220 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



exercised by a third party, whether an officer 

 of this Government or not. It seems to me 

 that there is a great principle attending that. 

 The exercise of the discretion of suspending 

 the writ of habeas corpus, of ascertaining 

 whether the public safety requires it, is some- 

 thing, in my opinion, that cannot be delegated 

 by the Congress of the United States to any 

 one. They only can suspend that writ, the 

 great safeguard of the people's liberty, when 

 the public safety shall require it, and then, 

 superadded to that, the two occasions of re- 

 bellion and invasion. Now I ask, this being a 

 matter of discretion, when the public safety 

 may require the raising of revenues to a great- 

 er grade than they were before, whether the 

 Senator would consider it competent for Con- 

 gress to delegate its discretion to the Secretary 

 of the Treasury to increase the duties upon 

 imports, should the public safety require it, 

 and I will superadd, the existence of rebellion 

 and invasion at that time?" 



Mr. Edmunds : " Without going to the Sec- 

 retary of the Treasury to tfnd out what the 

 law is, it is sufficient to say, what I have al- 

 ready said, I think, and that is that the author- 

 ity which the Legislature may vest in the 

 President of the United States to suspend the 

 writ of habeas corpus is not the delegation of 

 a legislative discretion at all, any more than it 

 is the delegation of a legislative discretion to 

 authorize him to expel intruders from the pub- 

 lic lands by force, as has been done, whenever 

 he shall think the interest of the United States 

 requires it. 



"Now, Mr. President, I have finished what 

 I have to say about the validity of this bill, 

 and I come to the objection that my honorable 

 friend from Illinois (Mr. Trumbull) and my 

 friend from Missouri (Mr. Schurz) have, that 

 we are undertaking to create a case of con- 

 structive rebellion, and that we are going "be- 

 yond the line of safe precedent, the line of 

 constitutional consideration, in undertaking to 

 say that such and such facts shall amount to 

 a rebellion. I do not think it necessary to say 

 that myself. I should be quite as well satis- 

 fied, and better satisfied, with the bill as an 

 efficient and powerful measure in a great 

 emergency if it simply declared that if, in the 

 course of these disturbances, a case of rebel- 

 lion should occur, then and in that case the 

 President, if the public safety in his judgment 

 should require it, might suspend the writ of 

 hcibeas corpus for a limited time. The fact is, 

 this section has accumulated much more in the 

 statement of an existing condition of things 

 than is necessary to make a case of rebellion." 



Several amendments were now offered to 

 the House bill, and agreed to. Among these 

 was one offered by Senator Sherman, of Ohio, 

 to add to the bill the following section : 



SEO. . That if any house, tenement, cabin, shop, 

 building, barn, or granary shall be unlawfully or 

 feloniously demolished, pulled down, burned, or 

 destroyed, wholly or in part, by any persons riot- 



ously and tumultuously assembled together; or if 

 any person shall unlawfully and with force and vio- 

 lence be whipped, scourged, wounded, or killed by 

 any persons riotously and tumultuously assembled 

 together ; and if such offence was committed to de- 



Enve any person of any right conferred upon him 

 y the Constitution and laws of the United States, 

 or to deter him or punish him for exercising any 

 such right, or by reason of his race, color, or pre- 

 vious condition of servitude, in every such case the 

 inhabitants of the county, city, or parish in which 

 any of the said offences shall be committed shall be 

 liable to pay full compensation to the person or 

 persons damnified by such offence if living, or to hia 

 legal representative if dead ; and such compensation 

 may be recovered by such person or his represent- 

 ative by a suit in any court of the United States of 

 competent jurisdiction in the district in which the 

 offence was committed, to be in the name of the per- 

 son injured, or his legal representative, and against 

 said county, city, or parish ; and execution may be 

 issued on a judgment rendered in such suit, and may 

 be levied upon any property, real or personal, of 

 any person in said county, city, or parish ; and the 

 said county, city, or parish may recover the full 

 amount of said judgment, cost, and interest from any 

 person or persons engaged as principal or accessory 

 in such riot, in an action in any court of competent 

 jurisdiction. 



Mr. Sherman : " I will simply say it is 

 copied from the law of England that has beer* 

 in force six hundred years." 



The Vice-President : "The question is on 

 the amendment of the Senator from Ohio." 



The yeas and nays were ordered ; and, be- 

 ing taken, resulted as follows : 



YEAS Messrs. Ames, Anthony, Boreman, Brown- 

 low, Caldwell, Catneron, Carpenter, Chandler, Clay- 

 ton, Cole, Conkling, Corbett, Cragin, Edmunds, 

 Ferry of Michigan, Gilbert, Hamilton of Texas, 

 Hamlin, Harlan, Howe, Lewis, Logan, Morton, Nye, 

 Osborn, Patterson, Pomeroy, Pool, Pratt, Eamsey, 

 Eice, Sawyer, Sherman, Stewart, Sumner, Wes*t s 

 Wilson, Windom, and Wright 39. 



NAYS Messrs. Bayard, Blair, Buckingham, Cas- 

 serly, Cooper, Davis of Kentucky, Davis of West 

 Virginia, Frelinghuysen, Hamilton of Maryland, 

 Hill, Hitchcock. Johnston, Kelly, Morrill of Maine, 

 Kobertson, Saulsbury, Schurz, Scott, Spencer, Ste- 

 venson, Stockton, Tnurman. Tipton, Trumbull, and 

 Vickers 25. 



ABSENT Messrs. Fenton, Ferry of Connecticut, 

 Flanagan, Kellogg, Morrill of Vermont, and Sprague 

 6. 



So the amendment was agreed to. 



Mr. Trumbull: "I move now to strike out 

 the fourth section of the bill, the habeas corpu* 

 section." 



The Vice-President : " The question is on the 

 motion of the Senator from Illinois, to strike 

 out the fourth section of the bill." 



The yeas and nays were ordered ; and, being 

 taken, resulted as follows: 



YEAS Messrs. Bayard, Blair, Casserly, Cooper, 

 Davis of Kentucky, Davis of West Virginia, Hamil- 

 ton of Maryland, Hill, Johnston, Kelly, Morrill of 

 Maine, Kobertson, Saulsbury, Schurz, Stevenson, 

 Stockton, Thurman, Tipton, Trumbull. Vickers, and 

 Wright 21. 



NAYS Messrs. Ames, Anthony, Boreman, Brown- 

 low, Buckingham, Caldwell, Cameron, Carpenter, 

 Chandler, Clayton, Cole, Conkling, Corbett, Cnurin, 

 Edmunds, Ferry of Michigan, Frelinghuysen, Gil- 

 bert, Hamilton of Texas, Hamlin, Harlan, Hitch- 

 cock, Howe, Lewis, Morrill of Vermont, Morton, 



