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 assembled 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 practiced 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 were made, the place, time, and manner of the same, and by whom made; the charges (if any) made against them, and the probability of their truth or falsity; the place and duration of their imprisonment, and their treatment; the trial, or opportunity for trial, which they may have had, if any; the circumstances of their discharge, if discharged; the injury to their persons or families (if any) which have resulted from their unlawful detention, and the damages or pecuniary loss sustained by them in consequence of their imprisonment. Resolved, That said committee also inquire into and report if there have been obstructions to the free exercise of the liberty of speech or press, or any abridgement thereof within the past two years in this State, and, if so, report the facts connected therewith. Resolved, That said committee be authorized to report a bill that shall contain provisions adequate to protect the people from the arbitrary commission of unconstitutional acts, by such penalties and punishment upon those guilty of the same as may effectually prevent their repetition, and provide means for redress and restitution by damages or otherwise to requite their wrongs, while serving as an exemplary warning to other usurpers in all time to come. Resolved, That said committee be and are hereby authorized and empowered to send for persons and papers, or visit any locality within the State, that may be deemed necessary to the full and complete discharge of their duty. In pursuance of the above resolutions, the Speaker appointed the following committee: The Committee assembled at their room, and organized by appointing ETHELBERT C. HIBBEN, of Rush county, Secretary of said Committee. The Committee on Arbitrary Arrests, after hearing and examining the evidence submitted to them under the resolutions of the House, beg leave to submit the following report: REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. Under the resolution of the House we have examined witnesses in forty-three cases of arrests made in our State, and accompanying this is the evidence laid before us in those cases. Several matters suggest themselves to our minds in connection with the facts thus developed-matters which, in the judgment of the Committee, deeply affect the liberty and vital welfare of the people of Indiana. Acts have been perpetrated, and omissions of duty suffered by high officers, which, if left unnoticed and unrebuked, would exhibit to the world a shameless want of fidelity on the part of the representatives of the people toward their constituents, and if such lack of fidelity should be sanctioned, it would go far toward establishing that which appears to be assumed as true, by those who have for two years controled affairs, namely, that the people have ceased to take an interest in the mode and manner in which the government ought to be administered. In short, that it is no longer a government of the people, through their agents, the chosen officers of the law-but a government in which the servant has become the master, and the superior the slave. The tendency of the legislation and acts of those placed in power by the people for the last two years, has been to curtail the liberties and to crush the spirit of independence of those who have placed them in position. The many acts of arbitrary power shown by this evidence, taken in connection with the attempt by the Congress and President of the United States, to shield from all responsibility, those who in the very wantonness of power have |