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IITY OFSUT
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v dFt
MIRROR OF THE TIMES.
Mr. GILES’* SPEECH,
On ihe bill more effectually to en
force the Embargo lazes.
Here the president is authorised
to use the military force to remove
settlers from the public lands with
out the intervention of courts ; and
.the reason is, that the peculiarity of
the case is not smtetl to the juris
diction of courts, nor would their
powers be competent to the object,
nor indeed arc courts allowed to
interfere with any claims of indi
viduals against tile United Stales,
but congress undertakes to decide
upon all such cases finally and per
emptorily w ithout the intervention
of courts.
This part of the bill is, there
fore, supported both by principle
and precedent.
Whilst speaking of the distrusts
of courts, I hope I may be indul
ged in remarking, that individual
ly my respect for judicial proceed
ings is materially impaired. I find,
si r , that latterly in some instances,
the callous insensibility to extrinsic
objects, which in times past, was
thought the most honorable trait m
the character of an upright judge,
is now bv some courts entirely dis
respected. It seems by some
judges to be no longer thought an
ornament to the judicial character,
but is now substituted by tne most
capricious sensibilities.
Justice was formerly painted
blind, as a proper emblem of ibis
honorable insensibility to external
objects, but modern justice might
more properly be represented by
the most bright-eyed Goddess of
the whole Pentheon. Trembling
alive to the influence of ail exter
nal objects, and so replete tvith ir
ritable feelings, as, upon some oc
casions, to approach almost to hy
sterical affections. When judges
so far forget the true character and
dignity oi their stations, judicial
proceedings cannot long preserve
the respect heretofore attached to
them. The next objections are
made against the 9th section of
the bill; it is in the following
words:
“ That the collectors of a ll the
districts of the United States, shall
and they are hereby authorised to
take into their custody specie or
any articles of domestic growth,
produce, or manufacture, when
there is reason to believe trial they
are intended for exportation, or
when in vessels, carts, waggons,
sleighs, or any other carriage, or
in any manner apparently on their
way towards the territories of -,\ so- i
reign nation, or the vicinity there
of, or towards a place whence such
articles are intended to be exr or.
ted ; and not to permit such arti
cles to be removed until bond with
sufficient sureties shall have been
given tor the landing or delivery of
the same in some place of the U.
States, whence, in the opinion of
the collector there shall not lie any
danger of such articles being im
ported.
The objection is, that it violates
the 4th article of the amendments
to the constitution ; that article i*
in the following words :
“ Art. 4. 1 lie right of the peo
ple to be secure in their persons,
papers and effects, again**, unrea
sonable searches and seizures, shad
not be violated j and no warrants '
sliah issue, but upon probable
cause supported by oatbot afhrma- 1
lion, and particularly describing
the place to be searched, and the
persons or things t 0 be seized.”
if this section or any other, vio
lated this or any other article, word
or letter of the constitution, the
bill would drop unsupported from j
my hands. The cniy question,
" hicli arises between tins section
and the 4ih article oi tire eonstitu"
tion is, whether the seizures here
authorised are reasonable or unrea
sonable z 1 believe that every per
son will conclude that when pro
perty is intended u> b<* used to vio
j Ute the lapsed tire United States
“ hold the mirror Li* TO NATURE.’*— Shakespeare.
WEST END OE BROAD-STREET.
and to accommodate (heir
that it ought to be seized, and the
object ol its owner prevented ;
stub scizur-, therefore, cannot be
deemed of course
not unconstitutional; as to search
j !n g, there is no power whatever in
the section, giwn to enter into
houses, nor to search them either
with or without warrant, neither
in the day nor in the night time,
and of course tho clause respecting
Searches, can in no respect whate
ver apply to this section ; Seizures
under less imperious circumstan
ces are justified by all your reve
nue laws, See. Etc, and as one case
in point amongst others, I \touicl
beg to read from the 4 h vol. ol
laws sect. 6s, page 3X9.
t( An act to regulate the collec
tion ol duties on imports and ton
nage.
