230 



CONGKESS, U. S. 



in other places. It has occurred in iny own 

 State of Missouri, and, if newspapers are to be 

 believed, it has very recently occurred in the 

 case of my former colleague, (Mr. Green.) 



" So, also, Mr. President, this other guaran- 

 tee for papers and effects has been disregarded. 

 I think I am not wrong when I say if I am 

 wrong, I have been misled by the public prints 

 on the subject that, under orders from the 

 President of the United States, telegraphic de- 

 spatches have been seized in different parts of 

 the country. No, those despatches were the 

 private property either of the offices or the 

 authors ; and yet they have been seized, when 

 the Constitution says that the people shall be 

 safe in their papers and effects against unrea- 

 sonable searches and seizures. The seizure has 

 been made without any warrant of law what- 

 ever. 



" The fifth amendment to this Constitution 

 provides that no person shall be ' deprived of 

 his life, liberty, or property, without due pro- 

 cess of law.' This constitutional guarantee 

 has also been trampled upon in the cases which 

 I have referred to. In those cases both the 

 fourth and fifth amendments of the Constitu- 

 tion have been violated. They are twofold 

 violations of this sacred charter of the liberties 

 of the citizen. 



" Now, Mr. President, has the President any 

 right to regulate commerce between the States 

 or with foreign countries? Clearly not.' And 

 yet the commerce of the United States has 

 been regulated since the 15th of April ; and, in 

 some instances, restricted, so that it has been 

 well-nigh destroyed between the States of the 

 Union. Claiming that the whole of the States 

 are still in the Union, yet this power of regu- 

 lating commerce has been exerted by the Pres- 

 ident for the purpose of crippling, restraining, 

 and almost destroying commerce between the 

 States that were unquestionably loyal and those 

 that claim to have seceded. Now, sir, the 

 claim that they have seceded does not mitigate 

 the crime of the President; because he has 

 done these acts, and at the same time has said 

 tkat these States are still in the Union. If 

 they have seceded legally, then they are for- 

 eign States, and by the same clause of the Con- 

 stitution to which I have just now referred, 

 the President has no right to regulate com- 

 merce between the United States and foreign 

 Governments. If their secession be illegal, 

 then the Constitution is still violated. 



" I say, then, Mr. President, while the Con- 

 stitution of the United States provides that 

 ' the Congress shall have power ' ' to regulate 

 commerce with foreign nations, and among the 

 several States,' and has given that power to 

 Congress only, the President, notwithstanding 

 this constitutional provision, has undertaken to 

 regulate commerce between the States. 



" The Constitution of the United States again 

 says that Congress shall have power to declare 

 war. The President of the United States has in- 

 volved the country in a war, notwithstanding 



this provision of the Constitution. The Con- 

 stitution says that Congress shall have tha 

 power 'to raise and support armies.' The 

 President of the United States has raised 

 armies. The Constitution says that Congress 

 shall have the power ' to provide and maintain 

 a navy.' The President of the United States 

 has attempted to provide a navy. It also says 

 that 'the privilege -of the writ of habeas corpus 

 shall not be suspended unless when, in cases of 

 rebellion or invasion, the public safety may re- 

 quire it,' and that not even by the Congress of 

 the United States. Yet the President has sus- 

 pended the writ of habeas corpus. It says that 

 ' no preference shall be given by,any regulation 

 of commerce or revenue to the ports of one 

 State over those of another.' The President 

 has by his own act, and without any regulation 

 of Congress, blockaded ports, and not merely 

 given a preference to some ports over others, 

 but has actually suspended the commerce of 

 certain ports entirely. The President of the 

 United States has rendered ' the right of the 

 people to be secure in their persons, houses, 

 papers, and effects,' a nullity, by infringing 

 those rights without the warrant of law ; and 

 citizens have been deprived of liberty and prop- 

 erty without due process of law. 



" These are instances of violation of the Con- 

 stitution in which the President has assumed 

 power to himself. The Constitution tended to 

 limit the power of the President. It has put 

 strict and stringent limitations upon that pow- 

 er, but these acts have had a tendency to in- 

 crease that power. 



" This joint resolution, Mr. President, pro- 

 poses to approve and legalize these acts. I can- 

 not, as an American Senator, give my consent 

 to approve and legalize them. I cannot do it, 

 especially under the circumstances in which 

 these acts have been done. I am one of those 

 who believe that there was no occasion for 

 them." 



Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, in opposition to 

 the resolution, took "occasion to charge upon 

 the Republican side of the Senate the respon- 

 sibility for the existing state of affairs, thus : 

 " I verily believe that those who propose to 

 maintain the Union of these States by arms 

 are disunionists. They may not wish to de- 

 stroy the Union ; but the very means to which 

 they resort for the purpose of saving it, will 

 most assuredly accomplish its destruction. 

 Hence I have been from the beginning op- 

 posed to war, and I am now opposed to it. I 

 think that, in this age, as a Christian, enlight- 

 ened people, we should settle these difficulties 

 without a resort to arms. If Senators on the 

 other side of the chamber last winter had co- 

 operated with Senators on this side, and we 

 could have had a corresponding action in the 

 other House, I have no doubt all these difficul- 

 ties could have been settled. It is well known 

 that propositions to amend the Constitution 

 were introduced here, and that everybody on 

 this side of the chamber approved them, and 



