The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1867-03-12

or required to take aoy evidence at all. Every
thing is a crime which he chooses to call so, and
all nersons are condemned whom he pronounces
to be guilty He is not bound to keep any re-
cord, or make any report OF bis proceedings
He NAV arrest his victims wherever he finds
them without warrant, accusation or proof OF
probable cause If be gives them trial before
he infcts the punishment, he gives it Of his
grace and mercy, not because he Is commanded
SO to do
To casual reader of the bill, it nigh: seem
that some kind of trial was secured by it to per-
sons accused of crime; but such is not the
The officer "may allow local civil tribunals to
try offenders" but of course this does not re-
quire that he shall do SO. If auy State or Fed
eral Court presumes to exercise its legal jurs-
dction BY the trial of malefactor without his
special permission, he can break it up, and pun
ish the judges and Jurors as being themselves
malefactors. He can save his friends from JUS
tce, and despoil his enemies contrary to justice.
1t is also provided that "he shall have power
to organize military commissions or tribunals
but this power he is not commanded to exercise.
| 1t is merely permissive and is to be used only
''when in his judgment it may be necessary .or
the trial of offenders. Even if the sentence or
commission we're made prerequisite to the
punishment of a party, it would be scarcely the
|
thority to organize it as he pleases, prescribe its
mode of proceeding, appoint its members from
among his own subordinates, and revise all Its
! decisions Instead of miti eating the harshness
| of his single rule such tribunal would be used
much more probably to divide the responsibility
| of making it more cruel and unjust.
Several provisions, dictated by the humanity
of Congress, have been inserted in the bill, ap-
parently to restrain the power of the command
ing officer; but it seems to me that they are OF
no avail for that purpose. The fourth section
proviGes:-lst, That trials shall not be unne-
cessarily delayed; but [ think L have shown
that the power is given to punish without trial,
and if so, this provision is practically inopera-
tive I'd, Cruel or unusual punishment is not
to be inflicted; but who is to decide what is
cruel and what is unusual? The words have
acquired legal meaning by long use in the
courts. Can it be expected that military OH
GERS will understand or follow a rule expressed
in language so purely technical, and not per-
tanning in the least degree to their profession!
If not then each officer may define cruelty ac-
cording to his own temper, and if il is not usual
be will make it usual. Corporal punishment,
imprisonment, the gag, the ball and chain, and
the almost insupportable forms of torture in-
vented for military punishment, lie within the
range of choice. Sd, The sentence of COM
mission is not to be executed without being ap-
proved by the commander, if it affects life or
liberty; and sentence of death must be ap-
proved by the President. This applies to cases
10 which there has been trial and sentence.
take it to be clear, under this bill, that the
military commander may condemn to death
without even the form of a trial by military
may depend upon the will Of two men, instead
of one.
1t is plain that the authority here given to
the military officer amounts to absolute despo-
tism But to make it still more unendurabl6::
the bill provides that it may be delegated to as
many subordiDates as he chooses to appoint; Cor
it declares that he shall "punish or cause to be
punished" Such power has not been welded
by any monarch 10 England for more than five
hundred years. In all that time, no people
who speak the English language have borne
such servitude. 1t reduces the whole popula
ton of the ten States-all persons, CT every
color, sex and condition, and every stranger
within their limits-to the most abject and de-
grading slavery. No master ever bad control
SO absolute over his slaves this bill gives tc
the military officers over both white and colored
persons.
1t may be answered to this that the officers
Of the army are two maguanimous, just, and
humane tooppress and trample upon subjugateo
people. | do not doubt that army officers a:
we'll entitled to this kind of confidence any
other class of men. But the history of the worlo
has been written in vain, if it does not teach Il:
that UNDERSTANDING authority can never be safely
trusted in human hands. 1t is almost sure to b.
more or less abused under any circumstances
and it has always resulted in gross tyranny where
the rulers who exercise it are strangers to the
subjects, aud come among them as the represen
tatives of a distant power, and more especially
when the power that sends them is unfrendly.-
Governments closely resembling that here pro
posed have been fairly tried in Hungary anc
Poland, and the suffering endured by those peo
pie reused the sympathies of the entire world
1t was tried in Ireland, and, though tempered
at first by principles Of English law, it gave birth
to crueltes atrocious that they are never re-
counted without just Indignation. The French
Convention armed its deputies with this power
and sent them TO the Southern departments o.
the Republic. The massacres, murders, and Other
atrocities which they committed, show what the
passions Of the ablest men in the most civilized
society will tempt them to do when wholly unre
strained by law.
The men of our race in every age have strug.
gled to tie up the hands of their Governments
and keep them within the law; because their
own experience Of all mankind taught them tina,
rulers could not be relied on to concede those
rights which they were not legally bound to
respect. The head Of great empire has some
times governed it with mild and paternal SWAY:
but the kindness of an irresponsible deputy never
yields what the law does not extort from him.
Between such master and The people subjected
to his domination, there can be nothing but en-
nifty he Furnishes them if they resist his au-
thority, and, if they submit to it, he hates them