THE TOWN OF WEST FARMS. 50I 



Saturday Judge Giles issued the following order to be entered on the record of 

 the Court. After quoting the title of the case he says : "In this case a peti- 

 tion was presented to me, in the usual form, stating that John G. Mullen was il- 

 legally detained at Fort McHenry in this city, by the officer commanding at that 

 fort; that the said John G. Mullen was only twenty years of age, and had 

 been enlisted without the consent of his father, George Mullen, who united in 

 the petition, and made affidavit to the truth of the facts stated therein ; and the 

 petition closed with the prayer for the writ of habeas corpus. In the discharge 

 of the duty required of me by the laws of the United States, upon the presenta- 

 tion of such a petition, I ordered the writ of habeas corpus to be issued, to be 

 directed to the commanding officer at Fort McHenry, commanding him to pro- 

 duce before me, at ten o'clock this morning, in the District Court-room in this 

 city, the body of said John G. Mullen, with the cause of his confinement, at the 

 hour mentioned for the return of the said writ. The deputy marshal, who was 

 sent down to serve the writ, filed in this court this morning an affidavit, stating 

 that it had been served on an officer in command of said fort, and who refused 

 to obey said writ. 



This is the first time within my experience of thirty-three years at the bar and 

 on the bench that the writ of habeas corpus has failed in this State to procure 

 obedience to its mandate. It is a writ so dear to every freeman that the Constitu- 

 tion of the country has, with great care, provided 'that it shall not be suspended 

 unless, when in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it.'' 

 With no suspension of this writ by competent authority, with no proclamation 

 for its suspension by any one claiming to possess such power, with no state 

 of affairs existing as would authorize its suspension, the court learns, with deep 

 regret, that an officer of the United States Army has thought it his duty to re- 

 fuse obedience to the writ. Unwilling to aggravate existing excitement by more 

 immediate action, the court will at present only pass an order that the commanding 

 officer at Fort McHenry show cause, on or before Wednesday next, the 8th inst. 

 at ten o'clock, why an attachment should not issue against him for his refusal to 

 obey the said writ ; and the court sincerely hopes that, in a crisis like the present, 

 wiser counsels may prevail at the post, and that no unnecessary conflict of 

 authority may be brought in between those owing allegiance to the same govern- 

 ment and bound by the same laws." 



Fort McHenry, Md., ) 

 Monday, 6th May, 1861. f 



Hon. William Fell Giles, Judge of the U. S. District Court for the District of 

 Maryland : 



Sir. — My attention has been directed to an article in the local column of the 

 Baltimore Sun of this date, headed, "The Habeas Corpus Refusal." Presum- 

 ing that that article is authentic, I wish very respectfully to submit for your 

 consideration the following remarks on this unhappy "conflict of authority be- 

 tween those owing allegiance to the same Government, and bound by the same 

 laws." 



To avoid implicating parties in no wise connected with this case, permit me 



