Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-03-29

bill have assumed the duties OF their
Offices; and the States Of Virginia, North !
and South Carolina, Louisiana and Texas /
are enjoying the felicities of martial law.
In Louisiana the regular legal and consti- /
tutional elections for the municipal
sfices Of New Orleans were stopped by
a military edict. This was the Inaugural
ton Of the Radical plan in that State
The next step Of tie Brigadier Goveraor
was the arbitrary removal Of the Attor-
ney General of the State, the Mayor OF
the city Of New Orleans, and the Judge
of the FIRST District Court in that city,
and to appoint their successors respec-
lively. 1t was, doubtless, deemed i'm
portant that precedent should be at
once established, showing tae military
absoutism over the civil administration,
both general and municipal No ground
is urged, no reason alleged bat the order
is simple and imperative-it is the will Of
the military imperator, responsible to no
one but himself, and is so proclaimed as
to appear as a wantOn exercise OF power,
because the power was possessed under
the law As pregnant fact in the cur
rent history Of the subyeEion Of repub~
lican Ian dmarks and institutions, we
bring forward the order from the tele-
graphic columns of yesterday, and place
it where it can be more fully inspected
and admired Here it is
GENfRAL ORDER No. 5.-Andrew ].
| Heron. Attorney General Of the State of
! Louisiana, Jno. T. Monroe, Mayor of New
Orleans, and Edmund Abel, Judge Of the
| First District Court Of the city of New Or
| leans, are hereby removed from their re-
| spective offices from II NJ to-day. The fol-
lowing appointments are made, 10 take
effect at the same date b. L. Lynch, At
| torney General of the State Of Louisiana,
| Edward Heath, Mayor Of New Orleans,
and w. W. Howe, Judge OF the First Dis
| trict Court Of New Orleans. Each person
| removed will turn over all books, papers,
records, etc, pertaining 10 his Office, to the
| appointed thereto. The authority of the
latter will be duly respected and enforced.
BY command Of
Mai. Gen. p. H. SHERIDAN.
lSigned) GEO. L. HARTsUFF, A. A. q.
In the very midst of profound peace,
when there is not an arm raised against
the civil authority of the government a
military ruler, sustained by bayonets, is
silencing the people and displacing the
agents Of their choice from the rights
and functions of their official positions
For the time being and as long as this
state Of things continues, it is nonsense
to talk Of civil liberty, or Of constitu-
tional guarantees 1t is despotism as
absolute as could be possibly devised.
Nay more it encourages usurpation and
tyranny on the part of the little military
| subalterns who assume the role Of dieta
tors at pleasure, and without the author
ity Of the force bill' itself This fact is
amply illustrated by the ofRcious and
unauthorized interference of an inferior
post officer at Augusta interdicting the
regular municipal elections in that city
Well might the President exclaim. as he
does with patriotic indignation in his last
veto message: at IS absurd-it is pre-
posterous-it is SCOT and satire on
constitutional liberty for forms Of govern
ment to be prescribed by military lead
ers and the right Of suffrage be exercised
at the point of the sword And he never
uttered a more solemn truth than, when
he says in the same document:
When | contemplate the millions of
| our felow-citizens of the South, with no
alternative left but TO impose upon them
selves this fearful and dntried experiment
of complete negro Acknowledgement, and
white Acknowledgement, (t may be almost
complete or submit indefinitely to martial
law, without a single attribute of freemen,
deprived Of all the sacred guarantees of our
Federal constitution, and threatened with
even worse wrongs, il seems TO me their
condition is the most deplorable 20 which
any people can be reduced"
Yet under these fierce prosecutions,
the people of the South, relying on the
ultimate triumph of the. immutable prin-
cples of human right, liberty and ius>
tice, are passing through the ordeal with
an elevation of spirit, of dignity and
courage worthy Of them and of the cause
Of freedom They do not quarrel with
fate; but are uniting to man in the
only course possible under the circum-
stances. Under the guidance of the
wisest and best among them they are
acting their part to save the temple which
totters amid the revels Of the sacrilegious
Knockers; and should constitutional lib
erty survive in this country it will owe
its preservation to the wisdom, patience,
virtue and patriotism Of the South The
stone which the builders have rejected
will become the chief corner of the
temple, if we remain free people But
should liberty expire, then the ruin viii
include the faithless prosecutors, as well
as the prosecuted