of New York? As a Senator said, is New York in resistance to the
Government? Is there any danger to the stability of the Government
there? Then, sir, what reason will any Senator rise and give on this
floor for the refusal to give to the civil authorities the body of a man
taken by a military commander in the State of New York?

Again: the police commissioners of Baltimore were arrested by military
authority without any charges whatever. In vain they have asked for
a specification. In vain they have sent a respectful protest to the
Congress of the United States. In vain the House of Representatives, by
resolution, requested the President to furnish the representatives of
the people with the grounds of their arrest. He answers the House of
Representatives that, in his judgment, the public interest does not
permit him to say why they were arrested, on what charges, or what he
has done with them--and you call this liberty and law and proceedings
for the preservation of the Constitution! They have been spirited off
from one fortress to another, their locality unknown, and the President
of the United States refuses, upon the application of the most numerous
branch of the national Legislature, to furnish them with the grounds of
their arrest, or to inform them what he has done with them.

Sir, it was said the other day by the Senator from Illinois (Mr.
Browning) that I had assailed the conduct of the Executive with
vehemence, if not with malignity. I am not aware that I have done so.
I criticised, with the freedom that belongs to the representative of a
sovereign State and the people, the conduct of the Executive. I shall
continue to do so as long as I hold a seat upon this floor, when, in my
opinion, that conduct deserves criticism. Sir, I need not say that, in
the midst of such events as surround us, I could not cherish personal
animosity towards any human being. Towards that distinguished officer, I