The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-10-14

they will make prompt payment Of what
is due.
-.@sz@M=s a.t
THE Law AND rIIiln @REc0NsrRuCTros
ACTS. a.
byirdason of the action Of the Radical party,
is not only anomalous, but is full Of; future
trouble. In many of these States m,ilitsry
commanders, In the exercise. Of their real or
supposed powers, under the Reconstruction
Acts, have removed officers Of the law and ap-
pointed other persons to perform their duties.
That the acts Of the Rump Parliament, which
calls itself Congress, WIN be declared uncon-
stitutional, at least on the subject Of reconstruct
tiop, whenever thosssaets ARE presented in
proper form for .tke adjudication Of tho SUI
prenae Court Of the United States, no one can
doubt, unless he is satisfied that the purity of
the bench is destroyed, and that corruption
has taken as firm q hold on the Judiciary al
1t has on the party which has been SO crush
ingly. condemned by the voice Of the people Of
Pennsylvania and Ohio. @
The war decided but a single point. and
that point was that NO State could dissolve
Its connection with the American Union.
Chief Justice CHASE, as radical as he is.
wnen he lays aside his ermine, was Obliged
to admit this, when sitting as a Judge in
North Carolina. If no State ever ceased to be
2 State, then no reconstruction was necessary.
anu any and every move in that direction IL
unconstitutional. The States. when they pre-
tended to secede, all had Constitutions. I'm
der those Constitutions, they were members of
the political body known as the United States
Of America. Those Constitutions the Consti-
tuition Of the United States guaranteed to
them unless they were changed in the manner
provided by their Owl organic laws. Fail
ure to establish other forms of government bv
war was rebellion, and nothing more. Re-
bellion defeated, brought the people Of the
States back to their allegiance to the organ
10 law. Under that organic law, and under
that alone could any Constitutional action be
had. 1t is vain to talk about de facto State
governments, when those governments are
framed in defiance of the Constitutions Of the
states themselves and Of the Constitution Of
the United States. Those instruments muat
and will be the guides by which the Supreme
Court of the United States will be directed.
and the deoision of .thst branch of. the Gov
eminent will at the proper time be given in
favor of Constitutional liberty.
Y Suppose however, that the madness which
pervsded the people of the North, when thew
allowed the self styled Congress to fasten t-
ranny on the South, should also find it's wav
into the Supreme Court, and that it should
sustain the governments framed by the opera
ton of the Reconstruction Acts, can the pre-
tended legal acts of the officers appointed by
the military commanders i be sustained? IF
tnere are no State governments, Districts one,
two, three, four and Eve certainly are not ter
%ritories of. the United States. This the Radi-
Gals even did not venture to declare. 1t would
have given the lie too broadly to their pretend
ed love Of the Union and to the issues ON
which the tight was won. If they are not ter
ritories, then Congress can pass no laws at
all for their local government. If Congress-
can pass NO laws, then it cannot delegate to a
military officer powers which it does not
possess. No principal can place in the hands
OF his agent more power than the principal
himself could exercise. No one certainly will
deny this. If these districts are foreign terri
tory, held during the continuance sof war,
then militsry rulers may preserve order. but
even Congress does not pretend that war ex-
lists. The Chief Justice of the United States
when sitting in North Caroline, certainly
and also. p State IN yshIon@ fo russaI Ahua Union,
lists. A Constitutional amendment now sor,,,
u portion OF the organic law OF the United /
states a after having been ratified since the |
END OF the rebellion, by the States. now dv.
graded by Congressional legislation with the |
names of Districts, and placed under the rulet
OF military commanders. The President has
declared that peace 10 restored In all of tho
States, and even Congress has declared In |
the Reconstruction Acts that the so.called. Dis
tricts ore sStstes. IL they are States, oven II
the reconstruction Acts are Constitutional, |
Congress is hound, until the reorganization
of Their governments, ID be framed under those |
sesf that they are ruled by their own
organic laws. They certainly have not perish
with our brothers, sons and friends. They
asaII iivs, ana noiaw made in contrnyenttiicn, g ! .
Them, no act done without their sapction, viii /
ever DO sanctioned by the libsrty-ssyins por-
aon OF the American people or the Courts
Of justice.
The District Commanders have declared. who
shall and who shall not be jurors. The CON-
'tituticns and laws Of the Southern States
which are now, called Military Districas. |
also have similar declarations. The lawspro.
by the District Commanders vary
tbs LAWS on HE Statute books os those |
States. Which will the Supreme Court austssna
Which win the people Of the United ststss In
int on having observed Does any lawyer,
sorth Or soush. believe that . criminal CON
'icted iR South Caroline BY . jury OH whioag i
negro sits to-day could iawfnily be hing