Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1867-03-14
shed 50 much blood and expended so much
Il fraacurn

j Elucu into i've districts, For each district
an officer of the army, not below the rank
i OF brigadier general, is to be appointed to
rule over the people and he is to be sup
ported with an efficient military force to
enable him to perform his duties and en-
force his authority These duties and that
authority, as defined by the third section
/ OF the bill, are, ''to protect all persons in
their rights of person and property, to sup
press insurrection, disorder, and violence,
and to punish or cause to be punished all
disturbers of the public peace or criminals. .
The power thus given to the commanding
officer over all the people of each district
is that OF an absolute monarch. His mere
]; will is to take the place of all law. The
law OF the States is now the only rule APP
! plicabe to the subjects placed under his
control, and that is completely displaced
/ by the clause which declares all interfer-
ence of State authority to be null and void.
He alone is permitted to determine what
are rights of person or property, and he
may protect them in such way as in his
discretion may seem proper. It places at
his free disposal all the lands and goods in
his district, and he may distribute them
without let or hindrance to whom he pleas
es. Being bound by no State law, and
there being no other law to regulate the
SUBJECT, he may make criminal code of
his own; and he may make it as bloody as
any recorded in history, or he can reserve
the privilege of acting upon the impulse of
his private passions in each case that arises.
He is hound by no rules of evidence; there
is indeed no provision by which he is au-
taorized or required to take any evidence
at all. Everything is a crime which he
chooses to call SO, and all persons are con-
demned whom he pronounces to be guilty
He is not bound to keep any record, or
make any report of his proceedings. He
may arrest his victims wherever he finds
them, without warrant, accusation, or
proof of probable cause. If he give them
trial before he iniicts the punishment,
he gives it of his grace and mercy, not be-
cause he is commanded so to do.
10 casual reader of the BILL it might
seem that some sort Of trial is secured to
persons accused of crime; but such is not
the case. The officer s'may allow local CT
vii tribunals to try offenders" but of course
this does not require that he shall do so.
/ any State or Federal court presumes to
exercise its legal Jurisdiction by the trial
of maefactor without his special permits
SION he can break it up, and punish the
judges and jurors as being themselves ma
lefactors. He can save his friends from
justice and despoil his enemies contrary
to Justice
1t is also provided that s'he thall have
power to organize military commissions or
tribunals" but this power he is not COM
manded to exercise. It is merely permits
sive, and is to be used only "when in his
Judgment it may be necessary for the trial
of offenders" Even if the sentence of a
commission were made the. prerequisite to
the punishment Of party, it would be
scarcely the slightest check upon the officer,
who has authority to organize it as he
pleases, prescribe its mode of proceeding,
appoint its members from among his own
subordinates. and revise all it's decisions.
Instead of mitigating the harshness of his
single rule, such tribunal would be used
much more probably to divide the respon-
! slbi.ity of making it more cruel and unjust.
| Several provisions, dictated by the hu-
manly of Congress, have been inserted in
the bill, apparently to restrain the power
of the commanding officer; but it seems to
me that they are Emo avail for that purpose.
The fourth section provides = First That
trials shall not be unnecessarily delayed ;
but [ think have shown that the power
is given to punish without trial, and if so,
this provision is practically Imperative
Second. Cruel or unusual punishment is
not to be inflicted but who is to decide
what is cruel or what is unusual? The
/ words have acquired legal meaning by
/ long use in the courts. Can it be expect
ed that military officers will understand or
follow a rule expressed in language so
purely technical, and not pertaining in the
least degree to their profession? If not,
then each officer may define cruelty accor-
ding to his own temper, and if it be not
usual, he will make it usual. Corporal
punishment, imprisonment, the gag, the
ball and chain, and the almost insupporta-
bic forms of torture invented for military
punishment, lie within the range of choice.
Ihtrd. The sentence Of commission is
not to be executed without being approved
/ by the commander, if it effect life or liber-
ty, and sentence of death must be APP
proved by the President. This applies to
cases in which there has been trial and
sentence. [ take it to be clear, under this
bill, that the military commander may
condemn to death without even the form
OF trial by military commission, SO that
the life OF the condemned may depend up
on the will OF two men, instead of one.
1t is plain that the authority here given
to the military officer amounts to absolute
despotism. But to make it still more I'M
endurable, the Till provides that it may be
delegated to as many subordinates as he
chooses to appoint for it declares that he
shall punish or cause to be punished -
Such power has not been welded by any
monarch in England for more than FIVE