The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-12-24

speakable pleasure to tell you the sequel
The people rose in their strength, smashed
down the whole machinery of oppression,
and drove out into uttermost shame king,
strumpet, dogs, and all. From that time
to this, neither man, woman, nor beast has
dared to worry or kill the people of Bava-
ria.
All these are but so many different ways
of using the arbitrary power to punish.
The variety is merely in the means whic h
tyranncal government takes to destroy
those whom 1t is bound to protect. Every
where II is but another construction, on
the same principle, of that remorseless
machine by which despotism wreaks its
vengeance on those who offend 1t. In a
civilized country it nearly always uses the
military force, because that is the sharpest
and surest, as we'll as the best-looking in
strument that can be found for such pur-
pose. But in none Of its forms can it be
introduced into this country; we have no
room for it the ground here is all pre0ccu-
pied by legal and free institutions.
Between the officers who have power
like this and the people who are liable TO
become its victims there can be no rela-
ton except that of master and slave. The
master may be kind, and the slave may be
cOutcnted in his bondage but the man
who can take your life, or restrain your
liberty, or despoil you of your property at
his discretion, either with his own hands or
by means of a hired oversccr, owns you,
and he can force you to serve him. All
you are, and all you have, including your
wives and children, are his property.
If my learned and very good friend the
Attorney General had this right Of domi~
nation over me | should not be very much
frightened, for l should expect him to use
it as moderately as any man in all the
world but still should feel the necessity
Of being very discreet. He might change
in short time. The thirst for blood is an
appetite which grows by what it feeds upon.
We cannot know him by present appear
ances. RobeSpierre resigned country
judgcsbip in early life because he was too
tender-hearted to pronounce sentence of
death upon convicted criminal. Caligula
passed for most amiable young gentleman
before he was clothed with the imperial
purple, and for about eight months after
wards. 1t was Trajan, | think, who said
that absolute power would convert any
man into wild beast, whatever was the
original benevolence of his nature. If
you decide that the Acknowledgement
holds in his own hands or shares with
others the power of life and death over us
all, mean to be very cautious in my in
tercourSc with him; and | warn You, the
judges whom | am now addressing, to
do likewise. Trust not to the gentleneSs
and kindness which has always marked his
behavior heretofore. Keep your distance;
be careful how you approach him for
you know not at what moment, or by what
triie you may arouse the sleeping IT,
ger. Remember the injunction OF Scripture:
:" Go not near the man who hath power TO
kill and if thou come unto him, see that
thou make no fault, lest he take away thy
life presently; for thou goest among snares
and walkcSt upon the battlementS Of the
city,"
The right of the executive government
to kill and impriSon citizens for political
offences has not been practically claimed
in this country except In cases where com
miSSioned officers of the army were the in
strumcntS used. Why should it be con-
fined to them? Why should not naval of
ticcrs be permitted to share in it! What
is the reason that common soldiers and sea-
men are excluded from all participation
in the business No law has restored the
right upon army officers more than upon
other persons. If men are to be hung up
without that legal trial which the ConStitu
ton guarantees to them, why not employ
commissions Of clergymcn, merchants, ma
nutacturers, horse-dcalcrs, butchers, or
drovers, to do il? 1t will not be pretended
that miliNry men are better qualified to
decide questions of fact or law than other
classes of people for it is known on the
contrary that they are, as general rule,
least of all fitted 10 perform the duties
that belong to a Judge.
The AttorneyGener thinks that pro-
Ceedng which takes away the lives OF cltl-
zenS without q constitutional trial is most
merciful diSpensation. His idea OF hu-
manity as we'll as law is embodied in the
bureau of military justice, with all its dark
and bloody machinery. For that strange
opinion he gives this curious reason that
the duty of the commander-in-chiefi is to
kill, and unless he has this bureau and
these commissions, he must "butcher "
indiScriminatelv without mercy or justice.
! admit that if the commander-in-ch or
any other officer of the Government has
the power Of an Asiatic king, to butcher
the people at pleasure, he ought to have
somebody to aid him in selecting his vic
tins, as we'll as TO do the rough work of
strangling and shooting. But if my learned
friend will only condeScend to cast an eye
upon the Constitution, he will see at once
that all the executive and military officers
are completely relieved by the provision
that the life of citizen shall not be taken
at all until after legal conviction by court
and jury.
You cannot help but see that mill
tary commissions, if suffered to go on, will
be used for most perniciouS purposes.
have criticised none of their past proceed
ingS, nor made any allusion to their his
tory in the last five years. But what can
be the meaning of this effort to maintain
them among us? Certainly not to punish
actual guilt. All the ends Of true justice
are attained by the prompt, speedy, impair
tial trial which the courts are bound to
give. Is there any danger that crime will
be winked upon by the judges? Does any
body pretend that courts and juries have
less ability to decide upon facts and law
than the men who sit in military tribunals?
The counsel in this cause will not insult
YOU by even limiting such an opinion. What
righteous or just purpose, then, can they
serve? None whatever.
But while they are utterly powerleSs to
do even a shadow Of good, they will be
omnipotent to trample upon innocence, to
gag the truth, to silence patriotism, and
h., ,lny Of hn wv