The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-01-07
Effect of the Decision in the Miilignn

Case.
Now that the Executive and Judicial
DEPARTMENTS of the Government are
known 10 he united in upholding the
laws, their public cooperation for this
purpose is having a salutary effect.
Even the military authorities whom
unlimited power had rendered almost
independent of the laws, are giving
signs of returning regard for the de-
cisions Of the Courts. 1t Is
currently reported that General
GRANT, rs the head of the army, has
had "a lengthy conference with Secretary
STANTON with regard to the effect of the
recent decision OF the Supreme Court
upon military commissions generally.
The General is unwilling to be guided
by the counsel of those who advise a
disregard of the mandates of this trlbu-
nal. and an adherence to the now ex-
ploded system of trials by unauthor-
lied and illegal military courts.
He prefers to so conduct the opera
tions of the army that all its action
shall he in perfect harmony with the
great Democratic md fundamental prln-
cipie of this government, that 1.-The
Constitution is the supreme law of the
land as we'll in war as in peace For
this reason it is believed, is he sat this
early day comparing opinions with the
Secretary of War. with reference to the
effect of the recent decision of the SUI
preme Court upon military commits
sionS.'
II is also thought that according to
the Interpretation recently given to the
Constitution by the Supreme Court,
many parts of the Freedmens Bureau
and Civil Rights bills will be annulled.
The principle is now we'll settled that
when the civil courts are open for the
administration of justice, no citizen I'M
connected with the military or ma
val service of the United States,
can he tried before military tribunal.
There is no obstruction to the full ad-
ministratiom of justice i'll all the civil
courts of the South, and such portions
of the bills in question rs transfer the
trial of civilians from civil to military
tribunals, have certainly been declared
inoperative and void. Upon this point
the Philadelphia Age remarks as fol-
lows:
If Milligan could not be tried and
convicted by a military commission in
Indiana, how can the citizens of Texas
or Georgia be subjected to different
principle at the present timei When
Milligan was imprisoned and tried, con.
victcd and sentenced, there was no war
raging in Indiana, and the civil
courts were open for the hearing of
eases and the due administration
of Justice. The whole country is now
in a state of profound peace. From
Maine to Texas there is not a hand
raised against the authority of the gem
eral government. The courts of all
the Southern States, both local and
Federal, are unobstructed in the dis
charge of their functions. This brings
the people of all the States under the
principle as laid down in the case of
Millisan, and if the freedman's bureau
and civil rights bills violate that Prin-
ciple, they are unconstitutional and in-
operative. The decision oftthe Supreme
Court must be allowed it's full legal
meaning and scope of operation, no
matter what Radical fabric it may de-
molish. The objections of the Presi-
dent TO both the above named bills Will
yet be sustained, both by the legal and
popular tribunals of the nation.
The question whether the officers
composing the different military COM
missions, by which men, not in the mil,
itary or naval service of the United
States, have been tried and convicted,
cannot be arrested and held to answer
for their conduct, has been pushed prom
lnently into the foreground by the
late decision. The fact that a superior
officer orders those under him TO do an
illegal act, does not shield them from
the consequences of their violation OF
law. Suppose the President of the
United States should order the officer IN
command of this military division to
fire the dwelling house of a
citizen, and that order should
be executed, will it be pre-
tended that the officer would not be
personally liable for the offensef The
orders of the President would be no JUS
tifcation i'll law because the act was IL
legal, And yet there is just as much
law now for ordering an officer to burn
the dwelling ola citizen, as there was
IN 1853 to try Mr.. Vsllandingham, or in
1860 to try, convict and sentence to
death Mr.. ,Milligan.f The supreme
Court has said that military commits |
sions, for the purpose Of trying civilians,
are illegal and unconstitutional bodies, I
and hence il follows that those compo- !