Sect. 03. 7’hat every collector,
naval officer and surveyor, or oth -
er persons specially appointed by
either of them lor that purpose*
shall have tuli power and authori
ty to enter any ship or vessel, in
which they shall have reason to
suspect any goods, wares or mer
chandize, fc c .
I have never heard of any com
plaint from this mode of proceed
ing in collecting the revenue, and
there certainly ought to be none
against a similar provision for en
forcing a due observance of the
embargo laws.
it is said this section violates the
sth article ol the amendments to
|he constitution. The mere read
ing of this article will be sufficient
to shew that it has net the rerno
test reference to any part of the
section in question. It is in the
fodowing words:
“ person shall be held to an
swer for a capital or oiheiwi.se in
famous crime, unless on a present
ment ol a grand jury, except in
cases arising in tiie land or naval
lorccs, or m the militia, when in
actual service in tirue of war or
public danger ; nor shall anv per
son be subject for the same offence
tube twice put in jeopardy of lit,
or limb, nor shah compelled in
any criminal case to bo witness
against himself, nor be deprived ol
h:e, liberty or property without
due process of law ; nu r shall pri
vate property betaken for public
use without just compensation.”
No private property is proposed
by this section to be taken for pub
lic use, either with or without com
pensation, but merely that it should
be held for tiie owner until he
should give security that lie wouiu
not thereby violate the law. I btv
leave to icfer to a case in point
to justify this provision: It is in
t'ie 6£hn section of the revenue law
just read. 4th vol. page 390 ; the
words are tiie following ;
Sect. fij. i fiat all goods, wares
and merchandize which shall hr
seized by virtue of tins act, shal
be put into and remaui in t!»e cus
tody of tiie collector, or such 0111-
er person as fie snail appoint for
that purpose, uyiil mch proceed
ings shall be had ash-, this act are
required, to ascertain whether tin
same have been i'ortcitcd or not,”
& c.
I lie 70:h section of the same
act extends the doctrine of seizure
for the violation of the law still
turfher. It is in the following
words ;
“ Sect. 70. That it shall be the
duty of the several office, s of the
customs to make seizures 01, and
secure any ship or vessel, goods,
wares or merchandize, which snail
be liable to seizure bv virtue of
this or any othet- act of the U- S.
respecting the revenue which is
1 1 ovv or may hereafter be tuacted,
! as well without an within their
! respective districts.”
The rnoft alarming objec
tions, are suggested to be co n
lamed in the following clau* e
bi the lOih led ion of the bill :
| ** Sect. io. Andbe.itfurther
| :naaed f Thai the powers given
to the collectors either by this or
any oilier act resetting the em
bargo, to detain any veftel, or
to take into their cuftodv any
articles for the purpose of pre.
venting violations of the embar
go, Ihall be exercised in con.
lormity with luch >ii(hu£lions
as the president may give, and
such general rules as he may
prelcnbe for that purpole,
made in purfuauce of the pow
ers aforefaid; which inftrufcii*
ons and. general ru es the col-
Icclots (hall be bound to o
bey:”
I his clause merely provides
for the transfer of powers pre.
vioufly given to the collectors,
10 the president, for the purpose
of producing, as far is pradi
cable, uniformity 6c impartiali.
tv in their execution. It was
hardly to have been expetted
that ingenuity itfeif could have
found an objection to this pro.
vision : But it is said that this
clause gives the prefwient’s in
flruHions the force of law. It
certainly does in relation to the
objects to which they are dirett.
cd and limited. What aiethele
objeds ? They are incidental
occurrences arifirig in the course
of the execution of the embargo
laws which can neither be fore
men nor guarded agamft by
legislation in any other way be.
caule they are incapable of de
finition ; ibis provihon relates
to events and details not in ex
iltence, but which mav proba.
bly happen ; events and details,
therefore incapable ofdefintion,
and of course cannot be reached
by legislation without aid of the
executive department This
caie feives to illustrate the gen
eral principles I laid down re
f| e&ing the transfer of lcgifla
live powers to the executive
department. But, fir, as great
itrefs has been laid upon this
objection by the opponents of
the bill, permit me to examine
this dothinc in reference to the
pre.exifting praflice of this gov
ernment with more minute at
tention. In this examination
it w ill be found, that at all times
firice its efiablifhment, when it
hrad an object in view that could
not be defined, and of courfe’
could not be reached by iegifla.
