The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1867-05-18
PRESIDENT IOIENsON's vETO
or THE MILITARY BILL.

| for the moro efficient government OF tho
rebel states, with care and anxiety, which
its transceudent ntimportancoi Is ealeulatedto
awaken. / am unabeto gIyeitmy assent
for reasons so grave that | hope state
ment of them may have some influence on
the minds Of the pattiotic and enlightened
men with whom the decision must ulti-
mately rest.
The bill places all tho people of ten
states therein named under the absolute
domination of military rules; aud the
preamble undertakes to give the reason
upon which il is justified.
Ii declares that there exists in those
states no legal governments, and no nde-
quate protection for life or property, and
assoits tho necessity ofenforoing peace and
good order within their limits. Is this
tEulk as .. nsAtter OF fact? II is not deni-
ed that the states in question have each
of them an actual government, with all
the powers, executive, juridicial, aud leg
islatiye, which properly belongs to free
state.
They are organized like the other states
Of the union, aud like them they nuke ad-
minister. and execute tho laws which CON
Germ theiFdonlcstic affairs. An existing de
Iacto government, exercising such iunc-
tions as these, is itsclfthe Jaw of state upon
all matters within It's jurisdiction. To pro.
nounco the supreme law.making poWor Of
an established state Illegal. is to say that
law itself is unlawful. Tho provisions
which these governments have made for
the preservation Of order, the suppression
of crime, aud the redress of private iujur-
les, are in substance aud principle the
same as those which prevail in the North
ern states, and in other civilized countries
They certainly have not succeeded
jn preventing the commission of all crime,
nor has this been accomplished anywhere
in the world. There, us well rs elsewhere,
offenders sometimes escape for want Of Wig.
orous prosecution. and occasionally per
haps by the insufiicicncy of the courts, or
the prejudice of Jurors II is undoubted
" true that theSo OWLS have been much
increased and aggravated North and South
by the dcmoTaliaing Influences of civil war.
and By the rancoroHs passions which the
contest has engcndcr0d, but that these
people are maintaining local governments
for themselves which habitually defeat
the object of all government and render
their own lives aud property insecure, is
iu itself utterly improbable, and the aver
ment of the bill to that effect is not sup
ported by any evidence which Las come 10
my knowledge. All the Indignation have
ON the subject convinces me that the mass
cs of the Southern people aud thosa who
control ihair public aeis, while they enter
tain diverse opinions on questions of Fed
cral polSy, are completely united IN their
effort to reorganizc thcif society on the
basis Of peace, and to restore their mutual
prosperity as rapidly aud as completely as
their circumstances will permit. The bill,
however, woald seem TO show upon It's face
that ,he establishment of peace and good
order is not its real object.
The fifth section declares that the procad-
ing sections shall cease to operate in any
state where certain events shall have hap
pcncd These events arc first, the sclcc-
tion of delegates to a state convention by
an election, at which negroes shall be al.
lowed to vote; second, the formation of a
state constitution by the convention so cho-
sen third, the insertion into the state con-
stiiution Of provision which will secure
the right Of voting at all clctions 10 negroes
aud to such..whiic mcn as may not be dis.
fraHchised for rebellion or felony fourth,
the submission of the constitution for ratiG-
cation TO negroes and white men not dis
franchised, and It's actual ratification by
their vote; fifth, the submission Of the
state constitution to Congressfor examina-
ton, and the actual approval oft by that
body; sixth, the adoption of certain a.
mendment to the federal consultation By q
vote of the legislature elected under the
new constitution seventh. the adoption
ofsaid amendment by sufficient number
of other votes TO make it part Of the con-
stitution of the United States All these
conditions must be fulfilled before the
people Of any Of these states can be reliey-
ed FROM the bondage Of military domina-
tion, but when they are fulfilled, then i'm
mediately the pains and penalties OF the
bill are to cease, no matter whether there
be peace and order or not, and without any
reference TO the security OF life and prop
erty. The excuse given for the bill in the
preamble is admitted by the bill itself
not to be real. The military rule which
it establishes, is plainly to be used not for
any purpose Of forder, or fer the prevention
of crime, but solely as a means of cocrcing
the people into the adoption Of principles
and measures to which it is known that
they are opposed, and upon which they
have an ilndeniable right to exercise their
own Judgment.
Isubmit to Congress whether this meas.
ure is not in its whole character, scope and
object without precedent and without au-
thority; in palpablc conflict with the
plainest provisions of the constitution, and
utterly destructive to those great princi-
Piles Of liberty and humanity for which our
ancestors, on both sides Of the Atlantic,
shed SO much blood, and expended so
much treasure.
The ten states named in the bill are d.
vidcd into Ave districts for. each. district
an officer Of the army, not below the rank
of brigadier general, is to be- appointed to
rule over the people, and he is to be sup
ported with an efficient military force, to
enable him to perform his duties and en-
force his authority. Those duties and that
authority as defined by the third section Of
the bill, are to protect all persons IN their
rights of person and property. to suppress
insurrection, disorder and violence, and to