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Excerpt from Speech of Hon. L. W. Powell, of Kentucky: On the Bill to Confiscate the Property and Free the Slaves of Rebels There is another clause of the Constitution to which I will call the attention of the Senate, and that is the fifth amendment: "No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia when in actual service, in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject, for the same offense, to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled, in any criminal ease, to be a witness against himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation." Those clauses when taken together, in my judgment, present an insurmountable barrier to the passage of the first section of this bill. In order that I may present the bill fairly, I will read that section. It is in these words: "That the property, real and personal, of every kind whatsoever, both corporeal and incorporeal, and including choses in action, and wheresoever situated, within the limits of the United States, belonging to any person or persons beyond the jurisdiction of the same, or to any person or persons in any State or district within the United States, now in a state of insurrection and rebellion against the authority thereof, so that in either case the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon them, who shall during the present rebellion be found in arms against the United States, or giving aid and comfort to said rebellion, shall be forfeited and confiscated to the United States; and as to all property which shall be seized and appropriated as hereinafter provided, such forfeiture shall take immediate effect upon the commission of the act of forfeiture, and all right, title, and claim of the person committing such act, together with the right or power to dispose of or alienate his property of any and every description, shall instantly cease and determine, and the same shall at once vest in the United States." It is manifest from this section of the bill that the estates of persons engaged in this war in opposition to the Government, who are either in aims or aiding and assisting it, are forfeited by legislative enactment without the instrumentality or the aid of judicial process. That is evidently contrary to the provisions of the Constitution that I have read. I am fully aware that the honorable Chairman of the Judiciary Committee and the distinguished Senator from New York, [Mr. Harris, ] also a member of that committee, have declared to the Senate that this is not a bill of attainder. They both admit that wherever a party is convicted of treason you cannot forfeit his estate for a longer period than his life; but they attempt to avoid the application of the clause of the Constitution which says no bill of attainder shall be passed, to this section, on the ground that a bill of attainder must necessarily be ex post facto in its nature, and that this section applies only to those who shall commit this offense in the future. With great deference to those distinguished gentlemen, I humbly submit to the Senate whether the Constitution of the United States can be circumvented in that manner. In order to give a just, full, and fair interpretation of the Constitution or of a statute, you must take into consideration the circumstances surrounding those who made it, the evils to be corrected, and the rights and privileges to be secured. Let us examine this clause of the Constitution in that light, and see whether or not it was not the intention of the framers of our Constitution to prevent our people from being visited by those harsh penalties that accompanied treason in England, the laws of which were extended to this country. I will read a fe.