tion, it has called in the aid of
executive discretion for the pur
poie, sometimes with more, and
sometimes with less iimiiation
and, refit iclion. ] n the fit ft
place let me call your attention,
hr, to the aft of the last feflion
of congrcfs, to authorife the
president to suspend in whole
or in part the several embargo
iaws; in the following words:
An act to authorife the pre
sident ofthe United States, un
der certain conditions to suspend
the operation of the at! laving
an embargo on all ships and
vefldsinthe ports and harbors
of the United States, and the fe
veial a£ts fupplcrnentary there
to.
“ Be it enacted by the Senate i
and Houje of Wcprefentanves of j
the \jnit'd Stales of America , in
congre/s a/fembled, That in the j
event of mch peace or fufpen-'
fion of hostilities between the
belligerent powers of Europe,
or of such changes in their
measures effecting neutral com
merce, as may rendei that ol
he United States lufficiently
fafeiu the judgment ol the pre-
MONDAY, Februajv 6, I<o 9*
[ Merit of the United States,
i lie is hereby autborifed during
; the recess of congress to suspend
in whole or in part, the aft lay
ing an embargo on all (flips and
veiled in the ports and h rbori
of the United States and the
fevcral afts fupplcniemary there
to, under such exceptions and
reffriftions, and on such bond
and (eturily being given as the
I public interell and ckcumfian
ecs of the calc may appear
to require, provided such (us.
pension (hall not extend be
yond twenty days after the next
meeting of congress.”
“ Approved, 8 2d April
1808.
1 Itc principle upon which
this bill palled, was that it related
to an event not inexillence, but
which might have occurred du
ring die recess of congress ; and
if it had taken place, it would
have been all important to the
interefls of the people, that the
suspension of the embargo
should take place in conse
quence of the happening of the
| contemplated events ; congress
I therefore v aster extending kg fU-
I ttion as far as it could go in de
| lining the circumftanee in which
I the suspension might take place,
| did not hesitate to trud to exe_
! cutive dilcretion for making the
necefi’ary decisions and arrange,
merits refpefting ail other cir.
cumftances which might occur
but which could not be fote
feen ; becauft they depended
upon the will of foreign nation,
which could neither be antici
pated nor controlcd. JJut, fir,
perhaps gentlemen will be in
clined todifielpcft this piccedent
bccaufc it was adopted without
the lanftion of their votes. I
will therefore, turn their atten
tion to a precedent functioned I
believe by the unanimous votes
of both branches of the legisla
ture, and certainly by the votes
of thegemleman from Conneft.
icut [Mr Hilhoufe] and myfelf,
and approved by the then'prc
fident (Gen. Wafhingfon.) X
allude to, the aft paired the
house of the representatives on
the 30th May, 1794, in the fol
lowing words— approved the
the 4th of June.
Be it enacted by the Senate and
Woujc ojKepreJentatives of the
Untied Slates of America in
congress ajjembled , That the
prtlidcnt of the United States,
be and hereby is authotifed and
empowred, whenever i n his
opinion the public fafety (hall
so require, to lay an embargo
on ail (hips and vefl'els in the
ports of the U. States or upon
the (hips andveffdsof the U.
States or the (hips and vessels
of any foreign nation under
such regulations as the circum
fi a rices of the may require,
and to continue or revoke the
fame, whenever he (hall* think
proper. And the preliden t
is hereby fully authored to
give ail such otders to the ofiw
ficers oi the United States,
as may be necelfary to carry
the fame into full e fie ft ; Pro
vided, ihe authority aforelaicf
(had not be exerciied while the
congress of the Uni.ed S ates
fhali be in felfijn, and any em
bargo v. inch may tie laid by the
prdide.it ataforefaid, (hallccafe
and detejmnie in fittejn clays
I ota tiie actual meeting of con
<i; e i- s s ntxL laying the Ume.
[No. XVIIJ.