Columbia democrat and star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1867, 1867-01-02
MTLITARY COMMISSIONS.


has decided in the case of Milligan, BoWles
and other alleged ccnspirators Of Indiana,
I. that military commissions and courts martial
have no authority to try civilians for offenses,
that such trials were lawless usurpations by
such mock courts, and that the Constitu-
ton, which expressly prohibits such tribu-
mails, is the supreme law of the land in times
Of war as well as of peace. This decision,
evidently in consonanee with the practices
Of civilized nations and the views of the most
learned jurists and publicists, as well as in
strict conformity to the terms and meaning
of the Constitution, is tardy recognition
and vindication, by the highest tribunal,
of the correctness and justice of the posi-
ton of the American Democracy during the
late war. It is also q severe and inexora-
bic condemnation of those who opposed the
Democratic view, and who pretended to see
in the circumstances of the time q justifca-
ton Of lawless usurpation and the exercise
of despotic and arbitrary powers. The po-
sition assumed by the late President Lincoln,
and all his organs and adherents, is upset by
the decision Of the Supreme Court, and
their acts under this false position stand con-
demned rs high crimes against the Constitu-
ton and the country. The act of President
johnson, who following the ickedprecedent
Of his predecessor, in convening a court
martial to try civilians in the assassination
case, is made by this decision to pass into
history as one Of those high crimes of tyran
ny which endanger the peace of society and
the liberties Of the people. Justice, proven
bially tardy, has in this case, overtaken the
criminals with her condemnation with auspi-
cious promptness.
It is true that the declaration by the Su-
preme Court that the military commissions
were illegal and their acts high crimes, can
rot restore the victims to life. 1t is but a
poor consolation to the friends cf Mira Sur
ratt, and other victims murdered by these
hired military conspiracies, to learn, long af-
ter the sod Of jail yard has overgrown their
graves, that they were the victims of murder,
and notof the law. Neither is the decision
Of much account to the miserable victims of
military usurpation now dying at the Dry
Tortugas, unless the Government, acting
upon it, shall Immediately ordertheir release
or remand them to legal tribunals for trial.
Unless this is done, the decision will be but
. nockery and sham.
But it is upon the servile villains who hir-
ed themselves to do foul and criminal work
Of military commissions, that this decision
falls with the crushing force of sentence of
conviction. The Hunters the Banks Burn
sides, the Lew. Wallaces, the Joe Holts,
and the Burnetts, are, by the highest court
known to the land, pronounced guilty of
usrpation, felony and murder They sold
themselvesfor wealth and honors to the mas
ter tyrants, and beguiled themselves with the
belief, that as the instrumentsthrough which
the passionate fury of the people wreaked
Its vengeance in defiance of the law, they
would always be the pets of the people, and
that the law which they had violated would
never resume its majesty They may yet
have fearful awakening from their dream
Of security and, ike Jeffries, they may dis
cover, in the howl of the mob demanding
their lives, that the instruments of tyrany
cannot escape retributive justice.
Reverdy johnson, in pleading for Mrs.
Surratt before the brutal commission which
conspired to encompass her destruction, re-
minded the satraps of tyranny of the case
of Governor Joseph Wall, who packed
court-martial to convict and execute an ale
ged offender, whose proceedings in the case
were reviewed twenty years after by civil
court, and the Governor himself convicted
Of murder and executed In this instance,
want Of jurisdiction in the court martial was
held to be fatal to its Judgment as defence
for the death that ensued under it
In this, added to the warning voice of Mr..
johnson, if the commission has no iurisdic-
ton, its judgment, for the sane reason, will
be Of no avail either to judges, Secretary of
War, or President, if either shall be calledto
responsibility for what may be done under
it. !" The Supreme Court having declared
the commission with jurisdiction, the mem
bers thereof, and all implicated with them
In the conspiracy, are responsible for the
crimes of false imprisonment and murder
~ A gallant Democrat of Yolo County,
California, J. A. Douglas, Esq, in sending
on the renewal Of his subscription to the
Old Guard, says that his kind of Demo
Gratis prefer to pay for such documents in
metal that has "the clear ring" like the
documents themselves. Thank you, Mr.
d. Forty-two dollars in yellow sinners, is
more money than We have seen for many a
day. We have dim recollection of ira
dition that our forefathers used it for cur
rency, but it is now regarded as curiosity
A few people who can afford il, keep speci-