In the Virginia "Bill of Rights" of 1776, written also by Jefferson, it is declared that— "All power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; that magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them. "All power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws, by any authority, without consent of the representatives of the people, is injurious to their rights, and ought not to be exercised. "In all cases the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power. "Freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained, but by despotic governments.” And yet again; in the "Declaration of Rights" of Massachusetts, in 1780, it is laid down that "No person shall be held to answer for any crime or offense, until the same is fully and plainly, substantially and formally described to him. And no person shall be arrested, imprisoned, or despoiled, or deprived of his property, immunities, or privileges, put out of the protection of the law, exiled or deprived of his life, liberty, or estate, but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land. "Every person has a right to be secure from all unreasonable searches and seizures of his person, his houses, his papers, and all his possessions. "The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in a State. "The people have a right to keep and bear arms for the common defense. The military power shall always be held in exact subordination to the civil authority, and be governed by it. "The people have a right in an orderly and peaceable manner to assemble, to consult upon the common good. "The power of suspending the laws ought never to be exercised but by the Legislature, or by authority derived from it, to be exercised in such particular cases only as the Legislature shall expressly provide for. "No person can, in any case, be subjected to law martial, or to any penalties or pains, by virtue of that law, (except those employed in the army or navy, and except the militia in actual service,) but by authority of the Legislature." Such were the liberties of Americans in the Revolutionary period of our history, and before it; and they have been embodied in all our constitutions ever since. Let the present Constitution of Ohio speak. In our "Bill of Rights" we declare that "All political power is inherent in the people. "The people have the right to assemble together in a peaceable manner, to consult for their common good; to instruct their representatives, and to petition the General Assembly for the redress of grievances. "The people have the right to bear arms for their defense and security. The military shall be in strict subordination to the civil power. "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety require it. No power of suspending laws shall ever be exercised except by the General Assembly. "In any trial, in any court, the party accused shall be allowed a speedy public trial, by an impartial jury of the county or district in which the offense is alleged to have been committed. "Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of the right; and no law shall be passed to abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and possessions, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated. "All courts shall be open, and justice administered without denial or delay." Similar provisions exist in every State constitution in the United States, thus securing every citizen from State tyranny and oppression. Nor is the Federal Constitution less ample and explicit. Hear it: "All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States." "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety require it.” Now, sir, from the beginning of the Government down to the year 1861, no lawyer, no jurist, no statesman, no writer upon the Constitution, ever pretended that the President, or any other authority, could suspend the privilege of this writ, except Congress alone. But I read further: "The judicial power shall extend to all cases in law and equity arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority. "The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury, and such trial shall be held in the State where the said crimes shall have been committed. "Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. แ Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons and things to be seized. "No person shall be held to answer 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 and public danger; NOR SHALL BE DEPRIVED OF LIFE, LIBERTY, OR PROPERTY, WITHOUT DUE PROCESS OF LAW; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation. "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law; and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense. "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." These, thus repeated and multiplied over and over again, are the Magna Charta of American freemen. They constitute the Body of American Liberties. They cost much blood and treasure, and are worth the most precious treasure and blood of the whole country. Let them be maintained at every hazard and sacrifice. They are dearer in time of war and public danger, than in time of peace. They are secured by the Constitution, and can only be forfeited in accordance with the Constitution. I abhor and denounce the monstrous doctrine, so rife of late, that the Constitution is suspended in time of war; or that the powers under it are enlarged; or, at least, that there is a 66 war power "above and greater than the Constitution. Sir, that instrument was made for war as well as peace. It expressly gives to Congress the right to declare war, raise armies, provide navies, and call out the militia to execute the laws, suppress insurrection, put down rebellion, and repel invasion. Every power, the very utmost necessary and proper for carrying on any war, foreign or domestic, is explicitly given. The "tyrant's plea" of necessity, is false. No power that ought to be exercised is withheld, and every usurpation is utterly without excuse. Whoever maintains that the framers of the Constitution failed to make it good enough and strong enough for any crisis-for war and for peace-libels Washington and Madison and Hamilton, and the other patriots of '87. And the man who denounces "sticklers" for the Constitution, and declares that he can tell a "traitor" by his crying out for the Constitution, is himself a traitor or a fool. Keep an eye on him. We have no hope for ourselves, or our children, except in the Constitution. The President, more than any other man, is bound to obey it. He takes a solemn oath to support it. It is his duty to act according to law. Among the personal rights under the Constitution is that of habeas corpus. The uniform testimony of courts and statesmen is that it can be suspended only by Congress. If the President can suspend it, it can only be by proclamation, declaring where, and for how long it is suspended. He has no right to send a dispatch for the arrest of any citizen of the United States, and to say that, by that act, his minions are authorized to suspend the writ. Better to live in Austria, in Turkey, or under any other admitted despotism, than where the President, the servant of the people, shall seize, without "due process of law," and carry off to prison any citizen under the pretence of treason. These