Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-05-12
INDIANAPOLIS IND, MONDAY, MAY 12, 1862.

at war, we own the public property there. Now,
we have conquered Tennessee. If you please. Do
we own the capitol at Nashville to days Do we
own any of the universities e1d colleges and pub
lie property of the State of Tennessee to-tlay2
If they ire treated as belgerents, then, when
you conquer the country, the property in the land
remains in the individuals who have owned it
before, and the nation acquires no title to il by
conquest. Here is an attempt to get possession
of all that property of individuals which have
been concerned in this rebellion. And howl As
belligerent. According TO the laws of nations
a bellIgerent does not get il. | know that the
Constitution provides that Congress may issue
letters of marque and reprisal, and make regula-
tons in relation TO captures or seizures by sea
and land. That looks to a state of war, un-
doubtedly. " hat is seizure or capture2 What
is the meaning of the term? Something that
you take, make prize of, carry away Can
you carry away the farms of an enemy? Are
they subject to capture? Not at all.
But, Mr. President, when, after a with an
other nation, you make peace with it, all matters
are ended depending on the form of your art-
cles of peace. Ii may be the Status ante beltum,
it may be ufi pOssidetss. depending on the terms
of your treaty; but afl matters are then ended.
Now when we have conquered thes epeope, taken
military possession of the country, can we not
punish the men who have been in rebellion? can
we not render it legitimate to hang them? Ger
tainly. Could you do so with enemies with whom
you have made war and peace? No; but in such
cases. when peace was declared, the past would
be wiped out
Again, to treat with them, and treat about
them, as being belgerents, is to acknowledge
them, so far as this war is coLcerned, as a CO.
equal power. We have complained that any'for
eign nation acknowledged and recognized them
in of hol n .
pretty hard usage to US. do not see il in that
light exactly; but at any rate, especially after
what has been said TO the other nations of the
world by our functionary and correspondent of
the State Department, it i'll becomes us to take
measures founded on the ground that they are
ce-equals and belligerents, and that we may make
laws accordingly. This legislating for that peo-
pie as bound by the laws that we here make, and
at the same time egislating for them as enc
mics and belligerents not bound by the laws We
make, is. to my mind utterly inconsistent, utter
ly irreconcilable, and shall not, therefore, make
any further remarks in relation to what might,
by possibility. be done by Us as belligerents.
THE PLEA OF MILITARY NECESSITY
A favorite argument with the ultra Republi-
cans, in justification of the radical legislation
they propose, is that of military necessity" and
upon it they base many of the schemes they seek
to enact into laws. Military necessity with them
overrides the Constitution, and is made to sanction
every form of tyranny. On this point. Judge
CoLLAMER said:
*e But insist that the Executive, his
Generals, the military power, are the sole judges
of what is military necessity. 1t is not possible
that we caD by legislation, provide for the prose-
cution of the war in all respects, and enact the
laws by which, in all cases. 1t shall be governed.
War, even in its most modified form, is in great
measure the law Of retaliation. You do what is
necessary to meet the enemy's acts; you retaliate
on him, and 90 sometimes to great extremity
laying waste his country, spreading over it utter
deSOlation. 1t may be military necessity to do
that; but to undertake to sit here and make laws
directing the Executive and the Generals as to
what they may, and what they may not, consider
as military necessities, is utterly idle, because
they are constantly changing with the changing
circumstances; and, as / have before said on an
other occasion, when you undertake to make the
laws to regulate what they may do you necessa-
rily imply that they must not do any thing but
what you have regulated. 1t was said by the
Hon. Senator from Ohio Mr.. Sherman) yester-
day, that the Executive, through his officers may
take ships and burn them. Did we make any
law for that? No. Do we complain of its being
done wrongfully? No. 1t did not need any law
then to do it. IL does not need any law
to stop it. 1t is said that this confscation is a
military proceeding, military necessity. If it
isl do not decide that point-we know where to
60; we know who is to decide whether it is or is
not; and, if we do anything that takes away from
the Executive and bis Generals the deciding upon
what is military necessity, we usurp their rights,
we usurp their powers.
WHAT LEGISLATION is CALLED FOR.
Mr.. President, the legislation which is called
for at the hands of legislative bodies depends in
great measure upon the exigencies of cireum-
stances, and ought to be addressed to them, fitted
to them. The old law of the mischief and the
remedy, lawyers well understand. We should
look to what is the present law and see what is
needed, and what shape the law should take to
effect thes desired end. When the Executive,
through its Generals and its armies, shall have
put down the armed rebellion-and nothing of
great importance here can be done until that it is
effected-what is wanted, what is needed? Moth
ing can now be offered by the President to these
people but that, if they will return to their allie
glance and be obedient, they shall not be hanged.
We all perfectly well know that the idea of
hanging a hundred thousand men, or ten thou.
sand men, anything of that kind is idle
Nobody apprehends it; nobody has any fears OF
it; and trust nobody has any hopes of it. Then
that will not enable the President to hold out any
inducement at all because they have no appre-
tensions on that subject. All rebelons that are
unsuccessful, that are suppressed, among any
civilized people, end in a bill of amnesty, from
which some are reserved and executed for pun
ishment. The great body OF the people are par
doned. i recollect among civilized people OF
but one rebellion that was ever attempted to be
treated in any other way, and that was the Mon
mouth rebellion, under the Duke of Monmouth
in England, in the time of James Ia very
foolish rebellion and one which was readily sup
pressed. King James sent Jeffries, and he hung
two hundred and odd people, including females
it was called "Jetfreys' western campaign d
Though the people of England dsliked the man
for his bigotry, they disliked that rebellion; but
when that experiment was tried on the British
people, when it shocked the humanity of the
British nation it produced the elimination of the
public disgust with that same James H., and in
less than six months from that time Jeffreys was
in the Tower and his master fleeing from the
throne of England. That was an attempt 70
deal in another way with rebellion.
look to no such result in this country |
know our people exceedingly exasperated
and participate in that feeling myself in
diyidua. But revenge, evaporation, feelings oi
vengeance should not be entertained by nations
nor by bodies representing nations. Rebels
must be treated with severity TO extremity; a
proper number of those who are needed for ex
ample for its wholesome influence afterwards
should be brought TO condign punishment; but
the great mass must have an amnesty.
HOW EXTREME MEASURES WILL WORK.
A short time since Mr.. Cave johnson was al
Clarksvlle. and he informed Commodore Foott
that the rebel army had gone away from Clarks-
vile, and he had better come there and take th.
town and take care Of it. These people had al
been engaged in the army pretty much, but Com
modore Foote came and took possession. The
people were in great CONSERVATION, not knowing
what would happen; and he published a card in
forming them that if they remained in thei
houses, aud attended to their ordinary business
and behaved themselves, they should be protect