Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1866-03-17
the judicial power of the country.

w hlle the territory ana the classes or actlOns
and offences that arc made subject to this meas
ure are so extensive, the bill itself, should it
bccome,a law, will have no limitation in point
of time, but will form part of tho permanent
Legislation of the country | cannot reconcile
| u system of military jurisdiction of this kind
with the words of the Constitution, which de-
clares that no person shall be held to answer
for capital or otherwise infamous crime UNI:
, less on prcseutncnt or indictment of grand
jury, except in cases arising i'll the land apd
naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual
service in time of war or public danger" and
that f" in all criminal prosecutions, the accused
shall enjoy the right to a speedy. and public
trial, by an impartial jury of the State or Dis
trictfwhcrcin the crime shall have been COM
mittcd" The safeguards which the expert
ence aud wisdom Of ages taught our fathers
to establish as securities for the protection of
the innocent, the punishment OF the guilty,
and the equal administration of justice, are to
be set aside, and for the sake of a more vigor
GUS nterposition in behalf of'iustice, we are'
to take the risk of the many acts Of injustice
that would necessarily follow from an almost
countless number of agents. established in ev
cry Parish or County in nearly third of the
States Of the Union, over whose decisions there
is to be no supervision control by the Fed
cral Courts. The power that would be thus
placed in the hands of the President is such,
as in time Of peace, certainly ought never to
be entrusted to any one man.
1t it be asked whether the creatiomof such
u tribunal within State is warranted as, a
measure of war, the question Immediately pres
sents itself, whether we are stll engagsdss
war Let us not unnecessarily disturb the
commerce and crcditund industry of the coun-
try by declaring to the American people and
to the world that the United States are still
in a. condition OF civil war. Atrrescnt, there
is no part of our country in which the author
ity of the United States is disputed. Offences
that may be committed by individuals should
not work forfeiture Of the rights of Whole
communities The country has returned, or
is returning, to a state of peace and industry,
and the rebellion is, in fact at an end The
measure, therefore, seems to be inconsistent
with the actual condition of the country as it
lis at variance with the Constitution of the
United States.
IF, passing from general considerations we
examine the bill in detail, it is open to wcighty
objections.
In time of war, it is cminently proper that
We should provide for those who are passing
suddenly from condition of bondage to a
state of freedom. Bat this bill proposes to
make tile Frecdaens Bureau, established by
the Act of 1865 as one of many great and cx
traordinary military measures to suppress a
formidable rebellion, permanent branch of
the public administration, with its powers
greatly enlarged have no reason to suppose,
and do not understand it to be alleged, that
thA Act Of March, 1865, has proved deficient
fofthc purpose for which it passed, although
at that time, and for considerable period
thereafter, the Government Of the United
States remained unaoknowledged in most of
the States whose inhabitants had been in
yolved in the rebellion. The institution of
slavery, for the military destruction of which
| the Frecdmcn's Bureau was called into exist
cncc as an auxiliary, has been af!cady caFcctu-
| ally and finally abrogatcd throughout the whole
country by ali amendment of the Constitution
of the United States, and practically its erad-
cation has received the assent and concurrence
of most of those States in Which it atany time
had an existence. am not, therefore, able
to discern, in the condition Of the country,
anything to Justify an apprehension that the
powers and agencies of the 1Freedmen's Bu-
roaa, which were effective for the protection
of freedmen and refugees during the actual
continuance Of hostiitics and Of, African SER
vitudc, will now, in time of peace and after
tho abolition of slavery, prove inadequate to
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