North Branch democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Pa.) 1854-1867, 1863-03-18

iast selected by the Anerican people tn. ad.
wise their rulers.
Io this and to all like departures from the
Constitution and from good faith .na co.,
polcy, we are, and must remain. unalterabIv
opposed. say like departures, for this pre-
tence OF military necessity upon which enan.
clpatlon has been announced, has been .ex,ars.
ed to other subjects besides the status of the
negro, as the debates ofthe day abundant,v
testify. The seizure of citizens in States nm.
touched by revolt, and their Incarceration r.,
distant prisons, remote from witnesses who
might testify in their favor, and from friends
who might intercede for them is one of the
most prominent of these, and deserves all the
condemnation 1t is receiving from the people.
The Father oe his Country, the anniversary
OF whose birth you celebrate, had no eopcen.
ton OF doctrine of military necessity a. n
substitute for the Constitution and laws of
the land; nor of those underlined. unlimited
powers, now asserted to exist in the p,os;.
dent as a Commander in Chief of the Armv
and Navy of the United States and of the mi.
i't;a OF the state when called into sctual ser.
Woo, nor can we recognize them exceDt 90
oaseless pretensions, to be put down with
strong public disapprobaton at the earliest
possible moment. Washington's views of
military jurisdiction and conduct in time of
instruction. were given to the army sent bv
him to queH the revolt in, Western PennsyI.
Vanla In 1874, when he admonished them
that every officer and soldier will constant.
ly bear in mind that he comes to supbort the
laws, and that it would be peculiarly unba-
coming in him to be, in any way the infractor
OF them; that the essential principles of free
government conine the province of the mill
tary when called forth on such occasions. IN
these two objects: first, to combat and suh-
due all who may be found in arms in opposi-
ton to the national will and authority; second
to aid and support the civil magistrates IN
bringing offenders to justice The, dispensa-
ton OF this justice belongs to civil magistrates
and let 1t ever be our pride and our glory to
leave the sacred deposit there inviolate.n- 2,
In the spirit of this admonition. and oftba
Constitutional doctrine that the military
shall, in all cases, and at all times, be in
strict subordnation to the civil power.r We
must stand opposed to the abuse of the mill
tary power in applying it to other purposes
than those appointed and regulated by law
as the selzuie of hordes of negroes, and their
support, instruction, transportation. drill and
payment, as allies the seizure and irpnpr;so,.
ment OF Northern freemen without law and
against 1t; the suppression of newspapers, or
the closing OF the mails against them, and Tho
encroachment upon the State jurisdiction hv
the appointment of sundry police officials To
exercise powers underlined by and unknown
to the laws. What is asked is, that the mill.
tary power shall be applied and confined 10
its appropriate rse that there shall be no in.
vasion upon liberty by it, in short that II
shall be subjected to the domination Of os.
tablished laws. And we are perfectly ner.
suaded that Government will be all the strons
ger, all the more successful by FOLLOWING this
policy and sternly refusing 40 yield 10 the
temptations which assah those entrusted with
authority in revolutionary times. Let our
rulers carefully initiate the example of Wash
ington, who exercised military powers in the
Revolution with constant respect for. the lave
and the authority of the Continental Con-
unsettled as the times were, and fruitful
gress, of pretexts for departuae from any
legitimate action. - sl-
In addition to the signal advantages which
will be secured to our cause by REVERSING
the policy of the Administrations cstab-
fishing other and tFuer doctrines than those
just examined-thc Democracy can take into
account as one of the agencies for restoring
the Union, The powerful and invaluable aid of
allies in the Border and Confederate States
men who have gone into revolt reluctantly, or
who now stand with divided inclinations, un
certain of the position they shall assume.
The issue of the war has always depended as
much upon the determination and union Of
the Confederai e States as upon the magnitude
of the efforts put forth by us against them.
Manifestly, therefore, our true line of policy
has been to divide them to conciliate part
of their population, and dampen the ardor cf
the revolutionary spirit by subjeoting il to
conservative opposition in the very commu-
mites where it arose. The subjugation of the
South by the mere exertion of physical force
against it, assuming it to be really united and
in earnest, is work of extreme difficulty.
and requires an amount of wisdom and yigor
our Administration has failed to exhibit. In
war of invasion upon the South, most formi-
dable natural obstacles are to be encountered,
and also the powers of the enemy, and our
strength must be, or be made TO be, adequate
to overcome both. In short, in this case,
allies in the enemies country were necessary
to certain or prompt success, and to-secure
them all the arts of policy and all the means