The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1862-06-26

Undoubtedly--in our view--the Gov
eminent has authority TO exclude slavery
from the Territories of the United States,
and TO emancipate the slaves in the Dis
trct of Columbia, in time of peace, and
| under those provisions of the Constitu-
ton which give Congress jurisdiction
over the Territories and the District, but
it is not probable that these measures
would have been adopted had not the re-
bellion occurred.
But the Government has exercised
powers and adopted policy for which
there is no warrant in the peace powers
of the Constitution. The immense army
now in the field, with all the Legislation
and executive military orders and move
ments, is q great fact transcending the or
binary peace provisions Of the Constitu-
ton. The blockade Of southern ports,
the taking and holding of prisoners of
war, and the exchange of prisoners with
the enemy, the suspension Of the writ of
habeds corpus, and the arrest and i'm.
prisonment of suspected and dangerous
persons, the dispersion and imprison-
ment of the Maryland General Assembly,
the appointment of Governor johnson
and Governor Stanley in Tennessee and
North Carolina, are not provided fol- spe-
officially in the Constitution of the United
States, but are amply covered by the war
power with which that instrument clothes
the Government. For in time OF war
the Government has authority to adopt
adequate measure to meet any emergency
that may arise, whether of resistance,
prevention, or remedy. And further
than that: the Government has all
necessary authority not only to make re-
prisals, but also to reimburse itself for
the expenses OF the war, and to secure
itself against future aggrcssions or dan
gers, if possible, from the same quarter
Bearing in mind, then, that we are en-
gagged in civil war, and that the Govern
ment is clothed, by the Constitution, with
ample war powers. as well as with power
to suppress instruction and guarantee
to the States republican government,
loyal to the Union, there is no difficulty
in justifying the acts of our Government,
hitherto, as in accordance with the Con
stitution Of the United States. But ig-
noring the fact that we are engaged in
civil war, it is easy to mystify even
thoughtful people by a loud outcry against
the arbitrary and unconstitutional acts of
the Administration and Of Congress. And
it is juet this latter policy that the trea-
son propagandists, headed by vallandg-
ham and his Confedcratcs in Congress, and
backed up by Mahony and Jones in Iowa,
have adopted, in order to excite the pop.
ular mind against the Government
Their cry Of 1.-THE Constitution as it is,
ana theLlnlon as 1t was, is a duplex
fraud. For they insist on the Constitu-
ton as applied to state of peace, and
ignore and repudiate the Constitution in
time of war, which panopIies the Govern
ment with powers ample as its RESPONSE
bllities, and varied as the exigencies it
may be called to meet.
No intelligent and sane man will ques-
ton these propositions in their general
statement, and can only break their force
by Ignoring the existence of civic war, on
the application Of the war powers Of the
constitution to the present condition of
affairs /; and that in the face Of the fact
that more than million of armed men
have been engaged in warlike hostilities
for many months past.
Cen. Kousxeau's speech as Louis.