Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1867-03-08
lence ataallse Everything is a crime which


dence ataall.ass Everything is crime which
he chooses to call SO, and all persons are con-
demned whom he proneunces to be guilty.
He is not bound to keep any record or make
any report Of his proceedings He may arrest
his victims wherever he finds them, without
warrant, accusation or proof of probable cause
| If he give them "a trial before he inficts the
punishment, he gives it of his grace and mer-
ICY, not because he is commanded SO to do. s.
70 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 g may allow local
civil tribunals to try offenders" but of course
this does not require that he shall do So If
any State or Federal court presumes to cxer-
else its legal jurisdiction by the trial of a
malefactor without his special permission, he
can break it up, and punish the Judge and
jurors as being themselves malefactors. He
can save his friends from justice, and dispoil
his enemies contrary to justice.
Its also provided that g he shall have pow
cr to organize military commissions or tribu-
nails, but this power he is not commanded to
exercise. 1t is merely permissive, 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 par
| ty it would be scarce the slightest check up
on the officer, who has authority to organize
it as he pleases, prescribe Its mode of pro-
ceeding, appoint its members from among his
own subordinates, and revise all its decisions
Instead Of mitigating she harshness of his sin
gle rule, such tribunal would be used much
more probably to divide the responsibility of
making it more cruel and unjust.
Several provisions, dictated by the human
ity Of Congress, have been inserted in the bill
apparently to restrain the power of the COM
handing officer; but it seems to me that they
are Of no avail for that purpose. The fourth
section provides-FGrst That trials shall not
be unnecessarily delayed but think | have
shown that the power is given to punish with
out trial, and if SO, this provision is practi-
cally 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 de-
gree to their profession ? If not, then each
officer may define cruelty according to his
own temper, and if it be not usual, he will
make it usual, Corporal punishment, i'm
prisonment, the gag, the ball and chain, and
the almost insupportable forms Of torture in
vented for military punishment, lie within
the range Of choice. Third. The sentence
Of commission is not to be executed with
out being approved by the commander, if it
effect life or liberty, and sentence of death
must be approved by the President. This APP
plies to cases in which there has been trial
and sentence. [ take it to be clear, under
this bill, that the military commander may
condemn to death without even the form OF
a trial by a military commission, 50 that the
life Of the condemned may depend upon the
will of two men, instead of one.
It is plain that the authority here given to
the military officer amounts to absolute des-
potism But, to make it still more unendu-
rable, the bill provides that it may be dele
gated to as many subordinates as he chooses
to appoint; for it declares that he shall sspun-
ish or cause to be punished" Such power
has not been welded by any monarch in
England for more than five hundred years.
In all that time no people who speak the
English language have borne such servitude.
It reduces the whole population Of the ten
States-all persons Of every color, sex, and
condition, and every stranger within THEN
limits-to the most abject and degrading
slavery. No master ever had a control 50
absolute over his slaves as this bill gives tc
military officers over both white and colored
persons.
It may be answered to this that the Off
GERS OF the army are too magnanimous, just
and humane to Cypress and trample upon a
subjugated people do not doubt that army
officers are as we'll entitled to this kind of
confidence as any other class of men, Bu
the history of the world has been written il
vain, if it do not teach US that unrestrainec
authority can never be safely trusted in hu-
man hands. It is almost sure to be more OF
less abused under any circumstances, and il
has always resulted in gross tyranny where
the rulers who exercise it are strangers te
their subjects, and come among them as the
representatives Of a distant power, and more
especially when the power that sends then
is unfriendly. Governments closely resem-
bling that here proposed have been fairly
tried in Hungary and Poland, and the SUI
feflng endured by those people reused the
sympathies Of the entire world It was tried
in Ireland, and, though tempered at first by
principles of English law. it gave birth te
cruelties so atrocious that they are never re.
counted without just Indignation. The French
Convention armed its deputies with this pow.
er, and sent them to the Southern depart
ments of the Republic. The massacres
murders and other atrocities which they com
mitted show what the passions of the ables
men in the most civilized society will temps
them to do when wholly unrestrained by law
The men of our race in every age have
struggled to tie up the hands of their Gov
ernments and keep them within the law /; be-
cause their own experience of all mankind
taught them that rulers could not be reliee
on to concede those rights which they were