Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-02-20

u s.
Imprisonment or fine, or both, without, how
ever, defining the civil rights and immu
: mites thus to be secured to the freedmen
by military law. This military jurisdiction
}. also extends to all questions that may aris
respecting contracts. The agent who i
= thus to exercise the office of a militar-
Judge, may be stranger, entirely ignoran
{, of the laws Of the place, and exposed TO tn
errors of judgment to which all men are liza
bic. The exercise of power, over whicl
there IS no legal supervision, by 80 vast
number of agents as is contemplated by tht
bill, must by the very nature of man b,
attended by acts Of caprice, injustice anC
. passion. The trials having their origiI
under this bill are to take plac,
without the Intervention Of a Jury
: and without any fixed rules of law
or evidence The rules on which Offenses
are to be heard and determined by the
numerous agents are such rules and regula-
tiOns as the President, through the War De-
, Partment, shall prescribe. No previous
presentment is required, nor any tindiot-
ment charging the commission of a crime
against the laws, but the trial must pro
oeed on charges and specifications. The
punishment will be not what the law de-
clares but suoh as court martial may
think proper. And from these arbitrary
tribunals there lies no appeal no writ OF
error to any of the courts to which the Con-
stitutien of the United States rests exclu-
sively, the judicial power of the
country, while the territory and
the class of actions and offenses
that are made subject to this measure are
so extensive. The bill itself should be-
come a law will have no limitation in point
OF time but will form part of the perma-
nent legislation of the country. / cannot
reconcile system of military Jurisdiction
OF this kind with the words of the COnsti-
tuition which declare that mo person shall
be held to answer for a capital or otherwise
infamous crime unless on a presentmeat or
| indictment of grand Jury, except in cases
arising in the land or naval forces or IN the
militia, when IN actual service in time of
war or public danger" and in that 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
trict wherein the crime shall have been
committed The safeguards which the
wisdom and experience of ages taught our
| fathers to establish as securities for
/ the protection of the innocent and
the punishment of the guilty, and
the equal administration of Justice are
to be set aside, and for the sake of more
vigorous interposition in behalf of Justice
we are 10 take the risk of the many acts of
iHluS6lCS l4lub WOulu necessity Hollow from
an almost countless number of agents estab.
lished in every parish or county in nearly
| third of the States of the Union, over whose
decision there is to be no supervision or con-
trol by the Federal Courts. The power that
would bo thus placed in the hands of the
President is such as in time of peace GER
tainly ought never to be entrusted to any
one man. If it be asked whether the crea-
tion Of such a tribunal within State is
warranted as a measure of war. The ques-
ton Immediately presents itself whether
we are still engaged in war. Let US
not unnecessarily disturb the COM
merce and credit and industry Of
the country by declaring to the Ameri ,an
people and the world that the United States
are still in e state of civil war. At present
there is no part of our couRtrY in which the
authority of the United States is disputed.
Otfenses that may be committed by indi-
viduals should not work a forfeiture of the |
rights Of the same communities. The coun-
try has entered or is returning to state of
peace and industry and the rebellion is in |
fact at an end. The measure therefore seems |
to be as inconsistent with the actual con-
dition Of the country as it is at variance |
with the constitution of the United States |
If passing from general observation, we ex-
anime in dot j, it Is open to weighty Objee- |
tions. In time of war it was eminently proper |
that we should provide for those who were |
passing suddenly from condition of bondage |
TO . state of freedom but this bill proposes |
to make the Freedmen's Bureau established |
by the act of 1865 as one of many great /
and extraordinary military measures to
suppress formidable rebellion, perma-
nent branch of the public administration
with its powers greatly enlarged. / have
no reason to suppose, and do not under
stand, it to be alleged that the act Of March, |
1865, has proved deficient for the purpose |
for which 1t was passed, although at that |
time, and for q considerable period there |
after, the Government Of the United States
remained unacknowledged in most of the
States where the inhabitants had been in
volved in the rebellion. The institution of
slavery, for the military destruction Of
which the Freedmen's Bureau was called /
into existence as an auxiliary force has |
been effectually and finally abrOgated /
throughout the whole country by an amend
States and practically its eradication has |
received the assent of most of those
States in which it any time had existed.
/ am not therefore able to discern in the |
country anything to justify an apprehension
that the powers and agencies of the Freed
mems Bureau, which were effective for the i
protection of freedmen and refugees during I
the actual continuation Of hostilities and oi /
African servitude, will now, in a time of /
peace and after the abolition of slavery, |
prove inadequate to the same proper ends. |
Ii am correct in these views, there can be
ne necessity for the enlargement of the |
powers of the Bureau, for which provision
is made in the bill.
The third section of the bill authorizes a
general and unlimited amount of support |
to the destitute and suffering refugees and /
freedmen, and their wives and children.
Succeeding sections make provision for the
rent or purchase Of laaded estates for /
freedmen, and for the erection for their /
benefit of suitable buildings for asylumns
and schools. The expenses to be betrayed /
from the Treasury Of the. whole people.
The Congress of the United States has new
er heretofore thought itself competent to
establish any laws beyond the limits of the
District of Columbia, except for the benft
of our disabled soldiers or sailors. It has
never founded schools for any classes Of our
own people, not even for the orphans f
those who have fallen in the defence Of the
Union, but has left the care of their educa-
tion to the much more competent and eff
cient control of the States, Of communities,
of private associations and of individuals.
II has never deemed it eff authorized TO ex
pend the public money for the rent or pur-
chasee of homes for the thousands, not to
say millions of the white race who are hon
estly toiling from day to day for their
subsistence. A system for the support OF
INDECENT persons in the United States was
never contemplated by the authors Of the
constitution, nor can any good reason be
advanced why, as, a permanent establish
ment, it should be founded for one class or
color of cur people more than for another.
Pending the war many refugees and freed
men received support from the government,
but it was never intended tnat they should
henceforth be fed, clothed, educated and
sheltered by the United States. The idea
on which the slaves were assisted to freed
dom was that on becoming free they would
be self sustaining population. Any leg
islation that shall imply that they are not
expected to attain a self-sustaining condi-
ton must have tendency injurious alike
to their character and their prosperity.
The appointment of an agent for every
county and parish will create an immense
patronage, and the expense Of the numer-
GUS officers and their clerks to be appointed
by the President, will be great in the begin
ing with a tendency steadily to increase. The /
Appropriations asked by the Freedmen's |
Bureau as now established for the year 1866 /
amount to ,00o. 1t may be safely |
estimated the cost to be incurred under the |
pending bill will require double that amount, |
more than the entire sum expended in any |
one year under the administration Of the |
second Adams. If the presence OF agents /
in every parish and county is to De con-