Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-02-01

instructed his officers accordingly. BIS instruc- /
tons 10 them were:
That every officer and soldier viii constantly |
bear in mind that he comes to support the laws,
and that it would be peculiarly unbecoming IN !
him to be, in any way, the infractor of them:
that the essential principles of free government
confne the province of the military, when called |
forth on such occasions, TO two Objects first, to
combat and subdue all who may be found In arms |
in opposition TO the national viii and authority;
secondly, to aid and support the civil magistrates
I'm bringing offenders to justice. The DISPENSE
ton of this justice belongs to the civil magis
rates; aud let ID ever be our pride and our glory
to leave the sacred deposite there inviolate."-
IIrving's Life of Washington. vol. 5, ch. IS.
Rhode Island presents different example but
strictly within the principle; an example
where the rebellion was not local, but throughout
the entire State, and called into exercise the war
power of a Governor of the State. Rhode
Island is a very small State Its territory does
not exceed that of the three largest counties in
Indiana. 1t governed upon a royal charter
granted by King Charles the Second, under
which only freeholders to certain amount and
their eldest sons were entitled to vote. The
people petitioned for a convention to form a new
and more democratic constitution. The legisla-
ture year after wear, denied the petition. The
people finally took the subject into their own
hands, called convention, formed new con-
stitution, and were proceeding great majority
of the people engaging in the undertaking, in
1912, to overthrow, entirely TO eXtinguish the
old government and put the new one into opera
ton in its place. Force was resorted to on both
sides. The contest was not local, but extended
to every foot of territory in the State. The leg
slaturc of the old government passed an act au-
thorizing the Governor of that government TO
enforce martial law; he thereupon announced it
by proclamation, aud then exercised it to the ex-
tent of forcble resistance to the old government,
which was throughout the whole State. New
Am. Cyclop., tit. Dorr; Burke and Causin's
Reports TO House Rep. in Congress in 1874;
Luther v. Borden, How. 10. 81 RepI. The
charter Governor, King, also called on the
President of the United States for aid to put
down the rebelion the President rendered it,
and the people of Rhode Island were crushed BY
military power.
The right, tlen of the President TO temporarily
govern localities through his military officers, he
derives solely from the fact that he is the CON-
mander-in-chief of the army, and Is 10 see that
the laws are executed; and he can exercise it TO
just the extent that, and no further than, by
the laws of war, commanding general in the
army of the United States could do it. Where
the laws are, or may be, executed without the
interference of the President by his military,
he has no right thus to interfere.
The President does not derive his war power
from his oath to support, protect and defend the
|
the Constitution himself and to use the power
which that instrument confers upon him, and
none else, to cause others TO obey IL. He does
not derive his war power from the right TO sus-
pend the writ of hdbeas corpus We do not think
he possesses thatright. under the Constitution. We
think that is anactof Legislative power which can
only be performed by Congress; and, even when
rightly suspended, it does not justify an exercise
of the war power beyond the necessities of the
hutoi nj tata tba of oh
tanning liberty when illegally deprived of it.
Simply because thehabcaS corpus is suspended, is it
right to destroy every mans liberty and property!
The right in a case of emergency, TO exercise
the war power, temporarily and locally, suppos-
ing that power 70 exist at ALL under the Consti-
tuition, does not depend upon the fact of the
hdbeaS corpus being suspended, or not suspended.
The war power of the President, then, may be
stated thus: He has right TO govern through
his military officers, by martial law when and
where the civil power of the United States is
suspended by force. In all other times and
places the civil excludes martial law-excludes
government by the war power. Where force
prevails, martial law may be exercised. But in
all parts Of the country where the courts are
open and the civil power is not expelled by force
the Constitution and laws rule, the President rs
but President, and no citizen, not connected with
the army, can be punished by the military power
of the United States, Is he amenable TO
military orders. See Skeen V. Monkmier at
this term II, in such parts ofthe country, men
commit crimes defined by law, they must be pun
ished, according 10 the Constitution and the law,
in the civil courts. II, in such parts of the
country men have not perpetrated acts consti-
tuting in law crimes their arrest trial, and pun
ishment by military courts Is but mode of ap-
plying Lynch law: is, in short, mob violence.
This is so, unless the old English tory doctrine
of government is secretly included in our Con
stitution. That doctrine, as expressed by Fill
mer. is that "a man is bound TO obey the kings
command against law; nay, in some cases, against
divine laws. Mays Const. Hist, vol. 2 p. 81
note.
Having ascertained the principle by which the
legality of cases of military arrest and punish
ment is to be tested, we are now prepared to
proceed to the application of the principle to tho
case at bar.
The existing rebellion in the United States
vast Its extent is not general, but local. II
is confined to the Southern States. 1t is q
sectional rebellion. The theatre of force where
the civil tribunals areclosed sectional bounded
by geographic lines. 1t is limited to the slave
States. This has been unanimously decided by
the Supreme Court of the United States in the
Prize cases. Blacks Rep. p. 635.
There those by whom ii is thought that
great provocations have been given TO the people
of the Northern States or portions ofthcm, calcu-
lated to irIitate them into joining in the rebellion
but, under all prosecutions and grievances, the
people of the Northern States thanks to their
patriotism, have remained true and devoted to
the Government of the United States.
The rebellion itself did not originate in an at.
tempt as we have read its history, TO overthrow
the Government of the United States, and is not
now ostensibly prosecuted for that purpose. The
rebellion consists in an attempt, if we have read
Alright, to withdraw a certain portion of people
and territory from under the jurisdiction of the
Government of the United Staies-fo bride tht
Union, leaving the North under the existing gov
ernmcnt, and placing the South under newly
created government. Il is true that the rebel
armies would, if they could, invade the territory
of the Northern States, in order 10 relieve the
rebel States from the desolation of war; without
changing the object for which the war is prose
cuted on their side, viz their independence OF
the Union, or, perhaps, guarantees for rights in
it. And, If our army wa withdrawn, or greatly
weakened before terms of peace were agreed on
the rebels would seize upon their independence,
If thew did not invade us. Hence, the imperative
necessity, felt by ALL of continuing TO keep ~
the army, TO prevent this greatest of evils, what
ever ultimate purpose the administration may
indirectly seek to accomplish by it, which could
not be approved
No one of the Northern States, constituting as
they together do, decided majority OF all the
States, desires to overthrow the Constitution OF
the United States, or TO withdraw from under its
operation; nor do any considerable portion
perhaps not any, of the people of such States
manifest any desire to resist the legal execution
of the Constitution and laws. Resistance to
illegal arrests aud mob violence is not necessarily
resistance to the government. The courts, IN all
the Northern States, are and have been open
But the Southern States are attempting, by vio-
lence, to2sever the Union, 1.-THE Government Of