Bloomsburg democrat. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1867-1869, 1867-03-20

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approval, and the actual approval Of it BY
that body. e,
Sixth. The adoption of certain amend
ment to the Federal Constitution by a vott
of the Legislature elected under the new
Constitution. :,
Seventh. The adoption Of said amend
ment by sufficient number OF other States
to make it part Of the Constitution OF the
United States. :,
All these conditions must be fulfilled lie.
fore the people of any Of these State; Cur
be relieved from the bondage Of military
domination but when they are fulfilled,
then Immediately the pains and penalties OF
the bill are to cease. no matter whether
there be peace and order or not and with.
out any reference to the security of lite OF
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 for the prevention of crime,
but solely as a means Of coercing the people
into the adoption of principles and meas
ures to which it is known that they are op-
posed, and upon which they have an unde-
niahle right to exercise their own judgment.
submit to Congress whether this meas.
ure is not in its whole character, scope and
object, without precedent and without au-
thority, in palpablc conflict with the plain
est provisions of the Constitution, and ut
terly destructive to those great principles of
liberty and humanity for which our ances,.
tors on both sides of the Atlantic have shed
SO much blood and expended so much trca-
sure.
The ten States named in the bill are divi-
dcd 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 he is to be supported
with an efficient military force to enable him
to perform his duties and enforce his au-
thority.
Those duties and that authority. as de-
fined by the third section of the bill, are
ito protect all persons in their rights Of per-
sons and property, to suppress insurrection,
disorder and violence, and to punish, or
cause to be punished, all disturLcrs Of the
public peace or criminals.
The power thus given to the commanding
officer over all the people of each district is
that of an absolute monarch. His mere will
is to take the place of all law. The law Of
the States is now the only rule applicable to
the subjects placed under his control, and
that is completely displaced by the clause
which declares all interference of State au-
thority to be null and void.
He alone is permitted to determine what
are rights of person or property, and ne may
protect them in such way as, in his dlscrcc-
ton, may seem proper. 1t places at his
free disposal all the lands and goods in his
district, and he may distribute them with
o t let or hind ance to whom he leases =
Being bound by no State law, and there be-
ing no other law to regulate the subject, he
may make criminal code of his own, and
he can make it as bloody as any recorded in
history, Or he can reserve the privilege Of
acting upon the impulse of his private pas;
sions in each case that arises lie is bound
by no rules of evidence; there is indeed no
provision by which he is authorized or re-
quired to take any evidence at al. Every
thing is crime which he chooses to call so,
and all persons are condemned whom he
pronounccs to be guilty. He is not bound
to keep any record or make any report Of
his proceedings. He may arrest his vic
tins wherever he finds them, without war
rant accusation or proof of probable cause.
II he gives them trial before he inhcts
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 might
seem that some kind of trial was secured by
it to persons accused of crime, but such is
not the case. The officer 'nay allow local
civil tribunals to trv offenders;' but Of
course, this does not require that he shall
do so. If any State or Federal court pre-
sumes to exercise its legal jurisdiction by
the trial of maelactor without his special
permission, he can break it up and punish
the judges aud jurors as being themselves
maletactors. He can save his friends from
justice, 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 permissivc, and is to
be used only when in his judgment it may
be necessary for the trial Of offenders Even
if the sentence Of commission were made
prerequisite to the punishment of a party,
it would be scarcely the slightest check upon
the officer who has Authority to organize it
us Hc plcuSes, pIcsc'lbe It's llloue vi pIOeceu-
ing, appoint its members from among his
own subordinates, and revise all its decis-
ions. Instead Of mitigating the harsh hness
of his single Nv such tribunal would be
used much more probably to divide the re-
sponsibility Of making it still more cruel and
unjust.
Several provisions, dictated by the hu-
manity Of Congress, have been inserted in
the bill, apparently to restrain the power OF
the commanding officer, but it seems to me
that they are of no avail for that purpose.
The fourth section provides, first, that trials
shall not be unnecessarily delayed, but !
think | have shown that the power is given
to punish without trial, and, if SO, this pro-
vision is practically imperative.
Second 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 officers will understand or fol-
low rule expressed in language SO purely
technical, and not pertaining in the least
degree, to their profession If not, then
each officer may define cruelty according to
his own temper, and if it is not usual, he
will make it usual. Corporal punishment,
imprisonment, the gag, the ball and chain,
and the almost insupportable forms of tor
ture invented for military punishment, lie
within the range of choice.
Third. The sentence of n commission is