The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-03-05

| and criminals: and to this end he may
allow local civil tribunals to take Jurisdic-
ton of and try offenders, or when In ms
Judgment II NAV be necessary for the trisl
of offenders. he shalt have power TO organ
fze military commissions or tribunals ior
That nrrposc: and all interference under
| color of State authority with the exercise
| of military authority under this act shan
be null and void.
SECTION 4. And be II further enacted,
That all persons put under military arrest
bv virtue of this act shall be tried without
unnecessary delay, and no cruel or unu-
sual punishment shall be inflicted; ana no
sentence of any military commission or
tribunal hereby authorized affecting the
life or liberty of any person shall DC exc
cuted until it is approved by the ofncer IN
command Of the district; and the laws ana
regulations for the government OF the
army shall not be affected by this act ex-
cept in so far as it may conflict with It's pro-
visions: Provided, That no sentence OF
death under the provisions of this act shaD
be carried into effect without the approval
of the President.
| SECTION 5. And be 1t further enacted,
That when the people of any one OF
the aforesaid rebel States shall have
formed a constitution OF government in
conformity with the Constitution Of the
| United States in all respects, framed by a
convention of delegates elected by the
male citizens of said States twenty-one
years old and upward, of whatever race,
color, or previous condition, who have
been resident in said State for one year
previous to the day Of such election, ex-
cept such IS may be disfranchised for par
ticipation in the rebellion, OF for felony at
common law; and when such constitution
shall provide that the elective franchise
shall be enjoyed by all such persons ashave
the qualifications herein stated for election
of delegates and when such constitution
shall be ratified by majority Of the per-
sons voting on the question Of ratification
who are qualified as electors for delegates,
and when such constitution shall have been
submitted to Congress for examination and
approval, and Congress shall have approved
the same and when said State, by vote
of its Legislature, elected under said con-
stitution, shall have adopted the amend
ment to the Constitution Of the United
States proposed by the Thirty-ninth Con.
gress and known as article XIV; and
when said article shall have become part
of the Constitution Of the United States,
said State shall be declared entitled to re-
presentation in Congress, and senator's and
l representatives shall be admitted therefrom
on their taking the oath prescribed bylaw,
and then and thereafter the preceding sec
tons of this act shall be imperative in said
States Provided, That no person excluded
from the privilege of holding office by said
proposed amendment to the Constitution
of the United States shall be eligible to
election as member of the convention to
frame constitution for any of said rebel
States, nor shall any such person vote for
members of said convention.
SECTION 6. Ind be 1t further enacted,
That until the people of said rebel States
shall be by law admitted to representa-
ton in the Congress of the United States
any civil governments which may exist
therein shall be deemed provisional only,
and in all respects subject to
the paramount authority of the United
States at any time to abolish, modify, con-
troll, or supercede the same; and in all
elections to any office under such pro-
visonal governments all persons shall be
entitled TO vote, and none other, who are
entitled to vote under the provisions OF
the fifth section of this act and no per-
son shall be eligible TO any office under
any such provisional governments who
would be disqualified from holding office
under the provisions Of the third article OF
said constitutional amendment.
NOW the person Of tie citize,, may not
be safe his pr0pTty is threatened Nth con-
fscation our latcS may be administered by
sfyange,,s and the pOlCer OUer the QueS-
ton of suffrage Is rrtudHy taken from the
State. 1t will be observed that in the
preamble to the bill it is declared that no
Legal State government or adequate pro-
lection for life or property n01c
crisis in the rebel States OF Virginia, SC.
In this declaration Congress reserves TO
itself the power to say ,chen the legal State
government in Virginia ceased, and for
what acts. In the sixth section Of the bill
it is declared: "That until the people OF
the said rebel States shall be by law ad-
mitted to representation in the Congress
of the United States any civil govern
ments that may exist therein shall be
deemed provisional only, and shall be in
all respects subject to the paramount au-
thority of the United States at any time to
abolish, modify, control, or supersede the
same" The theory Of this bill is, that for
acts heretofore done by the people of Nir-
cinia they have placed themselves in a
condition in which the organization of the
government may be broken up. The State
Constitution may be abrogated and its laws
rendered nullity, in which event the peo-
pie NAV lose their character as a whole
people united in one body polite, and each
stand alone in his own individuality.
When this takes place the Commonwealth
is dead. The tenure by which the lands
are held dies with it. The Commonwealth
grants the land and guarantees the title
and possession to the grantee. The power
of the State is welded for his protection.
But in this case the guarantor may become
helpless under superior power. One OF
the ways in which State or Common
wealth may be destroyed is by superior
power in arms, or by the power OF
war. When destroyed in this way,
the power of the conqueror annuls
the organic and statute laws of the
State, and substitutes new laws in their
place and with the destruction of the
law, the title to the property may die
with it, and the conqueror may divide the
property therein among all his followers,
or give il to designated persons, or he may
sell it to the highest bidder, in large OF
small parcels. Then he becomes the new
; guarantor of title SO granted, and the
title depends on his ability to defend it.
This is no new theory, nor the indica.
ton of any new practice. The greater
part of England has been divided out in
this way several times. The most Of their
nrasent tenurcs were derived and are held