The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1867-07-26

may De made Governor, q LeqlSla
tor or Judge. However unfit h,
may deem hlu.selt for such civil du
ties, he must obey the order. Th,
officer, if detailed, must 20 on thu
Supreme bench of the State with til,
same prompt obedience as il detailed
to act in o court martial. The sol
dier, if detailed to act rs as Juslic,
OF the Peace, must obey as quickly
as if detailed for picket duty.
| What is the character of such mil
litary civil olIicer2 This bill declare.
that he shall perform the duties o.
the civil Office to which he i:
detailed. 1t is clear, however
THAT he does not lose his position in
he military service. He is still an
officer or soldier. He is still subject
20 the rules and regulations which
govern the army, and mus: yield due
respect and obedience toward his
superiors. The clear intent of this
section is that the officer or soldier
detailed TO fill civil office must ex
ecute its duties according to the laws
of the State. If be is appointed q
Governor of State, he is to execute
his duties as provided by the laws OF
that State. and for the time being his
military character is to be suspend.
ed. In his new civil capacity, if he
is appointed a State Treasurer he
must at once assume the custody and
disbursement of the funds of the
State, and perform those duties pre-
cisely according to the laws of the
State, for he is entrusted with no
other official duty or other official
power. Holding the Office of Treas
urer, and entrusted with the funds,
it happens he is required by the State
laws to enter into bond with secu.
rity, and take an oath of Office; yet,
from the beginning of the bill TO the
end, there Is no provision for any
bond or oath of office, or for any sin
gle qualification required under State
law, such as residence citizenship, or
anything else. The only oath is that
provided for in the 9th section, by
the terms of which every one detail
ed, or appointed TO any civil office in
State, is required to take any oath
of Office prescribed by law for officers
of the United States; thus an officer
of the army OF the United States,
detailed to fill Z civil office in one of
these States, gives no official bond,
and takes no official oath for the per-
formance of his new duties, but as 4
civil officer of the State, only takes
the same oath which he had already
taken as 4 military officer of the
United States. He is at least mil
itary officer performing civil duties,
and the authority under which he
acts is Federal authority only, and
the inevitable result is that the Fed
eral Government, by the agency of
its own officers, in effect assumes the
civil Government of the State. Sin
gular contradiction is apparent here
Congress delares these local State
governments to be illegal govern
ments, and then provides that these
illegal governments shall bc carried
on by Federal officers, who are to
perform the very duties imposed on
its own officers by this illegal State
authority. 1t certainly would be a
novel spectacle, if CONGRESS shonld
attempt 70 carry on legal State gov
ernment by agency of its own otfi.
GERS. 1t is yet more strange that
Congress attempts to sustain and to
carry on Illegal State government By
some Federal agency.
In this connection, | must call at
tsntion to the 10th and 1Ith sections
of the bill which provides that none
of the officers or appointees of these
military commanders shall be bound
in his action by an opinion OF civil
officer of the United States, and that
all the provisions of the act shall
be construed liberally to the end
that all intents thereof may be fully
and perfectly carried out" 1t seems
Congress supposed this bill might re-
quIre construction, and they, there
tore, applied this rule. But where
is the construction to come from
Certainly no one can be more in want
of construction that 4 soldier or an
officer detained for a civil service,
perhaps the most important in q
State, with the duties of which he is
altogether unfamiliar. This bill says
he shall not be bound in his action
by the opinion of any civil officer OF
the United States. The duties of the
Office are altogether civil; but when
he asks for obedience he can only ask
the opinion of a-other military Off
Ger, who perhaps understands as lit
tie of his duties as he does himself /;
and as to his action he is unanswera
BILE to the military authority alone.
Strictly, no opinion of any civil off,
Ger other than Judge has binding
force, but these military appointees
could not be bound even by judi
cial opinion.
They might very well say, even
when their action is in conflict with
the Supreme Court of the United
States, that that Court is composed
of civil officers of the United States,
and we are not bound to conform our
action to any opinion of any such au-
thority.
This bill, and the acts to which it
is supplemental, are all founded up
on the assumption that these ten CON-
munities are not States, and their
governments are not legal. Through
out the legislation upon this subject
they are called rebel States, and in
this particular one they are denom-
mated so called States" and the
vice of illegality is declared to
pervade all OF them. The obligations
of consistency bind Legislative body
as well as the individuals who CON-
/ pose it. 1t is now too late to declare
that these ten communities are not
States. Declarations to the contrary
made in these three acts, are contra
dicted again and again by repeated
acts of legislation by Congress, from
the year 1861 to the year 1867. Dur
ing that period, and while the States
were in actual rebellion, and after
that rebellion was brought to a close,
they have again and again been rec
ognized as States of the Union. Rep
resentatives have been appointed to
them. They have been divided into
Judicial districts for the holding of
District and Circuit Courts of the