Clarksville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1865-1867, 1866-10-26
CONGREGATION.

We see il announced, in some pa
per, that there is to be an extensive
sale Of eonfscated lands at Port
Royal, and on come of the contigu.
Gus Islands. Remembering the fate
Of the Arlington estate, and Of some
others in lower Virginia, we would
not have been surprised at this an
rsaacemeat, had we not remembered
also, that the President told dele
CATION from southern State, that
they need not be uneasy about their
lands because there can be no confis-
cation without previous trial and con-
viction. Have the owners of Port
Royal and the Sea Islands been tried
and convicted Of treason2 If not,
what is the pretext for this act Of
con6scstion 2 The people Of those
localities are not more guilty than
tens Of thousands elsewhere, against
whom no such extreme measures are
being adopted, and we can see no
reason for this high handed oppressi-
on except that it is the sovereign will
Of q lawless Congress.
We believe it is provided by the
Constitution, that confscation, du-
ring the life Of the oulprit, may fol-
low his conviction for treason. We
believe, too, that the President has
declared it to be his duty and his
purpose to square his acts by the
provisions Of that instrument. In
the face of these convictions, we are
at loss to know how these sales can
be justified, or by whose order they
are TO be made. We presume the
order must have emenated from the
Executive Department, and yet it is
difficult to reconcile an act, so palpa.
bly, unconstitutional, with the oft
repeated professions Of the President.
Nor is the seeming inconsistency less
stiking when il is remembered that
these, and all similar, sales being
made without the sanction Of the
Constitution, will be declared null
and void by the Judiciary, should
the government ever be brought back
to FIRST principles. And since moth
ing but prolonged dcspotism can give
permanent effect to acts of gross in
justice, it is true wisdom to prevent
their perpetration, unless it be the
settled purpose Of the various depart
ments Of the gov eernment to over.
throw the Republic and substitute a
Monarchy.
We may be mistaken in our esti.
mate of the power of the President
over this question, but not being
aware Of any constitutional amend
ment that confers upon Congress, or
the Executive, power to confscate
without trial and conviction, it is
legitimate inference that there is a
screw loose somewhere, and that a
few individuals have been picked out,
here and there, as fit victims of the
governments vengeance. While the
constitution remains as it is, the gov
eminent has no better legal claim
upon Arlington, or Port Royal, or
the Sea Islands, than we have upon
Clarksvills, and it holds the property,
taken by force, against the constitu-
tional provisions, that private prop
erty shall not be taken, for public
use, without compensation, and that
trial and conviction, for treason, shall
precede confscation. These views
may, perhaps, be as much out Of date
as the justice and love of liberty
which originally suggested those Sc
curities against the violation of indi-
vidual rights. But however antigua,
ted these views may be, We honestly
entertain them, and can characterize
this action of the government by no
milder term than that of robbery -
Punishment without trial, was the
blacklist feature Of ancient despot-
isms, though slightly palliated by ig-
norance and usage but its revival,
in this enlightened age, furnishes an
unanswerable argument against the
capacity Of man for self,government,
and burlesques the assumption, that
liberty and virtue keep even pace
with science and art.
THE Radicals of Maryland, are
playing the Brownlow game of dis