800 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



nesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court." 

 And it further provides that "no person shall be ncld to an- 

 swer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a 

 presentment or indictment of a grand jury ; except in cases 

 arising in the land and naval forces, or in the militia, when 

 in actual service in time of war or public danger;" and fur- 

 ther, that "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall 

 enjoy the right of a speedy and public trial, by an impartial 

 jury of the State and district whurein the crime was com- 

 mitted." 



JtMolred, That these safeguards of the rights of the citi- 

 zen against the pretensions of arbitrary power, were intend- 

 ed more especially for his protection in times of civil com- 

 motion. They were secured substantially to the English 

 people, after years of protracted civil war, and were adopted 

 into our own Constitution at the close of the Revolution. 

 They have stood the test of seventy -six years of trial under 

 our republican system, under circumstances -which show 

 that while they constitute the foundation of all free govern- 

 ment, they are the elements of the enduring stability of the 

 republic. 



Revolted, That in adopting the language of Daniel Web- 

 ster, we declare, " it is the ancient and undoubted prerog- 

 ative of this people to canvass public measures and the 

 merits of public men. It is a 'homebred right,' a fireside 

 privilege. It has been enjoyed in every house, cottage, and 

 cabin in the nation. It is as undoubted as the right of 

 breathing the air or -walking on the earth. Belonging to 

 private life as a right, it belongs to public life as a duty, and 

 ft is the last duty which those whose representatives we are 

 shall find us to abandon. Aiming at all times to be cour- 

 teous and temperate in its use, except when the right itself 

 is questioned, we shall place ourselves on the extreme bound- 

 ary of our own right, and bid defiance to any arm that would 

 move us from our ground. This high constitutional privi- 

 lege we shall defend and exercise in all places ; in time of 

 peace, in time of war, and at all times. Living, we shall 

 assert it; and should we leave no other inheritance to our 

 children, by the blessing of God we will leave them the in- 

 heritance of free principles and the example of a manly, in- 

 dependent, and constitutional defence of them." 



Kewlted, That in the election of Gov. Seymour, the peo- 

 ple of this State, by an emphatic majority, declared their 

 condemnation of the system of arbitrary arrests, and their 

 determination to stand by the Constitution. That the re- 

 vival of this lawless system can have but one result, to di- 

 vide and distract the North, and destroy its confidence in 

 the purposes of the Administration. That we deprecate it as 

 an element of confusion at home, of weakness to our armies 

 In the field, and as calculated to lower the estimate of Amer- 

 ican character and magnify the apparent peril of our cause 

 abroad. And that, regarding the blow struck at a citizen of 

 Ohio as aimed at the rights of every citizen of the North, we 

 denounce it as against the spirit of our laws and Constitu- 

 tion, and most earuestly call upon the President of the 

 United StaU-s to reverse the action of the military tribunal 

 which has passed a "cruel and unusual punishment" upon 

 the party arrested, prohibited in terms by the Constitution, 

 and to restore him to the liberty of which he has been de- 

 prived. 



Keolvd, That the president, vice-presidents, and secre- 

 tary of this meeting be requested to transmit a copy of these 

 resolutions to his Excellency the President of the United 

 States, with the assurance of this meeting of their hearty 

 and earnest desire to support the Government in every con- 

 stitutional and lawful measure to suppress the existing re- 

 bellion. 



EXBCUTI-VE MANSION, WASHINGTON. ) 

 June 12*A, 1863. \ 

 Eon. Erastut Corning, and others : 



GENTLEMEN : Your letter of May 19th, enclosing the 

 resolutions of a public meeting held in Albany, N. Y.. 

 on the 16th of the some month, was received several 

 days ago. 



