ateers to prey on American
commerce had precipitated the war; and that it was the duty of the
government to put down rebellion with all the means in its power, and
the duty of the people to rally about the government; but it also
demanded that Congress call a convention of all the States to revise
the Constitution, and that the Administration abandon the narrow
platform of the Chicago convention, expel corrupt men from office, and
exclude advocates of abolition from the Cabinet, declaring that it
would "regard any attempt to pervert the conflict into a war for the
emancipation of slaves as fatal to the hope of restoring the Union."

The debate upon the platform was destined to bring into prominence a
broader loyalty than even Francis Kernan had exhibited. Arphaxed
Loomis moved to restore the resolution, expunged in the committee's
report, protesting against the passport system, the State police
system, the suppression of free discussion in the press, and the
suspension of the writ of _habeas corpus_. It is doubtful if the
freedom of the press had been materially abridged, since restrictions
upon a few newspapers, charged with giving aid and comfort to the
enemy, scarcely exceeded the proscription of anti-slavery papers
before the war. The suspension of the writ of _habeas corpus_,
however, furnished better grounds for complaint. Men were apprehended,
often on the telegram of Secretary Seward, and committed to prison,
without any offence being charged or an examination being made. Among
others arrested were two men at Malone, besides an editor of the New
York _News_, and a crippled newsboy who sold the _News_. Public
sentiment generally sustained the Administration in such action, but
many persons, including conservative Republicans, frequently
questioned the right or justice of such procedure. "What are we coming
to," asked Senator Trumbull of Illinois, "if arrests may be made at
the whim or the caprice of a cabinet minister?"[794] Loomis, in
insisting upon his resolution, had these arbitrary arrests in mind,
maintaining that it embodied the true principles of Democracy, which
he was unwilling to see violated without recording a protest.

[Footnote 794: "Lieber says that _habeas corpus_, free meetings like
this, and a free press, are the three elements which distinguish
liberty from despotism. All that Saxon blood has gained in the battles
and toils of two hundred years are these three things. But to-day, Mr.
Chairman