Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-04-11

commission. We might here observe that the
several parts Of the bill allowing the companies
or regiments, or any other person or persons, ex-
cept the Governor, TO choose and appoint the
officers, Is that which received the most positive
opposition from the Governor, on the ground
that II might prevent him from appointing his
friends. Fourth, the officers of a company are
named, and how often to drill Fifth, each Con-
gressional District is declared TO be brigade
district. Sixth, the officers of State to recon-
mend to the Governor person for Major Gen.
eral, and one in each district for Brigadicr Gen.
eral, to be appointed by the Governor. Seventh,
the Brigadier General to form companies in his
district into regiments, and company officers to
elect regimentsl officers.
This is the substance of this much-abused BILL
so far as the organization of the militia into
companies regiments, brigades and divisions is
concerned. II is true, there are a great many
provisions in regard to the staff officers aud their
rank attached to Colonels, Brigadier Generals.
and Major Generals the number of days to mus
ter and penalties for not mastering; but all this
does not affect the organization itself After
carefully considering the proposed law, as COM
pared with that already in existence (Acts Spe-
cial Session of 1861, p. 50, but which had been
enacted only about eighteen months previously,
we feel confident that the distinguishing differ
ence between them was, and is, first that the one
on the statute book gave the appointment of re-
gimcntal, brigade and division officers to the
Governor solely. The proposed law gave the
pirate soldiers voice in the selection of great
majority of the officers; and where this was not
done, the selection was devolved upon several
officers instead Of upon one man. This, we be-
heve, TO be the true theory; for it is said :
"Where no counsel is, the people fall; but in the
multitude Of eounsellors there is safety" Prov
erbs, IL: IA.
Second BY sec 32 Of said Acts of 1861, D.
So the rules and articles of war are declared TO
be in force in time of war, "with such modifca-
ton as the Governor may prescribe" This
would, as is well understood in conducting mill
ta-y matters, give the Governor the power to
control the whole militia 10 his own liking. No
such provisions was contained in the proposed
bill.
The Governor does not clndescend to poi'lt
out in what particular the proposed law wo.tid
be unconstitutional, but contents himself Nth
asserting that such was the fact. That every one
may see the empty, shallow .pretense, we here
incorporate every provision Of the Constitution
bearing upon the subject of the militia;
ARTICLE xII.-MILITIA.
sscroS l. The militia shall consist Of all able bodied
white male per-ons, betw the ages Of ghteen aud
forty live years, except such as may be exempted by the
laws OF the United States OF this State and shall be
organic -, oilicered, armed, equppe and trained
manner mag b. provided ny law.
sac. 2 Tao Governor shall appoint the Adutant,
Quarter Master and mnssary Generals.
sEc. ,. All militia officers shall be commissioned by
the Governor AID snail hold their offices longer than
six year, ~ g., ,...
method OF dividing the militia into divisions, brigades
Iegimen;s baiialos, and enpanie and Ok the rank OF
@sEc. s. lhe militia n,sy be divide. into classes Of
sed ary aid i've miitia, in such shall be
prescribed by law"
ARTICLE v.-EXEcUTIvE.
A. .fI -
OF the military aud naval forces my call out such
forces to execute the laws 10 suppress nsurectoD or
to repel INVASION
Section Is provides that, in certain instances
named, the Governor shall fll vacancies that
may occur in offices, but Is officers in the mill
tia are not named, and as, under sec. 1, of Art.
II, above quoted, the Legislature have the un-
doubted right to provide by law how such yacan-
ces may BE- filled we will not insert the section
here. f. t.a ef
Any plain man can perceive at once that there
was nothing in this bill to cause the Republicans
to leave, and defeat the measures that had been
maturing during the whole session before they
boited. 1t was, therefore, necessary to raise a
great clamor about this bill; to make bold, and,
at the same time bald assertions about it, to at
tempt in every manner to impress the patriotic
public that in an hour of great peril, when
soldiers were much used, the majority were at
tempting to overtun, or blot out, or in some
way destroy, they do not say nor know how,
the whole military system of the State. They
sought, under this subject of patriotic excite
ment, tO-wif, raising and providing for soldiers,
to cover up their real design, which was, as
we have shown, to defeat certain other neces-
sary legislation. Aside from these reasons, it is
manifest that the Republicans did not fear the
passage of the military bill because it was then
a late day of the session, and the position of the
bill was such on the calendar, that there were
about a hundred other bills would have TO be
acted upon before it, and II could not therefore,
haze been reached, unless it was taken up out of
its order, which could not be done by less than a
two-thirds vote, and that tho Democrats could
not command. If it had passed, the Governor,
il he was opposed to it, could have vetoed 1t,
and then, upon its re-passage, would have been
time enough to tot
But why those hollow pretences Of exclusive
love and care for the soldiers of this war
Merely that they, the Republicans, may be in q
condition, If possible, to control these brave men
in relation TO political questions. This the Gov
ernor attempted during the sitting of the Lcgis-
lature, by sending his emissaries TO the various
armies in the field to procure, by false represen-
tatons to the soldiers, the passage of resolutions
denouncing the majority in the Legislature, and
laudmg o. 2. NJ. See Br. Rep. PIP. 1925.
That this exclusive friendship is, to some ex-
tent hollow, and the denunciations in the reso-
lutions referred to unwarranted, is clear from the
following facts: The Democrats, having majori-
ties in both branches, had prepared and had in
progress of passage, bills appropratirg for dis
ablcd &C., soldiers and for the Legion, two hum
dred thousand dollars for the year 1868, and a
like sum for 1864; and had passed through the
Senate, by vote of 25 Democrats and lS Re-
publicans, bill appropriating two millions of
dollars for the prompt payment of Indiana sol
diers, when the United States Government did
not pay in time. fhey had also pending joint
resolutions asking Congress to increase the pay
of soldiers -four dollars per month, and that pen
sions TO soldiers their families should be paid
in GOLD. Every one of these measures were de-
feated by the withdrawal of the Republican
members, under the adrice OF Governor Morton,
this warm friend of the soldier
During the tendency of the proposition to in
crease the pay of soldiers, the Republicans took
direct ground in opposition, as may be seen by
their speeches. Br Rep. PIP. AZ, AZ.
But the Governor says the passage of these
measures was prevented by the unconstitutional
military bill that it was net then regarded as
unconstitutional is sufficiently clear from their
refusal TO submit it to three men, not Democrats,
for their decision upon that point. Br. Rep. 200.
But now for the most powerful reasons ope-
rating upon the Governor to break up the Legis-
lature First, on the 18th of February, 1868,
there appeared in the Indiana Journal, a paper
in the employ and devoted to Governor Morton,
what purported to he the proceedings of meet
ing of officers of the 27th Regiment Indiana Vol
unteers, at which it was said the following reso-
luton wa adop.ed
Rssofred That in the resolutions of Messrs. Brown
end Wolfe, scnstor see nothing less Than treason in
its broadest kense and such deserving the penalty
tsched 10 the highest known TO our laws and we
recommend that Governor Morton maxi aa examEis Of
ment to enforce that any other such emergency as may