CONGRESS, U. 8. 



257 



that is made by the President's authority must 

 be made under and by virtue of a precept 

 issued by him, and that, as a necessary conse- 

 quence, would, even in the rebellious States, 

 call the attention of the President to the name, 

 at least, of the party to be arrested, and would 

 probably lead to an inquiry as to the cause of 

 arrest; but under the provisions of the bill, 

 and under the provisions of the substitute of 

 the senator from Illinois, arrests are to be 

 made by the Secretary of War, or by his order, 

 or by the order of the Secretary of State, with 

 no process issuing directly from the President, 

 and nothing that can be made a matter of rec- 

 ord going to show why an arrest has been 

 made. 



" I believe that greater opposition has been 

 made, and that opposition has been more effec- 

 tual, to the party in power because of the 

 exercise of this arbitary and despotic power of 

 arrest than because of any other act that has 

 been committed by the Administration. The 

 loyal citizen is laboring for the maintenance of 

 the Union, because of the value of the consti- 

 tutional rights which that Union has secured 

 to him ; but if you take from him this right to 

 personal liberty, this right to be protected in 

 that personal liberty, and not be deprived of it 

 without due process of law, and without an 

 opportunity of knowing the charge upon which 

 he is confined and for which he is said to have 

 forfeited his liberty, will you not make that 

 Government, instead of an object of love, an 

 object of hate 2 " 



Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, followed and thus 

 explained his amendment : " Although the 

 immediate question is between the bill pro- 

 posed by the senator from Virginia and the 

 substitute which I 'have offered, I will state as 

 briefly as I can what the provisions of the sub- 

 stitute offered by me are, and wherein they dif- 

 fer from the bill which has passed the House 

 of Representatives. The House of Represen- 

 tatives passed a bill, the first two sections of 

 which provided for the discharge of politi- 

 cal prisoners, persons now in confinement by 

 authority of the Secretary of "War or the 

 Secretary of State for what are called political 

 offences. The third section provided for the 

 suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. The 

 substitute which I have proposed alters the 

 numbers of the sections. It seemed to me a 

 little more appropriate to provide in the first 

 section for the suspension of the writ of habeas 

 corpus, and in the other sections for the dis- 

 charge of the persons who might be arrested. 

 There is no importance in that. It is no mat- 

 ter whether it is the first or the third section ; 

 but as I deemed it advisable to rewrite the 

 bill which passed the House of Representa- 

 tives, the second and third sections being, as 

 I thoaght, somewhat confused and not very 

 clear, and desiring some amendments, I re- 

 wrote them. There is no substantial difference 

 between the substitute I have offered and the 

 bill which passed the House of Representatives, 

 VOL. in. 17 A 



in the first and second sections, corresponding 

 with the second and third sections of the 

 substitute. There is a substantial difference 

 between the first section, as I propose it, and 

 the third section of the House bill. The third 

 section of the House bill authorized the Presi- 

 dent of the United States to suspend the writ 

 of habeas corpus until the meeting of Congress. 

 The substitute that I propose authorizes him 

 to suspend the writ of habeas corpus through- 

 out the United States, or any part of it, at 

 any time during the existing rebellion ; and 

 that is the difference between the two. The 

 House bill limited the suspension until Con- 

 gress should meet. The substitute I propose 

 authorizes the suspension wherever the Presi- 

 dent, by proclamation, shall declare the writ 

 suspended, so long as the proclamation con- 

 tinues in force and the rebellion exists. 



"Under this first section, persons arrested, 

 when the writ of habeas corpus is suspended, 

 of course cannot be discharged by virtue of the 

 writ of habeas corpus ; but the second and 

 third sections provide for the discharge of 

 those persons. They are not to be taken and 

 held indefinitely, without knowing for what 

 and why; but the second and third . sections 

 make it the duty of the Secretary of State and 

 the Secretary of "War, immediately upon the 

 passage of the bill, to furnish the judge in 

 each district where the parties reside, or where 

 they may be charged with the commission of 

 an offence, with a list of their names. They 

 are to be laid before the grand jury ; and 

 whenever a grand jury shall have assembled in 

 the proper district, and shall have adjourned 

 without finding an indictment or making a 

 presentment of any kind against the party 

 who has been imprisoned, it is made the duty 

 of the judge forthwith to issue an order dis- 

 charging the prisoner from arrest, and any 

 person resisting that order is to be punished 

 by fine and imprisonment. The judge, how- 

 ever, before discharging the prisoner from ar- 

 rest, is to take from him an oath of allegiance 

 to the country and to the Constitution of the 

 United States, and is authorized also, if on 

 examination of the facts he deems it advisable, 

 and if the public safety shall seem to demand 

 it, to take from the prisoner a bond condi- 

 tion t ed that he will keep the peace toward 

 the United States, and appear from time to 

 time to -answer in the court as the court shall 

 direct." 



Mr. Doolittle, of "Wisconsin, said : " "Whether 

 the power is derived from the Constitution or 

 derived from the act of Congress to suspend 

 the writ, it is the best policy to have it de- 

 clared by Congress that the power exists either 

 under the Constitution or under the act of 

 Congress ; and I will state my reason for this 

 opinion. We know very well that the people 

 of the United States are so familar with these 

 terms, " be it enacted," which are used in 

 the passage of laws by their representatives, 

 whom they have chosen, who speak their own 



