Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1866-11-29
WHEN DIB THE WAR ExDr1

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80 WHEN DID THE WAR EEDsz a.f
A very important decision has been rem
dered in the United States District Court
for Delaware, by Judge Hall, -Four citi-
zens of South Carolina were arrested by
command of Maj. Gen. Sickles, and having
been tried by a military court in Deem
Der, 1865, under the orders Of that officer,
were sentenced to death. The prisoners
had been found guilty before courtnAr-
tial, of which Gen. Devens was President;
Of having Voluntarily aided in the ASSAULT
made on the United States troops stationed
at Browns Ferry, s. c., in October, 1863.
Appeals were made to the President and
he committed the sentence TO imprison-
ment for life, but in the meantime the pris-
oners were spirited away in order to eyade
writ of habeas corpus, which, had been
applied for in their behalf, on the ground
that if they had committed any crime they
were amenable to the civil Law. After the
sentence of the prisoners had been COM
muted by the President, it was discovered
that they were confined at the Dry Tortu-
gas, from whence they we're taken to Fort
Delaware. Here they were demanded by
the civil authority under a writ Of habeas
corpus issued by Judge Hall. The man
date of the court was obeyed in this in
stance; the prisoners were brought before J
him, and after patient hearing Of the
case, they were discharged on the ground
that the military commission was without
jurisdiction in the case; the Judge declar-
ing it as his opinion that the rebellion had
ceased in April, 1865; and, inasmuch as
the Presidents proclamation, Issued in
June, appointing Provisional Governor
for South Carolina, ordered "the District
Judge for the district in which that
State is included, to proceed to holdcourts,"
the State was in the exercise Of all its civil
functions before the issuing of the order for
the organization of the commission by
which the prisoners had been tried and |
condemned; and that according to the
law of the land the prisoners ought not to |
be and cannot be held under the eOanuted |
sentence of this military commission" |
The points of greatest interest in the
decision of Judge Hall are, that the war
had ceased and the authority Of the United |
States was acknowledged in South Caro-
lima in April, 1865; and that after the ap-
pointment of a Provisional Governor for
any State, by the President the military
forces of the United States were without
authority to arrest and try persons before
military commissions. The practice of the
military in all the Southern States during
the past year and a half under the Freed
mans Bureau law and Gen. Grants cele-
brated order, are decidedly against the
position taken by Judge Hall, and this
decision of the Judge is con-
of the position assumed
BY this paper, that the military
had no authority to modest citizens of
the Southern States, even under the order
Of Gen. Grant. That officer has no authority
to subvert the civil law, and every arrest
made under his order was a violation of
the law. It is refreshing to find Judge
who has the nerve to administer the law as
it stands upon the statute books. Judge /
Hall is represented as magistrate vener-
able alike by his years and by the dignity
and frmness with which he has, through
long career, administered his high office.
His decision must, therefore, carry with it
great weight against the fanaticism that
rules the hour.