Des Arc weekly citizen., 1867-09-07

lcal party IS 10 DElnY uOWH upOh " tnht power which is greater than the Radi- | cal party-the Constitution. If the President is a slave and bound to exc cute the orders of traitors, the people | are frecmen and entitled to resist.--l \ The only question, and, therefore, the only danger is. have they the courage to resist2 A freeman should know no master but the law, and bend the knee to no earthly power but the Constitu- t on.
 authority. affirm:
 That every officer, high or low, who seizes the property of citizen under these military bills, is r tresspasser, subject to indictment and suits for damages as individuals.
 That every such officer who arrests citizen under these bills is guilty of false Imprisonment, and subject like wise as an individual. and is amenable to the writ of habeas corpus before any court, States or Federal, having j1ris- diction to issue the writ.
 That if single citizen, white or black, is tried by a military commission and executed, the officer ordering the court, the individuals composing the court, the counsel prosecuting tbe case, the officer approving and executing the sentence, up to and including the Pres ident, each and all are guilty murder, and indictable in the country where the crime is committed.
 And again beg our citizens, eyery- where, to assert these remedies, and assert them fearlessly. Do not be pre- vented by the sickly, cowardly, crimi- nal statements that the courts are pro- hibited from taking jurisdiction. This is the poor defense with which those authorizing the crimes have sought to shield those creatures who may obey them, and is itself unconstitutional. = The power which cannot violate the law cannot annul or escape the process, or remedies and penalties of the law. Sue in damages for every injury indict for every crime. Be sure and include the thieving treasury agents who were lately stealing your cotton or other things. Sue or indict in the county where the injury was or may 1 be done, or the crime was or may be committed. Whether defendants are present or absent, get the true bilis.- 1 Don't let lapse of time bar you.--W hen | ever you see me at a court, understand will aid you without fee or reward. The written Constitution is my client, and the preservation of it's protection | the only fee I shall ask.-The time for | the law triumph over passion will one ! day come. If our people will now, 1 everywhere, assert these rights, not by egaiL abandoning the Constitution but 1 by claiming its remedies, that time will come quickly and then we shall de- mand the criminals wherever found and they will be delivered. Ii the i President himself should commit mur- ! der in the manner 1 have indicated, l l do not hesitate to say that l would urge true bill against him and de- mand him for trial when his term has expired. We owe it to ourselves, to our children, to free institutions, to teach all, however high or low, who l take advantage of degenerate times like these, to violate the great guaranties
 of the law, and trample on the rights
 of the citizens, that when the political ! spasm is over they can find no hiding 1 place from the laws avenge, nor take
 shelter from its penalties anywhere in l tho jurisdiction of the Constitution. 1 Let this generation teach this lesson
 now and teach it faithfully and well. and we shall have no return of such | l for our children. If we do not teach
 this lesson, then sorrow and crime will l increase their coming and prolonging
 their stays, because rogues will steal,
 tyrants will oppress, little officers twill cut fantastic tricks, and traitors will
 use fraud and force to perpetuate their power, just as often and as long as
 they think they can do so with impuni- ty.
 I also earnestly hope the people of
 each of the ten States will go boldly forward, and preserve and continue their existing State governments, and hold all elections in the manner and at
 the time prescribed by existing State Constitutions will chose officers quail
 flied according to existing State Con- stitutions and laws. If any citizen or
 officer shall be interfered with in exer-
 cisng his rights under these laws, or in discharging the duties of any office to which he may be chosen, let him
 make the issue fearlessly.
 1 would have them continue this un- ! til, and even after, pretended constitu- tions may be formed by deluded negroes and their designing interiors
 under these Military Bills; and if an
 attempt were made to displace existing
 constitutions and governments by pre-
 tended constitutions so formed and 1 officers chosen hereunder, l would indict every officer so attempting to
 subvert existing legal States govern ments, and 1 would then have our Gov
 ernors or the Leg slatures eff in seess- ion,) make application to the President,
 under the Constitution, to protect ex- isting State governments against do-
 mestic violence" and thus compel the | President to decide whether he is bound to displace by force what he ad-
 mits to be existing legal State constitu- tions and governments for those he
 admits to be illegal, unconstitutional
 and tyranical.
 I will add two important considera-
 tions why our people should thns re-
 sist and never consent 10 these usur-
 pations:
 In the first place, if we once allow
 these new governments 10 become le- gally fixed on us by our consent, we can never get rid of fthem.-The power will be in the hands of those who make and administer them and, though de- l stroy as they will, they will hold on to their iniquity. It will also require three-fonrths of the States 10 concur in
 the adoption of the odious Constitu- tional Amendment. but ifadopted it
 will then require three-fourths of the
 States to get rid of 1t.
 But, in the second place, if, as is clear, these bills are so grossly uncon- stitutional, then they can never be le- gally established if we continue to res 1 stthem. Let us commence cases now and continue cases as fast and as often as they arrive, and if, even after these military constitutions are framed and organized, and have oppressed an un-