[404] of the friend of Washington, and for the services rendered to the colonies in their struggle for independence, might have led Seward to select for such base use some other place than that which bore the honored name of Lafayette. The American citizen has always, like the ancient Roman, felt that this personal liberty was secure. He supposed himself to be surrounded with numerous paper safeguards which, together with the love of justice and respect for law common to his fellow citizens, would be sufficient for his protection against any usurper. These now proved to be as weak as the paper upon which they were written. What were these supposed safeguards? There was the constitution of the state of New York, an instrument for the protection and government of the people. It had received the consent of the people of the state who were governed by it, and therefore its powers were ‘just powers.’ Its first object was to protect the unalienable rights of its citizens, relative to which it contains various provisions in its bill of rights: its declarations respecting personal liberty; its regulations to secure and enforce the great writ of freemen, the habeas corpus; the powers granted to the courts which it created; the legislature; the executive, in whose hands was placed the richest purse and the strongest sword of the sovereign states to protect the rights of its citizens. Further safeguards were placed in the Constitution of the United States. These were designed to restrain that government from any invasion of the citizen's personal liberty. They are as follows:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons . . . shall not be violated, and no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath, or affirmation, and particularly describing . . . the persons to be seized.1Again:
No persons shall . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.2Again:
No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury.3Again:
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, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory
