The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-12-29
Military Commissions.


looked upon it in very different light.
Every man in this country has q personal
interest in preserving inyiolate all the pri-
vilcces and rights guaranteed TO the people
by the Constitution Of the United States.
For the present, the southern people are
likely to profit most by this decision but
as no one knows what a day may bring
forth, SO no northern man knows that he or
his children will not soon need the protec-
ton which the Constitution thus guaran-
tees TO northern and southern men alike.
Indeed, If the northern people were not
blinded by fanaticiSm, and prejudice, aud
malevolence, they would even now per-
ceivc that the Supreme Court, in render
ing this decision, has postponed for time
at least that destruction of republican 60
vernment which will have taken place
when the military shall become supo-
rior to the civil authorities. That provi-
sion Of the Constitution which has thus
been made effective is as binding upon the
several departments Of the Government as
any other in that instrument; and since its
meaning is so clear that no one can mis-
take it, il can be nothing less than judicial
blindness which causes any person to mis-
understand it. It's as plaiu as the follow
ing, which comes just before il:
"No soldier shall, in time Of peace, be
"quartered in any house without the con-
"sent of the owner, nor in time of war but
ain manner to be prescribed by law"
The one provision declares that no
civilian shall be tried except by jury OF
bis equals. The other that no soldier
shall, in time Of peace, be quartered in
any house without the consent of the
owner. One is as plain and unmstakable
as the other. Both are intended as much
for the protection of the northern as of the
southern people, and both were incorpo-
rated into the Constitution because the
very evils against which they We're intend
ed 10 be a safeguard had been suffered by
the people of England aud also by the colo
nists The Declaration Of Independence
cnumeratcs among the offences of GEORGE
III. the following:
ale has affected to render the military
"indcpcndent of, and superior to, the civil
"power."
"For quartcring large bodies of armed
TROOPS among us"
"For depriviDg us in many cases OF the
"benefts of trial by jury"
These invaSions of the personal rights Of
the coloniStS by the mother country had
been felt as intolerable grievances by the
fathers of our republic, and in framing
constitution for the great central govern
ment which they were founding, they de-
termiued that their children should not be
thus harassed ifa written prohibition would
prevent. TIA Ter Scripta est they hoped
would be a sufficient plea whenever the
right Of trial by jury, or the exclusion OF
the soldiery from private houses, or the
subordination of the military TO the civil
authority, was demanded. They toreSaw
not that any such party as the Radicals
would ever be dominant in this country.
They had no idea that these rights would
ever be questioned if guaranteed by the
Constitution. They only feared that they
might be diSregarded if not thus written
L" in the bond" But we suppose that, hav-
ing thus made these provisions part Of the
organic law of the land, they felt conf
dent that no party would ever arise which
would dare to deny these rights to any
citizen in the face Of plain written guar
antee. But "thcy builded better than
they knew" There is a party Of mad
fanatics who would violate law, the Con-
stitutiun, and the most sacred rights OF
person, to accomplish their ends, not
perceiving, or, if perceiviug, not caring,
that they would thus place their own chill
dren at the mercy of military deSpots, ir-
responsible tribunals, and INSCRIPTIONS
executive officers. And the decision Of
the Supreme Court could not possibly have
been different from what it was. That tri-
buual was compelled TO decide as it did.
There was no room for doubt. Notwith-
standing that five of the nine judges are
Radicals in politics, the court was unani-
nous in deciding the question at issue.
To break the force rthis decision, Ra-
deal paper in New York argues that the
decision would not apply in the southern
States. To reply to such objections is I'M
pI ofitable labor, perhaps. Yet it may be
well to quote the Constitution. 1t says:
% No person shall be held to answer for
=" capital or otherwise infamous crime
L" lnless on q presentment or indictment OF
/" grand jury" sc.
The decision covers all cases that could
pd ssibly arise, whether in State or in a
I'd rritory. 1t applies to every man in the
United States, be bis residence where it
MAY. And it is so understood by the
Attorney General and the President OF the
United States. And, we repeat, northern
men are really just as much interested in
preserving these rights to every person as
are southern men. The wheel Of fortune
may bring the southern and western States
nppermost one of these days.
-------<
We arc about to lose sight, in this coun-
49,, ,c oil tho usual rules and standards Of