The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1867-03-15

clear that no branch of the Fedora
government, executive, legislative O.
Judicial, can have any just powers, ex
cept those which it derives through
and exercises under, the organic law o
the Union. Outside of the Constitution
we have no legal authority more thar
private citizens, and within it we have
only so much as that instrument give.
US. This broad principle limits all oul
functions and applies to all the subjects
IL protects-not only the citizens of the
United States which are within the u.
nion-but shields every human being
who comes or is brought under our ju.
risdictiOn. We have no right to- dc
more in one place than in another, that
which the Constitution says we shall
not do at all. If therefore the Southern
States were in truth out of the Union,
we could not treat them in way which
the fundamental law forbids. Some
! people assume that the success of Our
arms in crushing the opposition, which
was made in some States to the eXecu-
| tion of the Federal laws, reduced those
States and their people, innocent as
well as guilty, to condition of vasSal-
age, and gave US power over them,
which the Constitution does not bestoW
or define or limit. No fallacy can be
more transparent than this. Our vic
tories subjected the insurgents to legal
| obedience, not to the yoke of an arbitra-
ry despotism. When an absolute SOW
ereign reduces his rebellious subjects he
may deal With them according to his
| pleasure, because he had that power
| before. But when limited monarch
puts down a rebellion he must govern
according to law.
If any insurrection should take place
in one of our States against the authori-
ty Of the State government and end in
the overthrow of those who planned it,
it would take away the rights of all the
people of the counties where it was fa-
vored by part of majority of the
population, could they for such a reas-
on be wholly outiawed and deprived of
their representation in the Legislature.
| have always contended that the Gov
ernment of the United States was SOW
ereign within its Constitutional sphere
that it executed its laws like the States
themselves, by employing its coercive
powers directly to individuals-an
that it could put down insurrectiOn
with the same effect as State, and no
other. An opposite doctrine is the
worst hereSy of those who advocate Sc
cession, and cannot be agreed to with
out admitting that hereSy to be right.
Invasion, inSurrection and domestic vi
olence were anticipated when the gov
ernment was framed, and means of re-
pelling and suppressing them were
wisely provided for in the Constitution;
but it was not thought necessary to de-
clare that States in which they might
occur should be expelled from the u
nion. Rebellions which were invaria-
bly, suppressed occurred prior to that
out of which these questions grow, but
the States continued to exist and the
Union remained unbroken. In Mas
sachusetts, in Pennsylvania, in Rhode
Island, and in New York at different
periods in our history, violent and
armed opposition to the United States
was carried on, but the relations of
those States with the Federal Govern
ment were not supposed to be inter-
ru 1ted or changed after the rebelliOus
portions of their population were de-
feated and put down. 1t is true that
in these earlier cases there was no for
NAL expression of a determination to
withdraw from the Union, but it is al
so true that in the Southern States the
ordinances of secession were treated by
all friends of Union as mere nullitieS,
and are now acknowledged to be so by
the States themselves. If we admit
that they had any force or validity, or
that they did in fact take the States in
which they were passed out of the u
niOn, we sweep from under our feet all
the grounds upon which we stand, in
juStifyipg the use of federal force to
maintain the integrity of the govern
ment. This bill was passad in Congress
in time of peace. There is not, in any
one of the States brought under its Op-
Grafton, either war or insurrection; the
laws of the State and of the Federal
Government are in undisturbed and
harmonious operation, the Courts
State and Federal-are open and in full
exercise of their proper authority over
every State comprised in the five mill
tary districts. Life, liberty and prop
erty, are secured by State laws and
Federal laws, and the National COnsti-
tuition is everywhere in force, and ev-
eryWhere Obeyed. What then is the
ground on which this bill proceeds ?
The title of the bill announces that it
is for the more efficient government OF
these ten States. 1t is reiterated by way
of preamble that no legal State govern
ments, nor adequate protection for life
or property exist in those States, and
that peace and good order should thus
be enforced in them. The first thing
OF fhnCn
tails, which prepare the way for mar
tial law, is this: That the only foun-
dation in which martial law can exist
under our form of government is not
stated or so much as pretended. Actual
war, foreign invasion, or domestic in
surrection-none of these appear and
none OF these in fact exist. 1t is not
even recited that any sort of war or in
surrection is threatened. Let us pause
here to consider upon this question of
constitutional law and the power of
Congress. The recent decision of the
Supreme Court of the United States in
the er pQrte Milligan. | will first quote
from the opinion of the majority of the
court. MARTIAL law cannot arise from
threatened invasion. The necessity
must be actual and present, and the in
vasion real, such as to efectually close
the courts and depose the civil author
tiles" We see that martial law comes
in only when actual war closes the
courts and deposes civil authority. But
this bill in time of peace makes martial
law operate as though we were in actu-
al war, and becomes the cause instead
of the consequence of abrogation of civ
il authority. One more quotation: 1t
follows from what has been said on
this subject that there are occasions
,,rhnn ma rtial lam can he nrnnprlU an