Clarksville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1865-1867, 1867-03-15
THE. VETO.
THE MILITARY BILL
THE PRESIDENT FIRM.
A Powerful Document.

more efhcient government Of the Rebel States
with care and anxiety which its transcend.
ant Importance is calculated to awaken.
am unable to give il my assent for reasons
so grave that hope a statement of them
may have some influence upon the minds Of
the patriotic and enlightened, with whom
the decision must rest.
The bill places all the people of the ten
States therein named under the absolute
domination of military rulers, and the pre-
amble undertakes TO give the reasons upon
which 1t isjustified. II declares that there
exists in those States no legal State govern
ments and adequate protection TO life and
property, and asserts the necessity of en-.
forcing peace and good order within their
limlis. It is true as matter of fact, and it
is not denied that the States in question
have each of them an actual government.
with all the 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 execute the laws which
concern their domestic affairs. n existing
de .fdcto government exercising such fiinc-
tions as these is itself the law Of States up.
on all matters within its jurisdiction. To
pronounce the supreme lawmaking power of
an established State Illegal is to saw that
law itself is unlawful. The provisions which
these governments have made for the preser-
vatlon OF order, the suppression of crime,
and the redress of private injuries are in SUBJ
stance and principle the same as those which
prevail in the Northern States and other civ
ilized countries. They certainly have not
succeeded In preventing the commission of
all crime, nor has this been accomplished
anywhere in the world. There as well as
ELSEWHERE, Offenders sometimes escape for
want OF vigorous prosecution, and occasion
ally, perhaps, by the inefficiency of courts or
the prejudice of jurors. 1t is undoubtedly
true that these evils have been much
increased and aggravated both in the North
nd South by the demoraiziug influence of
civil war, and by the rancorous passions
which the contest has angendered; but that
these people are maintaining local govern
mepts for themselves which habitually de-
feat the object Of all governments, and rem
der their own lives and property insecure is
in itself utterly improbable = and the arpu.
ment OF the bill to that effect is not support.
ed by any evidence which has come TO nv
knowledge. All the evidence have on the
subject convinces me that the masses 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 effort to reorganze
their society on the basis of peace, and res.
tore mutual prosperity as rapidly and as
completely as their circumstances, will per.
init. The bill, however, would seem to show
upon its lace that the establishment of peace
and good order is not its real object. The
fifth section declares that all the preceding
sections shall cease to operate in any State
where certain events have happened. These
are:
ist The selection Of delegates to State
convention by election, at which negroes
shall be allowed to vote.
I'd. The formation of State Cons.itu ton
by the convention so chosen.
Sd. The insertion into the State Constitu-
ton of provision which will secure the
right Of voting at all elections to negroes
and such white men as will not be disiran-
chised for rebellion OF felonies.
4th. The submission of the Constitution
for ratification to negroes and white men no,
disfranchised and its actual ratification by
s,h ~.
S'.. r NV ou"i'sss'on ol .ne o'ace Oohsuo.
.e'r .en ~ TonsiesS !, 10, examination ana actual
"peE e,S Tta =. ~ oy ha' oouy'
ment u the Federal Constitution by a vote
OF. the Legislature elected under the new
s.u M"
u' auoPuo' OF sa'd smehdment oy
:. .. s .u"'oei ~" % ., o,ner o@tes 10 make
go, p"'' vi ''e CONSTITUTION OF the united
% All -,
"a "A. .'ese coho.'iohs must ne Inlhiled oe-
,s r.,;. .nS PeoP'e y, any u these states can oe
;ene'eu t ''on' oonaage ana miiitary domiil-
'o', ou' Wnen 'ney are ioihiied then the
p"us anu pena,,'es' ol 'he o'ii are 10 cease,
"r ~, '.';,I, ~n.'ne, 'nefe DC peace ana order
10. S "..nou. re'e'ence 10 'he security OF
INV properly
The excuses given for the bill, in tho pre-
amble, is admitted by the bill itself not to
be real. The military rule which it estib.
lishes is plainly to be used not for any pur-
pose OF order and for the prevention of crime,
but solely as means of coercisg the people
into the adoption Of measures to which it is
known they are opposed, and upon which
they have an undeniable right to exercise
their own Judgment. submit to Congress
whether this measure is not, in its whole
scope and object, without precedent and
without authority in palpahble conflict
with the planest provisions of the Constitu-
ton, and utterly destructive of those great
principles Of liberty 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 into five districts. For each
district an officer of the army, not below the
rank of Brigadier. General is to be appointed
to rule over the people, and be is supported
by efficient military force to enable him TO
perform his duties. That authority as defin-