of every true patriot in the land, while his fame for patriotism and love of country will stand unrivaled in the minds and affections of the lovers of liberty and humanity throughout all the civilized free governments.

Would-be leaders of a once great party assume that name ("Democracy") in this rebellion, who have no more right to it, from their conduct toward the Government, than a wolf has to wear the fleece of a sheep. They struggle hard to make the people believe that they are the only ones left now in the land to advocate C. A. A.-9