The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-05-31

JoB WoRK.-We have now completed our
Office so as to execute, in the shortest possible
time, ALL KINDS OF JOB WORK, and we
most respectfully ask the patronage of our
friends.
THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OPINION.
II is almost impossible for US to follow the
involved processes by which the Attorney
General arrives ut very doubtful conclusions
81 am not prepared" "nor am ! prepared TO
give positive opinion, seems to be the refrain
with which most of the paragraphs of ingeni-
GUS logic end.
The two questions which have by far the
largest practical interest are, of course: l.
Who are executive and judicial officers OF
Statss and 2: what is engaging IN lnsurreo-
tion OF rebellion, and giving aid and comfort!
Now as to the latter, it is unqaestionably
correct conclusion that person who gave aid
and comfort to the enemies of the United
States in the war with Great Britain of 1917,
or in the war with Mexico in 1847, is disquali-
fed, but for oil practical purposes the At
torney-aeneral might as well have gone on
and told US whether the members of the Hart
ford Convention were disqualified or not. We
believe that there are two or three Of that
venerable generation of Fedcralists still totter-
ING down the hill in knee breeches and silk
stockings, and they may really feel an interest
in the question whether they can hold oflce
under the Reconstruction Act:
The Attorney General takes the position,
which wethink impregnable, that "when an
insurrection,by itscontinuance and power, takes
the form of de tacto government, and pres
cribes and cnforces laws over the people within
,s territory, individual rights and obligations
undergo an inevitable modification, and the
rightful and displaced authority when it comes
again into place, must, in u measure, nccoD'mc-
| date its action to circumstances, and consider
many things IS righlfully done, which in mere
! insurrection would have no color OF legality"
The principle is sound enough, but how'as to
| the application? Upon what principle does the
| Attorney, General hold that "conscript" is not
disqualified, but that the Maj or-GeneralI who
commands him is! ARE they not both forced into
| service by the law of the de f1cto government!
Is the mere alacri.y with which what is admitted
to be binding law is obeyed, sufficient distino-
tior, and if so, why is not the test to be pushed
further and the respective spirit with which
two conscripts may have discharged their du-
ties, be made the test Of disqualification? The
truth is, upon the Attorney Generals principle,
the whole population of the South were cou-
srripted, for the law of the land made it the
duty of NIL men between certain ages to serve
\ in the army, and the man who volunteered, !"
and the man who waited until he was sent for,
were doing precisely the same thing, obeying
the laws Of the ds Juc,o government which COLI
,rollsd- them. Ii judgment is binding in
: nocent whether made by the debtor himself OF
actually enforced by the Sheriff.
Is surgeon Of the army disqualified, OF is
he saved by the following generality: "The in
terests Of humanity require such officers for
the performance of such official conduct ii. time
of war or insurrection, as well as in times Of
peace and the performance Of such duties can
never be considered criminal" Morally crimi-
ual, certainly not but whether legally
criminal is ithsy question which the general
principle appealed to does not solve, unless its
| force be admitted to q much wider extent than
the case ITSELF t@,
A has son conscripted. According TO the
Attorney General he is not. disqualified: but
suppose the father furnishes o horse for that
son to join the cavalry, is this giving aid and
comfort? ~. - -.
So with the investment in Confederate loans.
Is the voluntary purchase Of confederate bonds
included? And if 80, what special aid was rem
lered by the. conversion, of Confederate curren-
cy into Confederate bonds? ~
The fact is, and the obscurity Of this opinion
is perhaps the most striking of illustrations,
that tho Reconstruction Act was based upon
principles 80 repugnant to right aud justice
that any attempt to correct it's fundamental
wrong by principles of correct legal interpre-
tation, only makes confusion worse con-
founded.
|, With regard to who nre to be considered e1-
ecutive or judicial officers of the State, it is
scarcely worth while to follow the opinion.
There are certain officers whom the Attorney
General thinks disqualified, about whom no
body has ever felt doubt; while, Us to the
doubtful, the Attorney General is not yet pre-
pared to decide. We suppose the most latitudi-
marian construer of the Act, never supposed
that it included Commissioners of the Poor,
Commissioners Of the Roads, &c.,-upon which
cases the AttorneyGeneral is as clear as we
are. As to the really doubtful cases, the At
torney General is waiting for an abstract, and
we will initiate his example and wait also.
While we cannot profess to be satisfied with
the opinion, we recognize fully that the diff
Guilty has arisen from the fact that the views of
the Attorney General. as to whit is law AMI
right, differ essentially from the preccpts upon
which the law itself is bnsed.
N.ea.....aE.Hs@.e.-
SLANG, we believe, is moro infectious than yci-
low fever or cholera. There are preventires, cer-
tany, but tho prophylactics aro SO rarely taken in
sufficient tine, or in adequate doses, that few re-
main entirely free from tho taint Of this noisome
plague. Whom taken in hand carly, birch bark
(tho woody part not entirely remored) is ssld to
be very efficacious. There is something fatally |
alluring to tho youthful miad i'll tho rush light
brilliancy Of slang. 1t is such o cheap and easy |
species of wit True, it has tho semblance of Hit
~, a ;,,,,oro,,t , nj fba silly bu fhev deem