The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1866-03-14
THE PRESIDENTS VETO.
Letter from Hon. Edward Bates.

Letter from Hon. Edward Bates.
The Hon. Edward Bates, having been
| invited to address 8 mass meeting in
! St Louis, called to endorse the Presi-
/ dents veto of the Bureau bill, and his
general policy, wrote in reply a letter,
from which we take the subioined ex-
tracts, regretting that we cannot find
room for it entire:
am very sorry that the bad state
Of my health forbids my attendance;
and the more so, because 1 believe there
Will not be man at the meeting who
feels greater adherence than | do,
for the bill whose wicked career has
been stopped by the Presidents timely
veto My feeling upon this subject
does not spring enti.ely from my dis
gust of the factious spirit and ridicu-
lous egotism of the clique which now
domineers over Congress, but from the
intrinsic demerits OF the bill, ascer-
/ tanned from q careful examination Of
its provisions, think / understand il.
| can see (the most casual reader can
see) its glaring and defiant breaches of
the Constituhon-and | think 1 can
see, also, the hidden motive, the secret
design of the conspirators who planned
the scheme to oYertlrn our government
Of law, and set up in its stead fright
ful military olgarchy. And this wicked
purpose betrays itself in several pro-
visions Of the bill, which are so ar
ranged in the context, as to seem, to a
hssty observer, TO be secondary and
subordinate to the ostensible object,
the protection offreedmen."
After giving a synopsis of the Freed
mems Bureau Bill, he continues:
only imagine such military organ
ization, with a despotic head at the
seat of Government, and despotic MEM
bers pervading the whole mass of COM
munity and exhibiting its power in or
ganized form, in every county and
parish, and the President bound, by
Trumbull's bill TO extend military pro
lection over them, against every effort
to restrain by legal and civil means,
the Wantonness of their arbitrary
power.
Think you that the people of the
United States, are already, SO far de
graded into passive obedience as to
submit, tamely, 70 such an atrocious
outrage, even if sanctioned by the
unanimous voice of factiOus Congress, |
and approved by a subservient Presi-
dent? No, verify. They are not yet
ready to abandon their Constitution
and renounce all hopes of legal liberty |
by giving over their lives, liberties and |
properties, to be disposed of at the ca
price of petty officers and agents of |
petty subdivision of the War Depart |
ment, called 5ars1u They will insist |
upon their legal rights as freemen and |
American citizens; they will demand |
the protection Of the laws of their |
country, and if charged with crime, or
drawn into controversy about property |
or contracts, they will insist upon a |
court and jury, and will refuse to betried |
by any petty despot, detailed from
the army" whether he be white or
black
Constitutional government and liber-
ty by law are worth fighting for. We
have just passed through bloody war
to maintain them against one set of |
traitors and l make no doubt that the |
people will be as ready-if need be
TO resist, in the same way, any other |
set of traitors who seek to destroy the /
government by insidious artiice and
bold usurpation.
1 think it fortunate thing for the
country, that the Radical faction is so
demented as to pick a quarrel with the
President, because he refuses to be their
instrument to overturn the Constitution
and substitute in its place military
and to stake their political
fortunes upon the monstrous vices and
folGes of the Trumbull bill For, in
doing 80, they do but insure their own
defeat, and consequently the restora-
ton Of law, order and peace, and re-
yiyal Of national respect for legal gov
ernment, and national love for liberty
by law.
Even the emancipated negro, for
whose sake it is pretended that this
wrong is done, will not long fail TO see
the hypocrisy and fraud of the trans
action They will see that while they
are caiOled with the pretence Of liberty
and equality before the law, this wick
ed bill subjects them to the power of
overseers, excludes them from
all legal protection, denies them the
right TO appeal to the courts Of law, for
redress or grievances, and requires the
agents and officers of the bureau to
take jurisdiction of all cases, which
them and their interests.
Very respectfully,
Your friend and fellow-citizen,
EDWARD BATES.