Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1867-12-14

'NS!S'"l"reS or prcYcnt them from assembling:
to DISMISS Judges and other civil functionarics
OF the State, and appoint others without re-
gard 10 state law; to organize and operate all
the political machinery OF the States TO reg
ulatc the whole administration of their domes
tic and local affairs according to the mere will
or strange and irresponsible agents, sent among
them for that rurposc-thcso are powers not
granted to the Federal Government, or to any
one OF its branches. Not being granted, We
violate our trust by assuming thcm as ralpa
bly, as we would by acting in the face of n
positive lntcrdict; for the Constitution for.
bids us to do whatever it does rot affirmative.
y authorize either by express words or by
clear implication. ! { the authority we desire
10 use docs not come to us through the Con
stltut!on, We can exercise it only by usurpa-
ton, and uSnrpation is the most dangerous of
political crimes. BY that crime, the enemies
OF free government in all ages have worked
cut their designs against public liberty and
private right. II leads directly and immcli-
ntcly to the establishment of absolute rule; for
undelcgatcd power is always unlimited and
unrcStraincd.
Tue Acts Of Congress- in question arc not
only Objectionable for their assumption of TN
granted power, but many of their provisions
arc III conflict with the direct prohibitions of
tho Constitution. The Constitution com
mandS that Republican form of government
shall be guaranteed to all the States; that no
person shall be deprived of life, liberty or
property without due process of law arrested
without judicial warrant, or punished with
OUT fair trial before an impartial Jury; that
ihc privilege of ho1c"s corpus shall not lie
d"nl'd IN time Of peace; and that no bill of
attalndcr shall be passed, even against sin
Gle individual. Yet the system of measures
established by these Acts Of Congress does to-
tally snbvcrt and destroy Tie form, rs we'll as
the substance of Republican government lii
the ten States to which they apply. 1t binds
them hand and foot in absolute slavery; and
subjects them to a strange and hostile power,
more unlimited and more likely to be abused
than any other now known among civilized
men. 1T tramples down all those rights in
which the essence Of l:l,or.y eo,sissa, and
which free Governmcp, is always most care
tul to project. II denies he huhcus cor,,us
and the trial by jury. Personal freedom,
property, and life if assailed by the passion,
the prejudice or the capacity of the ruler, have
no security whatever. 1t has the effect of a
bill of attandcr, or bill of pains and penalties,
not upon few individuals, but upon the
whole masses, including the millions who in
habit the subject States, and even their un-
born children. These wrongs, being express
~ forbidden, cannot be cconslitu'ionaily innict-
cd upon any portion of our people, no matter
how they may come within our jurisdiction,
and no matter whether they live in States,
Territories or Districts
have no desire to save from tho proper
and Just consequences of their grcnt crime
those who engaged in rebellion against the
Government; but as a mode Of punishment,
the measures un''cr considerations arc the most
unreasonable that could be invented. Many
OF those people nrc perfectly innoccnt many
kept their fidelity to the Union untainted to
the last; many were incapable of any legal
offence; large proportion even of the per-
sons able to bear arms were forced into re-
bclion against their will and of those who
arc guilty with their own consent, the degrees
OF guilt arc as various as the shndes nf their
character and temper. But these Acts of
Congress eonfound them all together in one
common doom. lndiscriminate vengeance
upon classes, sccts and parties, or upon whole
communities, for offences committed by a por.
tlon OF them against the governments to which
they owed obedience, was common in the bar
barous ages of the world. But Christianity
and civilization have made such PROGRESS that
recourse to punishment 80 cruel aud unjust
""uiu HletI Will INC condemnation OF all un-
rrcjudccd and risht.mindcd men. The pu-
nitive justice of this age, and especially of
this country, does not consist in stripping
whole States of their liberties, aud reducing
all their people without distinction, to the con
dition of slavery. 1t deals separately with
each individual, confines itself to the forms of
law, and vindicatcs its own purity by an i'm
partial examination Of every case before com
pctcnt judicial tribunal. If this does not sat.
isfy all our desires with regard to Southern
rebels, let us console ourselves by rejecting
that free constitution, triumphant in war
and unbrokcn in peace is worth far more to
us and our children than the qualification of
any present. feeling.
am aware it is assumed that this system
Of government for the Southern States is not
to be perpetual. 1t is true, this military gov
crnment is e be only provisional, but it is
through this temporary cyl that greater
cv,,, % to bc mad. perpetual. ii the gua,,," ,"-
tees of lie constitution cun DC broken provs-
ionally to serve temporary purpose, and in n
part only Of the country, we can destroy them
everywhere and for all time. Arbitrary meas
urcs often change, but they generally change
.ior the worse. 1t is the curse of dcepotism
that it has no hating place. The intcrm;'tcd
exercise of its power brings no sense of sccu-
rty to its subjects for they can never know
what more they Will DO called to endure when
it's rcd right hand is armed to plague them
again. Nor is 1t possible to conjecture how
or Whcrc mower unrestraincd by law NAV