The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1867-02-27

From Cincinnati Commercial CRad.) Feb. 49,
The Brigadiering Policy of
i .e Fl; Congress.
| The present intense activity in Wash.
Iingtou 10 attributable 10 the fact that on
tomorrow We will be within ten days Of
the expiration Of the Thirty.ninth Con.
gress, and after that tho President has
only TO pocket bill aud it dies, for be
has ten days in which to return q bin to
the House in which it originated, with
bis objections, and when his signature is
wanting measure can become law on.
y On being passed BY a two-thirds vote
lover his veto. 1.'.'' : -.'--s ----4ss4 =.
Congress has this, as well as last win
ter, been drifting on the reconstruction
question. There has been disposition
on the part Of Congress, as well as on
the part Of the President, to disregard
the popular endorsement of the constitu
tutional amendment; and recently the
rejection Of the amendment by the South
ern States has given the ultras in Con,
gress an Initiative and power in forcing
extreme measures upon the country
that we regard as extra hazardous.
The task before Congress is one Of
exceeding difficulty, and the action Of
that body should be watched, not only
with solicitude but with sympathy; and
yet our appreciation of the magnitude Of
, the task undertaken should not interfere
with the peoples duty Of critical watch
fulness, and their prerOgative Of warning
and admonishing their representatives Of
errorsi either Of omission or commission.
We mast confess, ho0ever, that zoe do
not see the evidence IN the proceedings Of
Congress Of that clear understanding Of
its high responsibilities; or among The
people ,cho support Congress that enlight.
ened consciousness of The mistakes of that
body hatws would desire TO see. The
, , Military Government Bill which has
! passed the House Of Representatives,
: must be ranked as an extreme and dan.
gerous measure, if not as great crime
done ia the name of liberty. Perhaps o
part of the public apathy we see may be
! !, accounted for on La Rochefoucauld's
! maxim that I" we bear with equanimity
other peoples troubles" but it is time
this proposition to make paramount and
Q eternal the rule Of Brigadiers over the
South should be analysed.
The preamble gives as reason for the
: bill that the Southern State governments
= "afford no adequate protection for life
= and property, So" and that "it is nec
essary that peace and good order should
be enforced in spid States" II loca
governments may, at any time, be over
!, thrown by act of Congress when ma
iority may think such a state of thing
! exists, every one Of our State Govern
: = ments is absolutely at the mercy of Con
grcss. Here is no pretense Of organized
resistance to the Federal Government
no pretense that 4 single battalion o
troop is in arms against US from the Po
q tomac to the Rio Grande; no pretens
'r that there is any disturbance than a prev
q alence Of crime which is unusual, and q,
~ unwillingness Of courts and juries +
q punish it, yet on this Congress is to as
q sumo the right to overthrow the local gov
m ernments, to declare them "pretended,
Is 50 that our warrant may be given to ever
/! criminally disposed person to treat thei
Of laws as null, and their courts az uithou
o authority, and after thus offering Q pre-
MUM for crimo and general lawlesSnes
5 to turn them over to martial law
The Union party convention in 1876
:. indorscd the provisional governments
. the South, and the reconstruction polio
- based on them, and has thus plainly r
oognized these governments as somethin
10 more than pretended !" and by an a
quiescence Of two years we have precl,
wv ded ourselves from denying that they ms
If rightfully exercise all local authority an
,;s have legitimate existence, until in son
va due process Of law-civil law-they a
nd legitimately and constitutionally change
7 or until some new and real (not "preten
n. ed") insurrection, shall make the interp
X sition Of military force an actual necessit
81. III he body of the biz zoe find not on
id military rule, but The most entirely u
limited and aarestrained rule of b
spord iohich has eper been embodied
=. The form of a Lap Of a civilized naiio
100 The only noticeable feature Of the fl
section is the unwise and useless attem
lie to superseds the Commander in.chief
TX, the army and navy fxed by the Constii
= tion by the General Of the army '
up, can hardly believe any member of CO
all gress SO ignorant or weak as to think I
To- responsibility for the execution Of Il
60. law can be upon any one but the Pre-
ing dent, and the provision could only
lit framed in the belief that the acts Of
to present Congress are Of higher sancti
The and far more fundamental than the fu
his damental law which gives the House
The existence -
ed. But whether Congress knows il or n
! General Grant and the army perfectly ,
oks derstand that the President is their SUI
irst rior military officer, whom they are !
ire, plicitly bound to obey by the first arti
MS Of the Army Regulations, and VIII
they have each solemnly sUorn to Oh
, under the tenth Of the articles Of war
They know, moreover, that if they di
IA. boy they may not only be court.martia
/ :. and shot (uuder the ninth article Of wa
- but for any hesitation or disobediel
nan they may be summarily stricken from
ien' army list, These enormous powers Of