The weekly Panola star. [volume] (Panola, Miss.) 1857-1881, 1867-03-16

sueh4HHnt ~ l4llsl#lly 4 lses4 n
have s'ssghe : lafi II ~ taaHlIn
fl1n, Ihat IT, mfHsHgi pfsaaaflI H. /
lllls l#ll whistles iIe Constellation h |
ibs pafVltuhf hlsHgIanssI. And II
iaany vaya ! los eisAf u admit II
The Ieaat doubt.
Ihe aespetl#m established " lhe
hlll I thus strongly described,
The fuFlh sttIluh provides III.
trials slsall HH Ie Hnn,e.ssp.ly A.. |
layed, but think | have shown that
ihe powcy \ glsfn "a punish without
iflal and " ., fIllA provision l. pfae.
ilcally lHopefhllvo. tfueI ~ tlnimuaI
punishment i hm IL he inflicted.
Dot who y - decide what /. cruel IN
unusualg A. lhe words have acquired
q lepal mennlng ny long nee IN ihe
courts. tan II llc sxlru,nI that hill.
lazy officers will understand II and
follow q rule 20 purely technical, and
not pertaining 10 ihe lcnat degree io
their profession n not, then, such
oiiieer hIay define cruelty areordIhe
to bis own temper, and may make Il
corporeal punishment, ne enr, the
hall and .cllsih and o,hor almoat In.
supporiablc forms Of torture invented
for military punishment that would
be within ihe range Of choice.
The sentence Of n commission Is
not 20 bc executed without iis ap-
proval by the commander, IL Il Affects
life or liberty, and sentence Of
death must ~. be approved by the Prcsi-
cent. This applies to cases In which
there has been a trial and sentence. I
take Il TO mean under the bill that
the military commander may con-
denim to death without form or trial
by military commission 40 that the
life blood Of the condemned may
depend on the will Of two men In
stead Of one. II Is plain that the
authority here given TO military
officer amounts to absolute despotism,
but to make II still more uncomfortable
the bill provides thatit may be dele
gated to as many subordinates as he
chooses to appoint, for il declares he
shall punish or cause to be punished.
Such a power has not been welded
by any monarch in England for more
than FIVE hundred years. In all that
time, no people who speak the Eng
lish language have borne such SER
yitudes The whole population Of
the ten States; all persons Of every
color, sex and condition, and every
stranger within their limits, are re-
duccd to the most abject and degrad-
ing slavery; no master ever had o
control so absolute over his slaves as
this bill gives to military officers over
both white and colored persons. II
may be answered to thisthat officers
Of the army are too magnanimous,
just and humane, to opprcss and
tramplc upon a subjugated people. /
do not doubt that army officers are
as we'll entitled to this confidence as
any other class Of men, but the his
tory Of the world has been written
in vain if it does not teach us that
unrestrained authority can never be
safely trusted in human hands. II
is almost sure, moro or less, to be
abused under any circumstances, and
It has always resulted in gross tyran-
ny where rulers, who are strangers
to their subjects, come among them
as the representatives Of n distant
power, and more especially when the
lower that sends them is unfricndly
The governments closely resembling
that here proposed, have been fully
tried in Hungry aud Poland, and the
suiierings endured by those people
aroused the sympathies Of the entire
world. II was tried in ireland
though at first tempered by principle.
Of English law, Il gave birth to cru.
elites so atrocious, that they are noyel
rccountcd. Without Just indigna-
- Il n a.