The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1867-03-20
THE MILITAR BIZ
PRESIDENTS VETO.


President of the United States, return
inn to the House of Representatives a
hill entitled an act to provide for the
more efficient government of the rebel
States:
To the House Of Representatives
[ have examined the bill to provide
FIR the more efficient government of the
rebel States with care and anxiety,
which its transcendent Importance is
calculated to awaken. / am unable to
rive it my assent, for reasons SO grave
That hope statement of them may
have some influence On the minds of the
natriotic and enlightened, with whom
The decision must ultimately rest. The
hin places all the people of ten States
therein named under the absolute DOM
nation of military rulers, and the pre-
amble undertakes to give reasons upon
which it is justified. Tt declares that
there exists in those States no legal
government and adequate protection to
fife and property, and asserts the neces-
sity of enforcing peace and good order
within their limits.
1t is true, as q matter Of fact, it is not
denied that the States in question have
each of them an actual government,
with all tie powers, executive, judicial
and legislative, which properly belong
to free State; they are organized like
the other States of the Union, and like
them they make, administer and exc
cute the laws which concern their do
mestic affairs. An existing de .facto
government, exercising such functions
as these, Is itself the law of States upon
all matters within it's jurisdiction. To
pronounce the supreme law making the
power of an established State illegal, is
to say that law itself is unlawful, and
the provisions which these govern
ments made for the preservation of the
order, for the suppression of crime and
the redress of private injuries, are in
substance and principle the same as
those which prevail in the Northern
States and in other civilized countries.
They certainly have not succeeded in
preventing the commission of all crime,
nor has this been accomplished any
where in the world There, as we'll as
elsewhere, offenders sometimes escape
for want of vigorous prosecution, and
occasionally perhaps hy the inefficiency
ofcourts or the prejudice Of jurors,
1t is undoubtedly true that those
evils have much increased and aggra-
waited the North and South, by the de-
moralizing influence of civil war, and
by the rancorous feelings which the
contest has engendered, but that those
people are maintaining local govern
ments for themselves, which habitually
defeat the object of all government,
and render their own lives and property
insecure, is in itself utterly improbable,
and the averment of the bill to that eff
feet is not supported by any evidence
which has come to my knowledge. All
the information have on that subject
convinces me that the mass of the
Southern people, and those who control
their public acts, while they entertain
diverse opinions ON questions of federal
policy, are completely united in the eff
fort to reorganize their society on the
basis of peace, and restore mutual
prosperity as rapidly and as completely
as their circumstances will permit.
The bill, however, would seem to
show upon its face that the establish
ment of peace and good order is not its
real object. The fifth section declares
that the preceding sections shall cease
to operate in any State where certain
events have happened. These are
LIST. The selection of delegates to a
State convention by election, at which
negroes shall be allowed to vote.
3D. The formation of a State Consti-
tuition by the convention SO chosen.
3d. The insertion into the State Con-
stitution of % provision which will Sc
cure the right of voting at all elections
to negroes and such white men as may
not be disfranchised for rebellion.
4th. The submission of the Constitu-
ton for ratification to negroes and
white men not disfranchised, and its
actual ratification by the vote.
5th. The submission of the State Con-
stitution to Congress for examination
and actual approval of it by that body.
9th. The adoption of certain amend
ments to the federal Constitution by the
vote of the Legislature elected under
the new Constitution.
!. 9TH. The adoption ofsaid amendment
by q sufficient number of other States
to make it a part of the Constitution of
the United States. @
All of these conditions must be full
filled before the people of any OF these
States can berelieved from the bondage
Of military domination but when they
are fulfilled, then the pains and penal
ties of the bill are to cease, no matter
whether there be peace and order or
not, without reference to the security
of life and property. The excuse given
for the bill in the preamble is admitted
BY the bill itself not to be real. The
military rule which it establishes is
plainly to be used not for any purpose
Of order and for the prevention of crime,
but solely as means of coercing the
people into the adoption of principles
and measures to which tits known they
are opposed, and upon which they have
an undeniable right to exercise their
own Judgment.
submit to Congress whether this meas
IRE Is not, 10 its whole scope and object,
without precedent and without authority,
aud i'd palpable conflict with the plalnest
provisions of the Constitution, and utterly
destructive to those great principles OF lib
gty and humanity for which our ancestors
on both sides OF the Atlantic shed so much
blood and expended so much treasure.
The ten States named in the bill are
divided in Eve districts, and for each dis
trict an officer of the army, not below the
rank OF brigadier general, is to be appoint
ed to rule over the people, and he is to he
supported with an effective militia force
To enable him to perform his duties, and
the authorities, as defined by the third
section of the bill are TO protect all persons
In theR. rights of persons and property, to
suppress disorder and violence, and to
punish or cause to be punished all dstur-
bers OF the public peace or criminals.