Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1861-05-31

Constitutional control than the humblest
citizen. His right to call out the militia
is expressly limited by the restriction
that their use shall only continue eff ne.
cessary, until after the expiration of thirty
days after the commencement Of the then
next session of Congress" Act of 1895,
Sec 2 The Proclamation is therefore
without any color whatever of right, and
is as plain and bold a subversion of the
letter and spirit of the Constitution and
the laws, as ever was attempted by the
military power, in any Government os-
tensibly free. The pre;e So of existing
exigencies" is but the shape in which
military revolutions have always begun,
since the prestige of free institutions has
rendered it necessary, even for usurpers
to make q show ofapology for overthrow
ing them. \
If ever triumphant illustration could
be given Of the wisdom of our fathers, in
providing by the constitution, that the
government should operate upon its in
dividual citizens through the laws, and
not upon the States by military coercion,
it is to be found in the fact, that the first
administration daring to depart from this
fundamental and consecrated principle,
has rushed, in the short space of sixty
days, into the assertion Of absolute con-
troll over the whole military resources Of
the country, in open and reckless def
ance of every legal and constitutional re-
straint. The Committee hazard nothing
in saying, that there is not citizen Of
Maryland, whatever be his political opin-
ions, who must not shudder at the pal
pable and ominous presence of this usur-
patton, aud who does not recognize, for
the first time in his own experience or
the history of Maryland, that he is living
and moving and holding his civil and
political rights at the pleasure of an un-
restricted military power, and subject to
the arbitrary and anti-republican caprices
of what is entitled military necessity
For any man to be able to persuade him
self, under such circumstances that the
policy of the administration ever meant
peace and not war--the enforcement of
the laws, the defence of the capital
and not subj gation--requires a peculi-
arity Of mental construction with which
reason is at loss how to deal. To sup
pose that q blockade of the whole sea
coast, from the capes Of the Chesapeake
to the extreme borders of Texas, with a
land army extraordinary of one hundred
and fifty thousand men, and naval in
crease of eighteen thousand, can be in =
tended only in aid of "the ordinary
course of Judicial proceedings, or the
powers vested in the Marshals," and is
therefore within the scope Of the Presi-
dents civil functions, and not of the war
making power, which only Congress can
exercise, implies facility of conviction,
to which nothing can be regarded as i'm.
possible.
Tho Committee are Of course notun-
acquainted with the familiar doctrine LAID
down by the Supreme Court of the United
States in the case Of Martin IS. Nett
! az Wheaton, 10, and so often cited BY
those who maintained the absolute au.
thority of the President over the whole
question Of calling out the militia, Tho
Committee might readily dispose of it il
they were willing TO stand upon the same
grounds with the Administration, by ap.
plying TO il the doctrine of the Inaugural
Of Mr.. Lincoln, and might insist upor
confirming the ruling Of the Court 10 the
particular case and the individual partie,
concerned, regulating its controlling
authority, upon the one side or the other,
on question Of administrative govern.
ment. Believing, however, that The
true and only loyalty" of free poopls
consists in their reverence for the laws
and Constitution, and their obedience to
the tribunals by which these arc ex-
pounded, the Committee assume that The
people of Maryland will thoerfully bow
to whatever the Supreme Court has de-
termined, upon the question under dis
cussion, or any other. The case ofMar-
tin as. Mott was a controversy betTeen n
private Of militia and one Of the United
States Marshals, who had seized his
goods, in enforcement OF fine imposed
! by court-martial. for failure to enter the
service upon reqnisition, according to
law, during the war Of 1912 The ju-
risdiction Of the court4martial, and the
authority of the President to issue The
Proclamation under which the militia
were called out TO repel inTasion, were
both considered in the case; the question
in chief, however, of course being tho
right Of the individual citizen to judge
for himself whether the legal occasion
existed, upon which the President might
rightfully summon the citizens to arms
This latter was the real and only point
in controversy, and the Court decided,
that under the Act Of 1895, it was for
tho President, exclusively, to determine
whether the exigeney contemplated by
the law had arisen, and that no soldier
or officer had any choice but to obey.
The principle Of military subordination
upon which this adjudication is distinct
ly placed by the court, is too obvious 10
be COMPOUNDED with the recognition Of
arbitrary aud irresponsible power, 10
which the decision is sought to be per-
vorted, by the supporters Of the existing
order Of things. To determine TINT the
President is the exclusive judge Of
whether an exigsncy has arisen, in lease
to which his discretion is lawfully APP
plicable, is one thing TO give to him
the exclusive and irreycrsible authority
to determine, not only the existence Of
tho exigency. but the existence Of the
case in which i may lawfully arise, is