The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-03-06

to opprcss and trample Upon a subjugated people
I do not doubt that army officers are as we'll en-
titled to this kind Of confidence as any other cas
OF men. But the history of the world has beel
strained authority can never be safely trusted
human hands. It is almost sure to be fore or les
abused under any circumstances, and it has alWay
resulted in gross tyranny where the rulers VINO ex
ercise it are strangers to their subjects, and com
among them as the representatives Of distan
powcr, and more especially when the power tha
sends them is unhiendly. Governments closel
resembling that here proposed have been fairl
tried in Hungary and Poland, and the suffering en-
dured by those people reused the sImpathles 9
though tempered ut first by principles of Englisl
law it gave birth to cruelties atrocous that the
arc never recounted without just Indignation. Ih'
French Convention armed it's deputies with tnl'
power, and sent them to the southern department.
Of the republic. The massacres, murders, ans
other atrocities which they committed, show wha
the passions Of the abest men in the most civiliz
ed society will tempt them to do when wholly un
restrained bv law.
The men of our race in every age have struggled
to tie up the hands Of their Governments and keel
them within the INV; because their own experience
OF all mankind taught them that rulers could no
be relied on to concede those rights which the!
re- not legally bound to respect. The head OF
great empire has sometimes governed 1t with
mild and paternal sway; but the kindness OF Oh
wv,
not extort from him. Between such a master ant
the people subjected to his domination there car
be nothing but enmity; he Furnishes them it the!
resist his authority, and II they submit to 1T, III
hates them for their servility.
come now to a question which is, II possible
still more important. Have we the power to es.
tabllsh ard carry into execution q measure Like
this? I answer certainly not, if ne derive ou1
authority from the Constitution, snd it we are
bound by the limitations which it imposes.
This proposition is perfectly cEear-that ne
branch Of the Federal Government, executive, leg
islative or Judicial, can have any just powers, ex
cept those which it derives through and exercises
under the organic law of the Union. Outside O.
tho Constitution, we have no legal authority more
than private citzons and within it ne have only 9?
much as that instrument gives us: This broae
principle limits all our functions, and apples tn al
subjects. 1t protects not only the citizens O
States which are within the Union, but it shields
every human being who comes or is brought under
our jurisdiction. We have no right to 40 IN one
place, moro than in another, that which the Con
sttution SAYS we shall not do at all. IT. therefore
the Southern States were in truth out OF the Union
we could not treat their people in way which the
fundamental law forbids.
Some persons assume that the success OF on,
arms in crushing the opposition which was made y
in some of the States to the execution OF the
Federal laws, reduced those States and all thell
people-tho innocent as well as the guilty-to the
condition of vassalage, and gave us power oVel
them which the Constitution does not bestoW, Of
define, or limit. No fallacy can be more trans
parent than this. Our victories subjected the in
surgents to legal obedience not to the yoke Of al
arbitrary despotism. When nm absolute sovereign
reduces his rebellious subjects, he may deal with
them according to his pleasure, because he
hnd that power before. But when 8 hnaltec
monarch puts down an insurreetion, he must
still govern according to law. IF All insured
ton should take place in one Of our States
against the authority Of the State government
and end in the overthrow Of those who planned
it, would that take away the rights of the people
of the counties where it was favored by parS or
majority Of the population Could they, for such
a reason, be wholly outlawed and deprived OF theil
representation in the Legislature L have always
contended that the Government Of the United
States was sovereign within it's constitutional
sphere; that it executed it's laws, like the States
themselves, by applying it's coereve power direct
y to individuals; and thatit could put down ansur
rection with the same effect as State, and nc
other. The opposite doctrine is the worst heresy
of those who advocated secession, and cannot be
agreed to without admitting that heresy 20 be
right
violence, were anticipated when the government
was amed and the means Of repeling and sup
pressing them were wisely provided fer in the
Constitution; but it was not thought necessary to
declare that the States in which they might occur
should be expelled from the Union. Rebellions,
which were Invariably suppressed, occurred prior
to that out of which these questions grow; but
the States continued to exist and the Union
remained unbroken. In Massachusetts,, in Penn
sylvania, IN Rhode Island, and in New York,
at different periods in our history. yiolent
and armed opposition to the United States
was carried on; but the relations Of those
States with the Federal Government were
not supposed to be interrupted or changed there
BY after the re ellious portions of their population
we're defeated and put down. It is true That in
these earlier cases there was no formal expression
of determination to withdraw from the Union,
but it is also true that in tho Southern States the
ordinances of secession we're treated by eli the
friends of the Union as nero nulities and are now
acknowledged to be 80 by the States themselves.
