The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-06-11
CoERCIvE MEASURES REJECTED BY THE

..
The provisions of the act of Congress of February
20, li95, upon which the Iii coin Administration
relies Tor authority to call out militia and accent
volunteers, Is as follows:
rhat whenever the laws Of the United States shall be
opposed, or the execution thereof obstructed in INV
state by combinations powerful to be by
e ordinary course OF judicial proceedings by the
powers vested in the Marshals by this act shall H.
ia Tor the President of the United States to call forth the
militia OF such State OF any other State or States
may De necessary to suppress such combinations and
cause the laws to he duly executed and the use of the
militia so to be called forth may he Continued il
ry' until the expiration of thirty days after the com.
mencement OF the then next session OF Congress
provided, always, that whenever it may be neces-
sary IN the Judgment of the President to use the mill
tary force hereby directed be called FORTH the Pes
ueht shal forthwith, by proclamation, command such
insurgents to dspere ami peaceaby to their respec
i've abodes, within limited time
nat me militia employed in the service of the United
states snail be subject the rules and articles
war as the troops of the United States" )" &c.
This act repealed previous law, very much to
Tue same purport, passed May 2, 1892, but which
was then about expiring by its own limitation
Inc only variance between the two in the sections
we nave quoted, was that by the act first passed,
the President could only proceed to call for militia
upon being notified of the disturbances by can As
socIate Justice the District Judoe of the limited
States Court. 1t is probable that to this change
oy the omission of requiring such a notice. NAV be
attributed the power the President has now exer-
cised by punging this country into a war Had
he oeen required to wait for the ratification of the
"
have been preserved up to the time of the meeting
OF Congress in July
Mr.. Buchanan, during the last session of Con.
gress, submitted TO Attorney General Black the
question whether these provisions of the act of
1873 authorized or intended to authorize the
use OF force against State, acting bv its regularly
constituted State authorities, in resistance to the
feaerai laws. Mr. Black Investigated the subject
1u.iy, and gave his unqualified opinion that they
did not contemplate such a case or provide for II
lie held that their full purpose and scope were to
authorize the Executive to call out the militia to
AID Gihcers of the courts in the execution of pro-
cesses, ana to overcome combinations against the
execution OF some particular law or laws: in fact
that IL was designed to provide against and meet
such internal State disturbances as the Whiskey
lnsurrecton, Shay's Rebellion, &c.
his conceded omission of power to coerce a
state was attempted to be supplied by various
means proposed by the Black Republican majority
In the last House of Representatives, but all of
which iaied.' The Hon. Mr.. Stanton, of Ohio, by
MS famous volunteer bill, made the most notable
EFFORT and the most signal failure. On the 18th OF
February, 1861, he reported from the majority of
the Military Committee a bill providing for the
ealing forth OF the militia in of any "insurrec
uon against the authorities of the United States and
authorizing the President, in cases where il mioht
be lawful to use the militia in addition to the arm
ana navy, to accept the service of volunteers and
officer the same"
The introduction of this bill was mot bv o,nos;
ton from all the Democrats and Americans IN
nmtne. The second reading of it being object ed to
the question recurred, 'Sha the bill be reiected2
which was lost. Among those who voted in the
alilrmatlve TOR relection) We find our Democratic
city representatives, Nessrs. Barr Cochrane H. +
Clark, Maclay and Sickles. So the bill went to a
second reading. The next day, the 10TH the ones-
ton coming up upon its third reading Mr. Stanton
TOOK occasion to explain what he called the "mis-
apprehenslOns in regard to the bill in the course
OF "hich he emphatically denied tha the Intention
was ITO raise an army to march into the seeding
states to subjugate them" ''No one'' said he
mas any idea of subjugatpg anybody at was
only intended to defend the public propertv &c
"lt Southern army marched toward the North.
and an attempt be made to capture the capital the
Administration must protect itself against aggres
SION. Again, he said, in answer to some search
ing queries of the Hon. John Cochrane:
mo coutempates marching a hostile force int
any State Of the southern Conederacy it was ab
solutey necessary for defense and the Southern arm,
marched on Northern soil or this capital
gresson? %
Mr.. Stanton-Certainly.
In short, it the view of Mr. Stanton, the ac
knOwledged leader of the dominant party in the
House, that it was necessary to pass this new law
even to authorize the President to use force to pro-
tect the capital and the Northern States from in
vasinn!
This Volunteer bill was debated and opposed
with much vigor and entire unanimitv by the
Democratic and American members, with such re
marks and objections the following, which we
Ind In the report of the debates:
'onn Cochrane-faSs this bill when it will
INDEED be the n@oTrnfng hour for the country.
hr- sickes-Fhe people of the North will regard th
measure as substituting coercion for justice aud th
abandonment of conciation for war;
Mr.. Winsiow moved to table the bill which mo
ton was defeated, the Republicans in the negative
and Democrats and Americans in the affirmative
6S to l05.
On the 26th of February the bill was apair
reached, when the Hon. Mr.. Curtis of Iowa Re
publican, took the floor and indiscreetly proclaimed
that its purpose the suppression of the South.
ese-stTHbellinn." The disclosure of this intent
pestonna Iek the entire House: A motion to
postponement was equiv aiepu' a s,,,..r r.I
the entire measure it was carried trumphantly bv
100 votes against IA. Mr.. Bouligny, the "Ameri-
can member from Louisiana, and determined
antl-secessiGnist, declaring he voted that his
was the most outrageous bill ever introduced in
Congress. Shame!'' he said, "shame on the ian
who brought it therep'
Such the end of coercion in the Thrtv-sixth
Congress. What it admitted there and then
that the President had power to do he has since
done. What Congress itself there and then refused
to allow the President to do he has. since assumed
to do without permission. The bounds of the Com
stituton and the laws which it was there deemed
impossible that any President should venture to
overstep, have since been trampled undistinguish-
ably in the dust Volunteers have been called for
three years enlisments ordered the militia of one
State marched across its borders to the gov
ernnent of another State, the army and navy inf
nltely increased without authority coercion inau.
gurated ana the country precipitated into civi
war.-N Y. Daily Necs.