Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-11-13

proclama,ions, or Of military orders. by what
ever name they may b. called, they are laws-
II he have tbs legislative power, conferred 0
lin BY The Peop's, u . Wi v sdh b
Hs has no NOV. is~ss, ssssor;v 70 ho,d u
the oaasens a he entire oounry, Gssesds q
te sphere q h;s scsnl epsr.sssns - ths
seld, aIeushls 70 he military sdiolA haa -
has 70 Ao'd Z. a. ~ tie P.esssi q sls e..asy
the military commander a ths o;ksuas e IL
United S,ates, bat of ifs so;dscz<
Apply thsse principles 20 he proclamatons
and orders OF the President. fhey are not
designed to meet an existing emergency in
some particular military operation IN The fcld;
they prescribe future rules OF action touching
the persons and property Of citizens. They
are TO take effect, not merely within tie
scope Of military operations IN the field. or
IN their neighborhood, but throughout he en-
tire country, or great portions thereof. Their
subject matter is not military ofsenses, or NIL
itary relations, but civil ofenses. aud domestic
relations; the relation OF master and servant:
the ofenses of "disloyalty or reasonable
practices" Their purpose is not to meet
some existing aud instant military emergency,
but 10 provide for distant events. which may
or may not occur; and whose connections, II
they should coincide with any pariie ular nil
itary operations, arc indirect, remote, casual,
anu possible merely.
Ii is manifest, that in proclaiming these
edicts. the President Is not acting under the
authority OF military law; first, because mili-
tary law extends only over the persons actually
enlisted in the military service; and second.
because these persons are governed by laws
enacted by legislative power IL is equally
manifest that he Is not acting under that i'm
phed authority winch grows out of particular
actual military operations; for these executive
DEGREES do not spring frem the special ener-
gencies OF any particular m litary operations.
and are not limited to any 6eld in which any
such operations are carried on.
Whence, then, do these edicts spring?
They spring { ON the assumed power 10 ex-
tend marital law over the whole territory of
the United States; power, for the exercise
OF which. by the President, there Is no war
rant whatever in the Constitution; a power
which no free people could confer upon an
executive officer, and remain free people.
For II would make Linn the absolute master Of
their lives. their liberties, and their property.
with power to delegate his mastership to such
satraps As he might select, or as he might he
imposed on has cI edulity, or his fea:s. Amids,
the great dangers which encompass MS. in our
struggles TO encounter them, In our natural
eagerness to lay hold Of efficient means to az
plIsh our vast labors, let Us beware bow we
borrow weapons from the armory of arbitrary
power They cannot be wiel1ed by the hands
of a free people. Their blows will finally fall
upon themselves.
Distracted councils. divided strength. are
the very earliest eilects OF an attempt TO use
them What lies beyond. no patriot is
willing TO attempt to look upon.
A leading and influential newspaper, while
expressing entire devotion TO the President.
and approbition OF his proclamation of eman-
cipation, SAYS: :. The Democrats talk about
'unecnstitutio' al acts Nobody pre,ends that
this act is constitutional, and nobody cares
whether IT Is or nos
think too well of the President 10 believe
he has done an act involving the lives and
fortunes of millions OF human beings, and the
entire social condition oil great people, with
ont caring whether IL Is coniormablc 10 that
Constitution winch he has, many times, sworn
to support.
Among all the causes Of alarm which now
distress the public mind. there are few more
iiblc 20 rejecting men, than the tendency
to lawc,5ncsj whieh is manifesting itself in 20
many directions. No stronger evidence Of
this could b. afforded, than the open declara-
ton of a respectable and widely eirculated
journal, that nobody cares whether great
public act of the President of the United
States is in conformity with, o. is subversive
of the supreme law OF the land,-fhe only
basis upon which the government rests: that
our public affairs have become SO desperate,
AMI our ability 10 retrieve them by the use of
honest means Is 20 distru-tcd, and our wiling
ness TO use other means so undoubted, that
our great public servants NAV themselves
break the fundamental laws OF the country,
and become usupers of vast powers not in-
trusted 10 them, IN violation of their solemn
oaths Of Office; and nobody cares"
Il is not believed that this is Just TO the
people of the United States. They do care,
and the President cares, that he and all o;Ler
public servants should obey the Constitution.
Partisan journals, their own honest and proper
desire TO support the Presldcnt-on whose
wisdom and fimness they rely to relieve their
country from Its evils aud dangers-and the
difficulties which the mass Of the people en-
counter in forming opinions on questions of
constitutional law, may prevent them, tor q
limited time, fscm arriving at a just Judgment
OF such questions, or Of The Uda prdciicot II.
fects dependent on them
But the people Of the United States do not
expect national concord to spring from usur-
patton of power: national security FL ON the
violation Of those great princil les of public
liberty, which are the only possible foundation,
in this country, OF private safety and Of public
order. Their instincts demand purer and
more comprehensive staicsmanship than that
which seizes upon unlawful cxpcdien.s. be-
cause they may possibly avert for the moment
some threatening danger at the expense of
the violation Of great principles of free gov
ernment, or Of the destruction of some neces-
sary safeguard of individual security.
Ii is subject OF discussion in the public
journals whether it i the intention of the
Executive 10 use the powers asserted in the
last proclamation, and in the orders Of the
Secretary of War, to suppress free discussion
of political subjects. have confidence in the
purity and the patriotism, both of the Prcs;-
dent and of the Secretary OF War. Ifear 10
such present application OF this proclamation
and these orders by them. But the execution
of such powers must be intrusted 10 subordi-
nae agents, and it is OF the very essence of
arbitrary power that it should be in hands
which can act promptly and efficiently, and
unchecked by FORMS These great power