Note 18 — USURPATION OF THE SENATE IN IMPRISONING A CITIZEN.

As this case was in Executive Session of the Senate, there is no public record of it. From the daily press of the time it appears, that, March 23, 1848, Nugent, a correspondent of the New York Herald, was arrested by order of the Senate, and committed to the Sergeant-at-Arms, for obtaining surreptitiously and publishing the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; that he remained in such custody until April 25th, and perhaps longer; that he refused to answer questions concerning the treaty; that he was twice taken before Judge Cranch, of the United States Court, by Habeas Corpus; that the Sergeant-at-Arms returned for answer to the writ, that he held the prisoner by virtue of a warrant of the Vice-President, in pursuance of certain proceedings of the Senate in Executive Session, which he could not divulge, and that the question gave rise to much debate in Executive Session. See especially Baltimore Sun, March 24, 26, 29, April 18, 1848.