guarantees were not in the original Constitution, but demanded by the States and the people, and added afterwards. They were added for fear some President might be elected who would claim to have the power, if not expressly withheld by the Constitution. What are they? Freedom of speech, of the press, peaceable assemblages, the right to keep and bear arms, freedom from illegal arrest. Yet you have been told that we shall not be allowed to enjoy these rights--that "executive orders" shall be issued against usthat men who represent the voice of the people shall not be heardthat the press shall be muzzled, and men's mouths gagged, and no censure or criticism of the acts of the President, or of the officials under him, shall be permitted, under penalty of arrest and imprisonment; and, thus, that our personal and political liberties shall be disregarded, and the Constitution trampled under foot. Well, sir, we shall see about it. "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." Every civil officer knows what "due process of law" is, and, when armed with such due process, it is the duty of every person to obey. But whoever comes with any other papers, or any pretence of authority, by telegraphic dispatch, or otherwise, from the Secretary of War, Commander-in-chief, or President, deserves to be met as a burglar. It is a desecration of the citizen. There is a statute against it. Let such persons be met by the law. Every house is a castle, the poor man's cottage as well as the rich man's palace, in which he may defy arbitrary power. Such is the law in England. In the language of Lord Chatham, in that noblest outburst of English eloquence, "The poorest man in his cottage may bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail; its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storm may enter; the rain may enter; but the King of England can not enter it. All his power dares not cross the threshold of that ruined tenement." (Tremendous cheering.) This right is equally sacred and secured to us here in America, and we will never yield it up, least of all to our own public servants. The sooner it is made known to this Administration that the people who created it and put it in power will maintain their rights, the less trouble there will be. I but repeat the declaration of the two hundred thousand Democratic voters of Ohio-fifty thousand of them in the army from this State-that freedom can not be violated by the Administration. Hear the resolution of that Democracy, in State Convention assembled, on the 4th of July last: "That we view with indignation and alarm the illegal and unconstitutional seizure and imprisonment, for alleged political offenses, of our citizens, without judicial process, in States where such process was unobstructed, but, by executive order, by telegraph or otherwise; and call upon all who uphold the Union, the Constitution, and the laws, to unite with us in denouncing and repelling such flagrant violation of the State and Federal Constitutions and tyrannical infraction of the rights and liberties of American citizens; and that the people of this State CAN NOT SAFELY, AND WILL NOT SUBMIT to have the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press, the two great essential bulwarks of civil liberty, put down by unwarranted and despotic exertion of power." Sir, the men who urge on these violations know not what they do. The title to your lands, to your personal property, the legal right to all you have, rests in obedience to constitution and laws. Let this terrible truth be proclaimed everywhere, that whenever, either through infraction and usurpation by the President, or by violence, the Constitution is no longer of binding force and the highest rule of action, then we are at the mercy of mere power, military power at last. This is despotism, absolute, unmixed, cruel despotism—a despotism enforcing its orders to-day by arbitrary imprisonments, and to-morrow by bloody executions. Let all men who love the peace, good order, and happiness of society, who desire that the rights of all classes, and that rights of all kinds shall be maintained, lift up their voices against the arbitrary and unconstitutional acts of the party in power. Men of the Republican party, it is your day now: to-morrow, it may be, it will be ours. Be warned in time. Stand by the Constitution-by law and order. Do nothing by usurpation or violence. It must react-it will react and there is no raging flood, no mountain torrent, neither the whirlwind, the surging ocean, nor the avalanche, like the madness of an oppressed and outraged people. Do men who are inciting to mobs and acts of violence, or applauding usurpation and infraction of Constitution and law, not know that they are those who suffer most and worst in the end? Do they imagine that they whose nights, sacred, by God's appointment, to silence and rest, have been invaded without process of law, and their wives and children terror-stricken by arbitrary arrests of husbands and fathers-editors and public men of the loyal States, who have languished, for opinion's sake, within Bastiles for monthswill have no day of reckoning for all these enormities? Sir, that great reaction has set in; it hastens on. O, that you may allow it to be under the Constitution and according to law-but come it will; and be assured-be assured-that when that great day of account does come, BY THE MEASURE YOU HAVE METED OUT TO US, BY THAT MEASURE SHALL IT BE METED OUT TO YOU AGAIN. Remember, remember, that wrongs like these burn deep into the innermost recesses of our souls, steeling them against atonement and mercy; and that when the inevitable change which already is hurrying on upon the wings of the wind, shall have arrived, that same power by virtue of which you imprison us, will be in our hands. Be warned in time. All history has been written in vain, if our day does not come, and come right speedily: "For time at last sets all things even- And if we do but watch the hour, I speak it not as a menace, but by way of entreaty, that your hereafter in this life depends upon your adherence to the laws and Constitution. And yet I am amazed to learn that men of wealth and position in this city-lawyers, clergy, merchants, and others— are proclaiming that those in authority have a right to disobey the Constitution and laws, and ought to disobey them, to secure objects which can not be had without disregarding all law and the personal and political rights of the citizen. Do these men know what they do? Have they read history? Mr. VALLANDIGHAM here referred, at length, to Greece, Rome, England, and the French Revolution for historic parallels, reading from the 10th and 14th chapters of Allison's History of Europe. He quoted the "Law of Suspected Persons," under which all France was divided into twelve classes liable to arrest; among them the following: "1. All those who, in the assemblies of the people, discourage their enthu siasm by cries, menaces, or crafty discourses. 2. All those who more prudently speak only of the misfortunes of the Republic, and are always ready to spread bad news with an affected air of sorrow. 3. All those who have changed their conduct and language according to the course of events, who were mute on the crimes of the Royalists, and loudly exclaimed against the slight faults |