The administration will find means of preserving the
sovereign power the people have entrusted to it. For example, my lord, I
can touch the little bell on my right hand and order the arrest without
warrant of a citizen of Ohio. I can touch the little bell on my left
hand and order the imprisonment of a citizen of New York; and no power
on earth except that of the President, can release them. Can the Queen
of Great Britain do as much?"
His lordship left apparently reassured.
The tinkle of the little bell on the desk of the Secretary of State
which had begun to fill the jails of the North with her leading
Democratic citizens did not have the same soothing effect on American
lawmakers, however. These arrests were made without warrant and the
victim held without charges, the right to bail or trial.
The President had dared to suspend the great _writ of habeas corpus_
which guaranteed to every freeman the right to meet his accuser in open
court and answer the charge against him.
The attitude of the bold aggressive opposition was voiced on the floor
of the House of Representatives in Washington in no uncertain language
by Daniel Voorhees of Indiana, in a speech whose passionate eloquence
was only equalled by its reckless daring.
"The present Executive of the Government," he declared, "has usurped the
powers of Law and Justice to an extent subversive of republican
institutions, and not to be borne by any free people.
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