The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-03-04
CHA r ES T IN.
MONDAY MORNING, MARCH 4, 1857.
THE MILITARY BILL.

construction Bill; that in his veto he mas Iepea'ou'
with equal courage and consistency, his resolutlon
MT tn io;n in the destruction Of the country and
the Constitution that the necessary majority
of Congress have overruled his veto. inns Ace Is
now the law of the land, and We OF the oou'n'
npon whose lives and fortunes and cnaraceer ~
nrossaa are forced to consider it's provisions anu
decide upon our duty.
The point Of first importance is to understand
clearly and correctly what the provisions OF the
Act. and in what condition, politically, 1t places
The State. As we understand it, it is this
After reciting in the preamble it's alleged neces-
sity. namely, that sno legal State governments OF
adequate protection for life or property now eSis'
in the rebel States" it proceeds to convert those
States into military departments, placing tnose
departments under the command or an ot1lcer oi
the army not below the rark of Brigadier-Gene-
raj y who is to be appointed by the President, and
whose duty it shall be to protect dI persons IN
their rights of person and property, to suppress
nsurrection disorder and violence, and to punish,
or cause to he punished az d;sturbers of the pub
lie peace and criminals. To effect this the officer
| in command is authorized either to use the local
civil tribunals, or to institute military commissions
if he deems them necessary. So far it is clear the
Act does not contemplate, and If fairly admins
tered, would not seem to require an interference
with that whole class of interests involved in tho
decisions of the Courts of Law and Chancery, and
if impartialy executed, will as fully justify the in
terposition Of the military commander n case OF
an unjust decision of the Freedman's Bureau as it
would in the erroneous decree OF District
Judge-for that officers duty is to ''protect all
persons in their rights Of person and property,
and under this Act tho late disturbance on Savan-
nah River would have been as promptly and et-
fectualy settled as it could have been before its
passage. There is nothing in what may be called
the military provisions Of the Bill to prevent DIS
Greet and iudicious officer from administering it in
the interests OF the whole people of the State But
there can be no doubt that the preamble, and the
very enactment OF this military Supremacy, do en-
trey destroy the political existence Of the State.
South Carolina is no longer an equal and co-ordi-
nate State of the Union; she is simply and only
part Of one of the military departments of the
conquered territory Of the United states. The
question, therefore, Immediately arises, what be-
comes of the existing civil government OF the
State where and what are her Governor, her
Judges, her Legislature? This question the Act
answers explicitly. It provides that, while this
military authority exists, "any civil government
which may exist therein shall be deemed provision
al only, and in all respects subject to the para
mount authority Of the United States at any time
to abolish, modify, control or supersede the same;"
which provision has precisely the same effect as if
section Of the Act had declared that, in order to
prevent the confusion resulting from such
change Of government Hon. JAMES l. ORR,
lately elected Governor, the Hon. ". D. PORTER,
lately elected Lieutenant Governor the Hon. B. F.
DuNKN, lately elected Chief Justice the following
persons lately elected Judges, Chancelors, Sena-
tors and Representatives. are and are hereby de-
cared to be, the Provisional Government of South
Carolina, subject to the paramount authority Of
the United States, &C., &c. The present civil gov
ernment of the Sta.e-if we may be still allowed to
use that,f Sse for convenience-is, therefore, un-
til altered the authority Of the. United States,
which is Congress and the Executive, valid gov
ernment Of tho State deriving its authority from the
very same source as that which confors power upon
the military commander. The State, therefore,
under this Act, may be described as territory OF
the United States, having military commander
entrusted with certain powers, and provisional
civil government charged with certain other pow
ers, both holding under the same authority, 10th
defined and limited in their spheres of action by
the provisions of this law and both subject to abb
rogaton, alteration or modification by the para
mount authority of the United States. AS our OBJ
ect is at present to describe only clear outline of
the Bill, we will not attempt discussion OF the
points wherein these two sets Of authority may
conflict. We go no further now than this conclu
siion,-that the government of South Carolina is q
mixed government of military and civil power,
created by the same Act, derived from the sanle
authority, and subject to the same control.
The Act, having created this political condition,
proceeds to provide the means whereby the peo-
pie of the State may put end to their territorial
existence and this military control, and resume
their places as State Of the Union. The ma-
chinerv by which this is to be effected is Con-
vention the action of which shall be accompanied
by the following conditions:
/. The Convention must be composed Of dele
gates elected by the male citizens Of the State
twenty-one years old and upward, Of whatever
race color, or previous condition, who. have been
resident in the State for one year previous to the
election, except such as may be disfrancfsed for
participation in the rebellion or for felony at COM
mon law.
q That Convention must adopt Constitution in
which the same qualification 30 is required for
electors of it's delegates, male the constitution
al qualification for suffrage.
8. That Constitution must be ratified by ma
jority of those voting on the question OF ratltlca-
ton who have the same qualification.
4. That Constitution must be submitted to and
approved by Congress.
5. Legislature of the State, elected under the |
new Constitution, must have adopted the Amend |
ment to the Constitution of tie United States |
heretofore rejected.
6. This Constitutional Amendment must have
become law by the votes of the necessary numb'r
Of other States.
When all these conditions are performed, no one
being allowed to be member of the Convention,
or to vote for member Of the Convention, who is
under the Constitutional Amend
ment then the State shall be- declared entitled to
representation in Congress- and its Senators and
If able to take the test oath can take their
seats In shorter words, this Act is the Consttu-
tionsl Amendment, with the addition of military
government and universal suffrage. And here we
lllHy ds well uOuLCo ouO fc4S
in the Act which we have not seen pointed out.
The Act requires the State, by it's Convention, to
universal suffrage without regard
to class, color previous condition, into its Con-
and at the same time requires the State
to adopt the Constitutional Amendment which
expressly gives the power to the State to limit the
suffrage for any reason, provided that propor-
ionate reduction of the representation accom-
panies the limitation. Our present object, how
ever, is not to discuss the character and conse-
quences of the Act, but having ascertained it's
provisions, to inquire first and as the most
practical question, What amount Of discretion is
given to the State under them What wo do
and what can we leave undone? How far can We
accept or reject? -
The first impression made by this Act, might be
that ofarad on ol4arnot;ro tot Sfote THAT IF