CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



243 



war power, but for the enforcement of that 

 power in this country, there would be no coun- 

 try to-day. We should not be here to-night 

 but for the exercise of the war powers. Before 

 we deliberately come forward and, in the face 

 of the verdict of the people, censure an Ad- 

 ministration that has held the helm of the ship 

 of State through this terrific storm, this great 

 trial of republican institutions, which in the 

 end promises so much for the cause of human 

 liberty, and declare that the exercise of this 

 military power for the preservation of the na- 

 tion, for the preservation of the great Eepublic, 

 has been wrong, violent, oppressive, and wicked, 

 let us pause. I am not prepared to take such 

 a step." 



Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, followed : " Nearly 

 one-half the people of the North have been ar- 

 rayed, not against the Government, but have 

 been expressing dissatisfaction and weakening 

 the arm of the Government by just such acts 

 as this section seeks to avoid. From the begin- 

 ning of this war I have believed that the true 

 course to pursue was to preserve the Govern- 

 ment and preserve liberty together. I believed 

 that constitutional liberty, liberty regulated by 

 law, could be preserved in this land. It is the 

 liberty we are fighting for. And when gentle- 

 men lay aside the law and the Constitution and 

 say, ' There is no law, nothing but the strong 

 arm,' how are you any better than the traitor 

 you fight ? What does he do but disregard the 

 law and the Constitution ? What is this rebel- 

 lion but an armed resistance to constitutional 

 and legal authority? If you would be strong, 

 be strong under the banner of the law and the 

 Constitution. Fight for liberty, fight for law, 

 and then you will be strong. 



" Now, sir, I have before me the report of the 

 Secretary of War ; and I wish to do an act of 

 justice to that high officer on this occasion. I 

 have often heard him denounced for these arbi- 

 trary arrests and for non-compliance with the 

 act of Congress which made it his duty and the 

 duty of other officers of the Government, when- 

 ever persons charged with political offences were 

 arrested, to report their cases to the first term 

 of the court which should be held in the proper 

 district after the arrest took place. I am happy 

 to-know from this official report that in this 

 respect the Secretary of War has endeavored 

 to do his duty. The act of Congress making it 

 the duty of the Secretaries to report to the judi- 

 cial tribunals all cases of persons arrested in the 

 loyal States charged with political offences was 

 passed on the 3d day of March, 1863. Within 

 twenty days from the time the act passed, and 

 perhaps as soon as it came to the notice of the 

 Secretary of War, he issued this order : 



WAB DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON CITY, ) ' 



March 23, 1863. f 



COLONEL : I beg you to direct your attention to the 

 provision of the late act of Congress requiring prison- 

 ers held under military authority to be released with- 

 in a certain time, and to ask that proceedings may be 

 taken against such as are not proper to be released, 

 and that you will see that the provisions of that law 



are observed in regard to all persons held in military 

 custody. 

 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



EDWIN if. STANTON, Secretary of War. 

 Hon. J. HOLT, Judge-Advocate General. 



" Here was an order of the War Department, 

 made within twenty days of the passage of the 

 act, charging a particular officer in his Depart- 

 ment with the execution of this law, and enjoin- 

 ing upon him that he should see that the pro- 

 visions of the act were observed in regard to 

 all persons held in custody. What more could 

 he do? The Secretary of War could not per- 

 sonally visit all the prisons in the land, to ascer- 

 tain if persons were held in confinement. He 

 had to intrust this duty to some one ; and if you 

 will look through this report you will find that 

 at different times he appointed commissions to 

 visit the different prisons throughout the coun- 

 try and ascertain if there were persons held 

 there in confinement who ought not to be con- 

 fined; and many have been released by these 

 commissioners. I make this statement in justice 

 to a public officer. I have had some conversa- 

 tion with the Secretary of War upon this sub- 

 ject, and I learned from him that these arrests 

 which had been made in the different parts of 

 the country by subordinate officers had given 

 him more pain than almost any thing else that 

 had occurred during the war ; that he had been 

 unable to sleep at night in consequence of its 

 coming to his knowledge that persons had with- 

 out cause been thus arrested and sometimes 

 held for a considerable period of time before it 

 came to his notice. 



" I voted for the law authorizing the suspen- 

 sion of the habeas corpus. I did it because in 

 a time of war like this, in a great emergency, 

 I thought there might be occasions when it was 

 proper that men should be arrested and held in 

 confinement. I voted for that law which pro- 

 vided that they might be taken and so held, 

 and should not be released by a court or any- 

 body else until after there was an opportunity 

 to present their case to 'a grand jury, and not 

 then unless the judge was satisfied that it was 

 proper to release them, and they gave bond for 

 their good behavior and took an oath of fidelity 

 to the Government, But, sir, when I voted 

 for that law,- 1 did not expect that the writ of 

 habeas corpus was to be regarded as suspended 

 by all the subordinate officers throughout the 

 land. I did not suppose that every provost 

 marshal in the land would be at liberty to ar- 

 rest whom he pleased, and keep him in confine- 

 ment. I thought that whenever an arrest was 

 made, the fact would be immediately reported 

 to headquarters, to the War Department, or to 

 the President himself, and that action would 

 be taken in regard to the case at the earliest 

 possible period. It seems the Secretary of War 

 has endeavored to take action. It seems by 

 this report that he has endeavored to discharge 

 his duty in that respect ; and I am glad that he 

 has ; and I am glad that the fact turns out to 

 be that persons who have been arrested have 



