The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-03-05
CONGRESS,
Veto OF the nnIlary Reeon.sruetIon
Bill.
Bill Passed over the Veto.
To the House, Of Representatives,.


the rebel States with that care and anx-
iety which its transcendant importance
! Is calculated to awaken. / am unable
| to give 1t my assent for reasons so
grave that hope the statement of them
! may have some influence on the minds
of the patriotic and enlightened, with
whom the decision is ultimately TO rest.
The bill places all the people OF the
ten States therein named under the ah-
solute domination of military rulers,
! and the preamble undertakes to give
| the reasons upon which it is justified
II declares that there exists in those
States no legal government and ade.
quate protection TO life or property, and
asserts the necessity of enforcing peace
and good order within their limits, 1t
IS true, as a matter of fact, it is not de-
MED that the States in question have,
each OF them, an actual government,
/ with all the powers, executive, judicial
and legislative, which properly belong
to Tree State. They are organized
| like other States OF the Union, and like
them they make, administeE and exc
cute laws which concern their domestic
| affairs. An existing de JdcLo govern
I ment, exercising such functions as
| these, is itself the law of the State upon
all matters. within its Jurisdiction. To
pronounce the supreme law-makiug
| power of an established State Illegal, is
30 say that law itself is unlawful.
( SONEEu-
ments have made for the preservation
of order, the suppression of crime, and
| the redress private injuries, are in SUBJ
stance and principle the same as those
! which prevail in the Northern States
and other civilized countries. They
/ certainly have not succeeded in pre-
venting the committing OF all crime,
nor has this been accomp mplished any-
where in the world. There as we'll as
elsewhere, offenders sometimes escape
for the want of vigorous prosecution,
and occasionally perhaps by the inefh-
cheney of courts or the prejudice of
jurors.
It is undoubtedly true that these evils
have been much increased and exag-
\ gerated, North and South, by the de-
moralizing influence of civil war, and
by the rancorous passions which the
contest has engendered; but that these
/ people are maintaining local govern
ments for themselves which habitually
defeat the object of all governments,
/ and render their own lives and proper
! ty insecure, is in itself utterly improba-
BILE; and the averment of the bill to that
| effect is not supported by any evidence
which has come to my knowledge. All
( the Information I have on the subject
| conviucss me that the mass of the
Southern people and those who control
/ their public acts, while they entertain
diverse opinions on questions of policy,
are completely united in the effort TO re-
| organize their society on the basis of
rapidly and as completely as their cir
cumstances will permit. The bill, how
ever, would seem to show upon its face
that the establishment of peace and
good order is not its object.
The fifIh section declares that the pre-
ceding section shall cease to operate in
any State where certain events have
happened. These are, first, the selec-
ton of delegates to State Convention
| by an election at which negroes shall
| be allowed to vote: second, the forma-
| ton of a State Constitution by the Con-
vention so chosen; third, the insertion
| into the State Constitution of provi-
sion which will secure the right of vo-
| ting at all elections to the negro and
| such white men as may not be disfran-
| chised for rebellion or felony; fourth,
the submission OF the Constitution for
! ratification to negroes and white men
| not disfTanchised, and its actual ratiti-
cation by the vote; fifth, the submis-
sion of the State Constitution to Con-
gress for examination and actual ap-
| proval of it by that body; sixth, the
| adoption of a certain amendment to the
Federal Constitution by a vote of the
Legislature elected under the new Con-
stitution; seventh, the adoption of said
amendment by sufficient number OF
| the other States to make II a part OF the
/
these conditions must be fulfilled be-
fore the people of these States can be
relieved from the bondage of military
domination; but when they are full
| filled, then the pains and penalties of
| the bill are to cease, no matter whether
there be peace or order or not, without
reference to the security of life and
! property.
The excuse given for the bill in the pre-
amble is admitted by the bill itself not
| to be real. The military rule which it
| establishes is plainly 70 be used, not
| for any purpose of order and for the
prevention of crime, but solely as A
\ means of coercing the people into the
adoption OF principles and measures to
/ which 1t is known they are opposed,
and upon which they have an undeni-
| able right to exercise their own judg-
ment. I submit to Congress whether
| this measure is not, in its whole scope
i and object, without precedent and with
/ out authority, in palpable conflict with
| the plainest provisions of the constitu-
I ton, and utterly destructive to those
| great principles of liberty and humani-
! ty for " hich our ancestors on both sides
| of the Atlantic shed SO much blood and
| expended so much treasure.
The ten States named in tie bill are
divided into i've districts For each
district an officer of the army not be-
low the rank of brigadier-general is to
1 De aDpOlnIGu EuAe over tue
4 and he is to be supported with efficient
I military force to enable him to perform
! his duties and that authority, as de
fined by the third section of the bill, Is
] to protect all persons in their rights OF
I person and property to suppress disor-
4 der and violence, and TO punish, OF
1 cause 10 be punished, all disrurbers OF
the public peace as criminals
The power thus given TO tha comman-
ding officer over all people. OF each
state is that of an absolute monarch
his mere will Is to take the place of all
law. The law OF the State Is the only
rule applicable TO the subject placed
4 under his control, and that il complete
.tly displaced by{ The clause which de
elRres all interference of the State au-
thority to be null and void. he alone
is permitted to determine what are
4 rights OF person and property. dt
may protect them in such way as in hi:
discretion may seem proper; it places a
. his free disposal; all the lands anc
goods in his district he may distribute
without let or hinderance, TO whom he
pIeases, being bound by no State Law
: and their being no other TO regulate thI
subject He may make q criminal
Q code of his own, and he can make II a.
bloody as any recorded IN history o.
he can reserve the privilege of actinf
ON the impulse of his private passion:
in each case that arises BE is bounC
! by no rrIles OF evidence; there is indeeC
NO proyision by which he Is authorized
1tor REQUIRED to take evidence at all
! Everything is crime which be choOse
4 70 cab 50, and all persons are condemn
ed whom he pfon0unc5 guilty.. De l
Z not bound 70 make any report or Keel
any record of his proceedings DE ma.
: arrest his victim wherever ne may nn'
Ii, 1virhont NarranC accusation o