II we admit that they had any force or vandty, or
were passed out of tho Union, we sweep from under
our feet all the grounds upon which we stand IN
justffying the use of Federal force to maintain the
integrity of the government
This is bill passed by Congress in time OF
peace There is not, in any one Of the States
rection The laws Of the States and Of the Federal
Government are all IN undisturbed and harmonious
operation. The courts, State and Federal, are
open, and in the full exercise Of their proper au-
thority Over every State comprised In these live
military districts life, liberty and property a1e Sc
cured ny State laws and Federal laws, and
the National Constitution is everywhere in
force and everywhere obeyed, What, then, is
the ground on which this bill proceedsp The
title of the bill announces that it is intended
s'for the more efficient government" OF these ten
States It is recited, by way OF preamble, that no
legal State governments ssnor adequate protection
for life or property" exist in those States, and that
peace and good order should be thus enforced.
The first thing which arrests attention upon these
recitals which prepare the way for martial law, s
this-that the only foundation upon which martial
low can exist under our form of government is not
stated or so much as pretended. Actual war, for
eign invasion, domestic irsurrection-none OF
tGese appear; and noneo Of these in fact exist. 1t
is not even rected that any sort OF war or nsurrec
ton is threatened. Let us pause here to consider,
upon this question of constitutional law and the
power of Congress, recent decision OF the Su-
preme Court OF the United States in er pGTte Mil
Liz IN.
I will first quote from the opinion of the majority
of the court: "MaTtial low cannot arise from q
threatened invasion. The necessity must be &C
tua and present, the invasion real such as etectu'
allv closes the courts and deposes the civil admin
istration." We see that martial law comes in only
when actual war closes the courts snd deposes the
civil authority but this bill, in time or peace
makes martial law operate as though we we're IL
actual war, and become the cause, instead Of the
consequence, of the abrogation Of civil authority
One moro quotation "It follows from what has
been said this subject that thero are occasions
foreign invasion or civil war the courts actual,
closed, and it is impossible to administer crlmina
justice according to law, then, on the theatre o
active military operations, where war really pre-
walls, there is necessity to furnish substitute
for the civil authority, thus oyerthrown, to pre-
power is left but the military, it is allowed tt
govern by martial rule until the laws can have
their free course"
I now quote from the opinion Of the minority o
the court, delivered by Chief Justice Chase: s.W.
by no means assert that Congress can establish
and apply the laws Of war where no war has beer
declared or exists. Where peace exists, the law
of peace must prevail" This is sufficiently ex
plicit Peace exists in all the territory to whicl
this bill applies It asserts power in IL Congress-
and to '',stitute tle laws of war. The minority
concurrlng with the majority, declares Chat Con
gress does not possess that power. Again, and,
possible, moro omphatically,. the Chief Justice
with remarkable clearness and condensation, I'M
no the whole matte as follows:
s.There are unG-r the Constitution three kind
of military jurisdiction-one to be exercised botl
in peace and war; another 10 be exercised in tim
Of foreign war wi. hout the boundaries Of the Uni
ted States, or in tinlo of rebellion and civil wa
within States or districts occupied by rebels treate
as beligcrents; and third to be exercised in tim