The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1864-1911, 1867-03-13
The Presidents vete---tho RITll-
ta.y DespotisRn Hili a Law.

ta-y Desp03tsH, Etn Law.
We print elsewhere in tc-lsy's paper the
uranswerable message or President Joha-
son, Transmitted to Congress, in returning
the bill entitled "sn act to provide for the
more efficient government Of the rebel
States, hut which should have hcen entitled
Bill to establish Military Dsspo,isu in
Ten Stats of the American Union.
The bill. now law, it having been passed
over the President veto, is q measure cor
reivei in revenge and brought forth by
rarty hate. Its provisions are utterly and
absolutely in eentraveution with the form
and spirit'of our government. The people
Of ten States Of the Union are placed under
the absolute hondnge of bayonc;T their life,
property and liberty subject to the Will,
csnrice aud discretion Of any martin Il
whose shoulders may be decorated with
straps, and in whose pocket may bs.a. COM
mission az m officer of the army Of the
Unite Statcs. Those who have not read
and considered the bill vetoed by the Presi-
dentwill be surprised a, his assertion that
the commanding officer of District is an
absolute monarch; that his mere will is to
take the place of law yet it is true. And
this power cau be delegated by the COM
mander to his subordina'es, which makes
it more Objectionable, as it establishes mill
tary au,ocracy from the Brigadier General
commanding, down to the petty othcers.-
The Drum-head Court is to supercede
trial by jury. All process at law, which
docs not meet with the approval of the
military officials is set aside, and the great
writ Of Liberty, the habeas corpus, is fus-
pended in time of peace. And the authors
of such law, and its defenders, claim to
be acting under the guarantees of orr rlain
written Constitution. Ignoring its viola
ton, they justify the new and Radical
theory that military power, by act of Con
grcss, can in States, be supreme over that
of the civil authorities!
A law mere dangerous. investing, as it
docs, the military with almost despotic
functions, could not be passed, and if the
Supreme Court of the United States does
not set the seal of rcprobation upon this
monstrous enactment, no one is able to pre-
dict what scenes of turbulence will arise
from it's relentless enforcement, nor how
long the discomfort and diseord fomented by
it will be pcrpetuatcd. Bat we turn from
the vindictive partisanism of Congress tc
the Supreme Court. That body, which Sc
recently pronounced Military Commissions
unconstitutional, true to the purpose Of it,
creation. and to lis tradition, conservatism,
unbiased by part and unawed by clamor,
will, no doubt, whsn an appeal is made to
it, in due and legal form, declare that Con-
gross has no right to destroy a State, and
place its people under government Of ay
! onets.
We hope that every man, Democrat anc
Radical, will read the message of the Pre-
sident. When they have read it, and pom
dered over its arguments, we have conf
dcnce that they will not endorse a bill wlicl
denies to millions Of citizens their PLANES
constitutional rights. No honest America
citizen, unless he be governed more by pas
sion than by Judgment, can be conTincc'
that such irritating legislation is ntenae'
| by the Radicals to restore tie Union; on I'll
other hand, the legislation Of Congress say
the Plain Dealer has been OF such charac
f tef as to warrant the conviction in the mind
Of great body of the people that they in
i tend to prerent restoration, if possible, 70
the double purpose Of visiting revenge upo
a mistaken people who fought valiantly in
wrong cause, and for the purpose Of main
ing political ascendancy, that will onabl
them to control the places and patronag
of the general government. These me
may go too far; perhaps, they have slread
gone too far in their mad and reyoIutionsr
schemes. They may not find the peopl
willing to follow them forever. The imbe
city and incompotcncy Of Congress is man
ilest. 1t has done nothing to endear it t
the people, either North or South; it has
By its action, made timid the capital of tn
country; unsettled the business interests
and awakened in the people prejudices an
passions which should have been left
| alaar, ,nd;rturhed