The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1867-01-04

Is all preoccupied by legal and free institu-
tons.
Between the officers who have power
like this and the people who are liable to
become its victims, there eau be no re-
lation except that of master and slave.
The master may be kind and the slave
may be contented in his bondage but
the man who can take your life, or re.
STRAIN your liberty, Or despoil you of your
property at bis discretion, either with his
own hands or by the means of hired
overseer, owns you and he can force you
to serve him. All you are, and all you
have, including your wives and children,
are his property.
1t my learned and very good friend, the
Attorney General, had this right of DOM
nation over me, | should not be very
much frightened, for l should expect him
to use it as moderately as any man in the
world but still | should feel the necessi-
ty Of being very discreet He might
change in a short time. The thirst for
blood is an appetite which grows by what
1t feeds upon. We cannot know him by
present appearances. Robespierre re.
signed country judgeship iu early life,
because be was too tender. hearted to pro-
nounce sentence Of death upon a convict
cd criminal. Caligula passed for most
amiable young gentleman before he was
clothed with the imperial purple, and for
about eight months afterwards. 1t was
Ttaian, | think, who said that absolute
power would convert any man into wild
beast, whatever was the original benevo-
lence OF his nature. IT, you decide that
the Attorney General holds in his own
hands or shares with others the power of
life and death over US all, mean to be
very cautious in my intercourse with him;
and | warn you, the judges whom l am
now addressing, to do likewise. Trust
not to the gentieness and kindness which
has always marked his behavior hereto.
fore. Keep your distance be careful
how you approach him for you know not
at what moment you may rouse the sleep
ing tiger. Remember the injunction of
Scripture: SEQ not near to the man
who hath power to kill and ifthou come
unto him, see that thou make no fault,
lest he take away thy life presently for
thou goest among snares and walkest
upon the battlements Of the city,"
The right of the executive government
to kill and imprison citizens for political
offences has not been practically claimed
III this country, except in cases where COM
missloned officers of the army were the
instruments used. Why should it be
confined to them? Why should not
naval officers be permitted to share in it
What is the reason that common sol.
dlers and seamen are excluded from all
participation in the business i? No law
has bestowed the righ hit upon army off.
GERS more than upon other persons. If
men are to be hung up without that legal
trial which the Constitution guarantees
to them, why not employ commissions OF
clergymen, merchants, manufacturers,
horse-dealers, butchers, or droyers, to do
it? 1t will not be pretended that mill.
tory men are better qualified to decide
questions of fact or law than other class.
es of people for it is known on the con-
trary that they are, as the general rule,
least Of all fitted to perform the duties
that belong to a judge.
The Attorney General thinks that ii
proceeding which takes away the lives of
citizens without Constitutional trial is a
most merciful dispensation. His idea of
humanity as well as law is embodied in
the bureau of military justice, with all its
dark aud bloody machinery. For that
strange opininion he gives this curious
reason that the duty Of the Commander
in-Chef is to kill, and unless he has this
bureau aud these commissions he must
"butcher" indiscriminately without mercy
or justice. / admit that if the Comman-
der-in- Chief or any other officer of the
Government has the power of an Asiatic
king, to butcher the people at pleasure,
he ought to have somebody to aid him in
selecting his victims, as well as to do the
rough work of strangliug and Shooting
But if my learned friend will only conde-
scend to cast an eye upon the Constitu-
tlon, he will see at once that all the exec
utive and military officers are completely
relieved by the provision that the life of
citizen shall not be taken at all until at
ter legal conviction by court and jury.
You cannot help but see that military
commissions, if suffered to go on, will BE-
used for most pernicious purposes. /
have criticised none of their past proceed
ings, nor made any alluson to TIER histo-
ry in the last five years. But what eau be
the meaning of this effort to maintain them
among US J.? Certainly MT to punish ac-
tual guilt. All the Gods OF true justice
are attained by the prompt, speedy, i'm
partial trial which the courts are bound
to give. Is there any danger that crime
will be wiuked upon by the judges p
Noes anybody pretend that courts and ju,
res have less ability to decide upon facts
aud law than the men who sit in. military
tribunals !? The counsel in this cause
will not insult you by even limiting such
an opinion. What righteous or just pur-
pose, then, can they serve ? None what