258 



CONGRESS, U. S. 



voice, who legislate for them, who declare 

 the popular will, which, as our ancestors main- 

 tained, is to them the voice of God, tliat they 

 submit to an enactment, passed by their rep- 

 resentatives, commencing " be it enacted," as 

 the Israelites of old would submit to a " thus 

 saith the Lord." But, sir, when a thing is 

 assumed to be clone by the order of any one 

 individual, the Secretary of "War or the Presi- 

 dent, their jealousy of despotic power exer- 

 cised by an individual is such, that although 

 he may be acting within his clear constitutional 

 power, the people, perhaps, are less likely to 

 acquiesce in an order of the "War Department 

 or an order of the President than they are to 

 acquiesce in an enactment of Congress." 



Mr. Bayard, of Delaware, opposed the dele- 

 gation of power to the President, thus : " I sup- 

 pose this bill does give the power if you can 

 delegate it in this way. If the power exists, 

 certainly those who claim that the power 

 exists in the executive are only making a re- 

 flection upon him if they undertake to grant 

 him the power. I suppose this bill does give 

 the power if you can grant it to him. Then 

 comes this objection: can you delegate the 

 legislative authority of this nation to the exec- 

 utive,, to be determined upon his discretion 

 and not upon yours ? Let those who believe 

 that the power to suspend the privilege of the 

 writ of habeas corpus is vested in the legisla- 

 tive power reconcile it to themselves, if they 

 can, that they can dispense with their own 

 judgment as to whether the public safety 

 requires that the writ should be suspended, 

 and can delegate that power of legislation, 

 founded on an act of high discretion, to the 

 executive of the nation. "Why, sir, you might 

 just as well delegate to him the power to 

 make any appropriations out of the Treasury 

 he saw fit. You might as well delegate to 

 him all your powers of legislation and abdicate 

 your seats in Congress, and do what this and 

 other bills you have passed will do create a 

 single despotic government in this country. 

 Do it, and in terms you abandon legislation." 



Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, said : " Of the two 

 propositions, I favor the one of the senator 

 from Virginia, and I will assign to the Senate 

 very briefly the reasons why I prefer the pro- 

 position of the senator from Virginia. .The 

 proposition of the senator from Virginia re- 

 quires that no citizen of the United Stetes dur- 

 ing the existence of these troubles shall be ar- 

 rested except upon oath or affirmation of a 

 loyal citizen of the United States. It further 

 requires that any citizen who may be deprived 

 of his liberty by being arrested shall have the 

 privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, in order 

 to have the facts concerning the arrests judici- 

 ally investigated. The proposition of the sen- 

 ator from Illinois is widely different. The 

 amendment proposed by the senator from Il- 

 linois, which is offered in lieu of the original 

 bill, authorizes the President of the United 

 States to suspend the writ of habeas corpus in 



all cases of political offences. I would ask the 

 learned senator to define what he calls a polit- 

 ical offence. There is no definition. You leave 

 it to the discretion of the executive to say 

 what a political offence is. We know that 

 since these unhappy difficulties have existed in 

 this country, persons have been seized in every 

 part of the country upon charge of political of- 

 fences, and that those offences have been, per- 

 haps, as variant as the names of the persons 

 seized." 



Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, replied : "The sen- 

 ator from Kentucky objects that the bill de- 

 clares that the President of the United States 

 shall have authority by proclamation to sus- 

 pend the ' privileges of the writ of habeas cor- 

 pus in all cases of political offences.' He says 

 the term ' political offences ' is not a technical 

 term, it has no fixed and definite meaning, and 

 that it is uncertain what it does mean ; and he 

 asks, who is to decide what is meant by 'po- 

 litical offences ? ' Are you to leave it to the 

 President to decide at his discretion? And he 

 thinks this is monstrous. Now, I will com- 

 promise with the senator from Kentucky, who 

 is in favor of compromise, and I will strike 

 out of the bill the words, ' in all cases of polit- 

 ical offences,' and then the President will be 

 authorized to suspend the writ of habeas corpus 

 whenever, in his judgment, the public safety 

 requires it during this rebellion, everywhere 

 and for all offences." 



After a considerable debate on political is- 

 sues, the amendment was adopted, and the bill 

 passed as follows : 



YEAS Messrs. Anthony, Chandler, Clark, Collamer, 

 Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Harlan, 

 Harris, Hicks, Howe, King, Lane of Kansas, Merrill, 

 Pomeroy, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade, Wil- 

 kinson, Wilmot, and Wilson of Massachusets 24. 



NATS Messrs. Carlile, Henderson, Kennedy, Lane 

 of Indiana, Latham, Powell, Rice, Richardson, Sauls- 

 bury, Turpie, Wall, Willey, and Wilson of Missouri 

 13. 



This bill was reported to the House, and final- 

 ly laid aside, as having been provided for by the 

 report of the Committee on Conference, above 

 stated, which had been adopted. 



I 



In the Senate, on the 22d of December, 

 Saulsbury offered the following resolution : 



Eesolved, That the Secretary of War be, and is 

 hereby directed to inform the Senate whether armed 

 soldiers were sent into the State of Delaware, to be 

 present at the polls on the 4th day of November last, 

 the day of general election in said State ; and if so, by 

 whose orders, upon whose application, "the necessity. 

 if any, for their being so sent, for what purpose they 

 were" sent, to what places by name they were sent, 

 -how many were sent, how many to each of such places, 

 the names of the regiments or companies sent, the 

 names of the officers commanding such regiments and 

 companies ; and whether any, and, if so, how many 

 provost marshals were or have been appointed,"and at 

 what places, in said State, with their names, the neces- 

 sity, if any, for their appointment, and the powers 

 conferred upon them ; and that he communicate to the 

 Senate all papers and orders in his Department relat- 

 ing to the sending of such soldiers into said State. 



