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Show 388 LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. CHAP. public regard and gratitude, for his exertions in their ~defence, he retired to his quarters, and, giving his aid 8 a check, sent him to discharge the fine imposed, and 1 15. thus terminated his contest with the civil authority. So rivetted was the impression, that the course pursued by the general was correct, and the conduct of judge Hall more the result of spleen than any thing else, that the citizens of New Orleans determined to ward off the effect of his intended injury, by discharging, themselves, the fine imposed. It was only necessary to be thought of, and it was done. So numerous were the persons, entertaining the same feelings on the subject, that in a short time the entire sum was raised, by voluntary contribution. The general, understanding what was in agitation, to spare his own and their , feelings, despatched his aid-de-camp to seek the mar-· simi, and thereby avoided the necessity of refusing a favour, intended to be offered, and which he could not have accepted. Those who are dispose<,!. to be informed further upon this subject, and to know if he acted correctly, in declaring martial law, or \vhether, short of the stem and determined course adopted, he could have effected the important ends he accomplished, and preserved from dishonour, wretchedness, and ruin, the cc·untry and its inhabitants, can refer to the able and elegant answer, submitted to the court, and which was refused to be heard. It is replete with reasons, calculated to satisfy the mind that the course he took was required by every principle of propriety and necessity.* • See note F. LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. SB9 To suspend the writ of habeas corpus, belongs to CHAP. congress, by the constitution. It restricts any inter- XI. ference, but in cases of invasion or insurrection. To~ say t ha t 1. t I. S a pn.v 1"J ege wh "1 c h must be contm. ued, until 1815. discharged. by a law, embracing the circumstances of every case tl1at 111ay arise, is to suppose a something that never can happen. An invasion might be made, a thousand miles from the seat of government, or in the recess of congress, when no authority, competent to act, did exist. The Roman maxim, inter arma silent leges, had its origin in the necessities of the republic. In all govemments, there are moments of danger and distress, when, no matter how (autiously protected be the rights of the citizens, they must be disregarded, not for the purpose of being destroyed, .but more permanently secured. Certainly none but an officer, acting upon an enemy's line, privy to all his intrigues, stratagems, and wiles, can so correctly judge of the emergency, requiring the exercise of such power. He assumes a weighty responsibility ; but, with an intelligent world, hazards no more, than to be able to show, that threatening danger, and unavoidable neces-sity, required him to act. Cases have occurred, where-in the constitution has been violated without reproach. Few generals have respected private property, when the country afforded provisions, and their armies were in want; they have wrested them from the owner. Here, it may be said, compensation and atonement can be offered, but none for the violation of personal liberty : this is a distinction without a difference, because both rights are equally sacred, and the infringement of one, no less a constitutional violation than the other. We |
