Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1850-08-14

4,y the Constitution of the United States,
theTPresident is constituted comInander-in-
ciee of the army and navy, and OF the militia
of the several States, when called into the
actual service of the United States. TIE
Constitutions declares, also, that he shall take
carethat. the lawsb. faithfully executed, and
that he shall, from time TO time, give TO y -
Congress information -nE-is--s1ssFS' ssS oi tlse
.-C5hETess has power, t5y the Constitution,
to provide forcallimg forth the miiitiato exc
cute the laws;of the Union; and suitable and
: appropriate acts of Congress have been passed
ee;lsswelEfor providing for calling forth the
miliiiga for placing other suitable and efh7
cient means in the hands of the President, 10
enable him TO discharge the constitutional
functions of his Office.
Tie second section of the act ofthe TWEEN.
= ty.eightf Of February, seventeen hundred
aud ninety-ivc, declares that: whenever the
laws of the United States shall be opposed,
or their execution obstructcd, in any State,
byeombination too powerfulto be suppressed
by:t ordinary course of judicial proceed
ings, or the power vested insthe Marslials, the
President may call forth the militia, sef;u rs
may be necessary, to suppress such combina-
tions, and to cause the laws to be duly exc
GIFTED s1sse 6sS, -
BY the act of March 8, 1907, it is provided
that in all cases of obstruction TO the laws,
either Of. the Unitcd States or any individual
State or Territory, where it is lawful for the
President to- cailstort the militia for the pur-
pose Of causing the laws 10 he duly executed,
itshall be lawful for him to employ, for the
same purposes, suciipart of the land or naval
force of the U. States as shall be judged ne
cessary.
These several enactments are now in full
force, so that if the laws of the United States
are opposed or obstructed, in any State or
Territory, by combinations TOO powerful to
be suppressed by the judicial authorities, it
becomes a case in which it is the duty Of the
President, either to call out the militia or to
employ the military and naval force Of the
United States, or TO do both, if in his judg-
ment the exigency of the occasion shall so
require, for the purpose of suppressiug such
combination.
The constitutional duty of the President is
plain and peremptory: and the authority vest
ed in him by law, for its performance, clear
and ample.
Texas is State authorized to maintain her
own laws, so fur as they are not repugnant to
the Constitution, laws and treaties Of the
United States; to suppress instructions
against her authority, and 10 punish those
who may commit treason against the State:
according to the forms provided By her own
constitution and her own laws.
Rut all this power is local and confined en-
t;rely within the limits of Texas herself. She
can possibly confer no authority which can be
lawfully exercised beyond her own boun-
daries.
All this is plain. and hardly needs argument
or elucidation. If Texan militia, therefore,
march into any one Of the other States, or
into any territory Of the United States, there
to execute OR enforce any law Of Texas, thcy
become at that moment trespassers; they are
10 longer under the protection of any lawful
authority, and are to be regarded merely rs
intruders; and if within snch State or Terri
tory they obstruet any law of the United,
either by power of arms or mere power Of
numbers, constituting such combination as
is too powerful to be suppressed by the civil
authority, the President Of the United States
has no option left to him, but is bound to
obey the solemn injunction Of the Consiitn-
tuition, and exercise the high power vested in