The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1866-03-02

ton of the innocent, the punishment
of the guilty and the equal administra-
ton of justice, areto be set aside, and
for the sake of a.m0re vigorous inter-
position in behalf Of justice, we are to
take the risk of the many acts Of inius-
tice that would necessarily follow from
an almost countless number Of agents
established in everyparish or county in
nearly a third of the States of the I'm
ion, over whose DECISIONS there is to be
no supervision or control by the FEEDER
al 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 intrusted 10 dE one man. If it
be asked whether th creation Of such
a tribunal in a State was warranted as
a measure of war, tie question imme-
diately presents itself whether we are
still engaged in war. Let us not un-
necessarily disturb the commerce, and
credit and IL 1ustry of he country by
declaring to the American people, and
to the world, that the United States are
still in q condition of civil war.
AT present there is no part Of our
country in which the authority of the
United States is disputed. Offences
that may be committed by individuals
should not work a forfeiture Of the
rights Of whole communities. The
community has returned, or is return
ing, to a state of peace and industry.
The rebellion is at an end. The meas
ure, therefore, seems to be inconsistent
with the actual condition of the cOun-
try, as tits at variance with the COnsti-
tuition Of the United States.
If, passing from general considera-
tions, we examine the bill in detail, it
is open to weighty objections. In time
of war it was eminently proper that
we should provide for those wht were
passing suddenly from a condition Of
bondage to state Of freedom, bit this
bill proposes to make the Freedmen's
Bureau, established by the act # 1865
as one of many great and eXtraTdina-
ry measures to suppress a formidable
rebellion, permanent branch of the
publisadministratiOn with its powers
greatly enlarged.
[ have no OreasOn to suppose, AMI / do
not understand it to be alleged tlat the
act of March, 1865, has proved deficient
for the purpose for which it was passed,
although at that time, and fora con-
siderable period thereafter, the Govern
ment of the United States remained
unacknOWledged in most Of the States
whose inhabitants had been involved
in the rebellion. The institution of
slavery, for the military destruction Of
which the Freedmen's Bureau was call
ed into existence as an auxiliary, has
been already effectually and finally alb
rogated throughout the whole country
byan amendment of the Constitution
of the United States, and practically
its eradication has reached the assent
and concurrence of most of those States
in which it at any time had an exist
ence.
am not therefore able to discern in
the condition of the country anything
to justify an apprehension that the pow
ers and agencies of the Freedmen'S
Bureau, which were effective for the
protection of freedmen and refugees
during the actual continuance of hos
tilities, will now, in time of peace,
and after theabolitiOn of slavery, prove
inadequate to the same proper ends.
If am correct in these views, there
can be no necessity for the enlargement
of the powers of thebureau, for which
provision is made in the bill.
The third section of the bill authOri
yes n general and unlimited grant OF
support to the destitute and suffering
refugees and freedmen, their wives and
children. Succeeding sections make
provision for the rent or purchase OF
landed estates for freedmen, and the
erection, for their benefit, of suitable
buildings for asylums and schools; the
expenses to be betrayed from the treas
ury of the whole people.
The Congress Of the United States has
neverheretofore thOughtit self-empOw-
cred to establish asylums beyond the
limits of the District of Columbia, eX-
cept for the benefit of our disabled sol
diers and sailors. 1t has never founded
schools for any class of our own people,
not even for the orphans of those who
have fallen in the defense of the Union,
but has left the care of their education
to the much more competent and eff
cient control of the States, of cOmmu-
mites, of private associations and of in
dividuals. 1t has never deemed itself
authorized to expend the public money
for the rent or purchase of houses for
the thousands, not to say millions OF
the white race who are honestly toll
ing from day to day for their subsis-
tence.
A system for the support of INDECENT
persons in the United States never was
contemplated by the authors of the Con-
stitution. Nor can any good reason be
advanced why, as permanent estab-
lshment, it should be founded for one