The resolutions, as I understand them, are resolv- 

 able into two propositions first, the expression of a 

 puqiose to sustain the cause of the Union, to secure 

 peace through victory, and to support the Administra- 

 tion in every constitutional and lawful measure to sup- 

 press the rebellion ; and, secondly, a declaration of 

 censure upon the Administration for supposed uncon- 

 stitutional action, such as the making of military ar- 

 rests. And from the two propositions a third is 

 deduced, which is, that the gentlemen composing the 

 meeting are resolved on doing their part to maintain 

 our common Government and country, despite the 

 folly or wickedness, as they may conceive, of any 

 Administration. This position ia eminently patriotic, 



and as such I thank the meeting, and congratulate the 

 nation for it. My own purpose is the same, so that 

 the meeting and myself have a common object, and 

 can have no difference, except in the choice of means 

 or measures for effecting that object. 



And here I ought to close this paper, and would 

 close it, if there were no apprehension that more inju- 

 rious consequences than any merely personal to my- 

 self might follow the censures systematically cast 

 upon me for doing what, in my view of duty, I could 

 not forbear. The resolutions promise to support me 

 in every constitutional and lawful measure to suppress 

 the rebellion ; and I have not knowingly employed, 

 nor shall knowingly employ, any other. 



But the meeting, bv their resolutions, assert and 

 argue that certain military arrests, and proceedings 

 following them, for which I am ultimately responsible, 

 are unconstitutional. I think they are not. The reso- 

 lutions quote from the Constitution the definition of 

 treason, and also the limiting safeguards and guar- 

 antees therein provided for the citizen on trial for 

 treason, and on his being held to answer for capital or 

 otherwise infamous crimes, and in criminal prosecu- 

 tions, his right to a speedy and public trial by an im- 

 partial jury. They proceed to resolve " that these 

 safeguards of the rights of the citizen against the pre- 

 tensions of arbitrary power were intended more espe- 

 cially for his protection in times of civil commotion." 

 And, apparently to demonstrate the proposition, the 

 resolutions proceed, " they were secured substantially 

 to the English people after years of protracted civil 

 war, and were adopted into our Constitution at the 

 close of the Revolution." Would not the demon- 

 stration have been better if it could have been truly 

 said that these safeguards had been adopted and ap- 

 plied during the civil wars and during our Revolution, 

 instead of after the one and at the close of the other? 

 I, too, am devotedly for them after civil war and before 

 civil war, and at all times, " except when, in cases of 

 rebellion and invasion, the public safety may require" 

 their suspension. The resolutions proceed" to tell us 

 that these safeguards " have stood the test of seventy- 

 six years of trial, under our republican system, under 

 circumstances which show that while they constitute 

 the foundation of all free government, they are the ele- 

 ments of the enduring stability of the republic." No 

 one denies that they nave so stood the test up to the 

 beginning of the present rebellion, if we except a cer- 

 tain occurrence at New Orleans ; nor does any one 

 question that they will stand the same test much 

 longer after the rebellion closes. But these provisions 

 of the Constitution have'no application to the case we 

 have in hand, because the arrests complained of were 

 not made for treason that is, not for the treason de- 

 fined in the Constitution, and upon the conviction of 

 which the punishment is death ; nor yet were they 

 made to hold persons to answer for any capital or 

 otherwise infamous crimes ; nor were the proceedings 

 following, in any constitutional or legal sense, " crimi- 

 nal prosecutions." The arrests were made on totally 

 different grounds, and the proceedings following ac- 

 corded with the grounds of the arrests. 



Let us consider the real case with which we are 

 dealing, and apply to it the parts of the Constitution 

 plainly made for such cases. 



Prior to my installation here it had been inculcated 

 that any State had a lawful right to secede from the 

 national Union, and that it would be expedient to ex- 

 ercise the right whenever the devotees of the doctrine 

 should fail to elect a President to their own liking. I 

 was elected contrary to their liking ; and, accordingly, 

 so far as it was legally possible, they had taken seven 

 States out of the Union, had seized many of the United 

 States forts, and had fired upon the United States flag, 

 all before I was inaugurated, and, of course, before I 

 had done any official act whatever. The rebellion thus 

 begun soon ran into the present civil war ; and, in cer- 

 tain respects, it began on very unequal terms between 

 the parties. The insurgents had been preparing for it 

 for more than thirty years, while the Government had 

 token DO steps to resist them. The former had care- 



