American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1867-10-05

with that of Massachusetts, or any
othar Northern State. A very large
majority of the crimes committed IN
Mississippi SINCE the close OF me
war have been perpetrateo oy lnui-
y;dua1s of that favored class OF popu,,
Iation which has been the especial
object of Congressional solicitude.
that MANY murders, rapes, burgla-
rias crimes. ETC., have been commit
ted by the blacks is lamentaoly true,
and it is equally true that they were
;nstioated to the commission OF these
cr;nes by the marks Of favorltlsm ana
INDULGENCE bestowed upon them
Nor need we expect an abatement IN
tba commission of crime so long as
the same causes exist. Still, our
government and laws, when permit
fed TO take their course, are aDuhd-
antly adequate for our protectlon.
Our criminal laws have been maze
more rigorous to suit emergencies. f.;
we have the same system Oh clNll
laws under which we had lived long
in Tie Union, and our laws, both civil
and criminal, were faithfully admin
istered by such officers as we had al
wavs had. Indeed, there is no com
plaint that the laws were not well au,
mipistered the complaint is, tnaG
the government was not illegal" ana
loyaI. bv which it is to be UNDERSTOOD
that a government was wanted whlch
J,-~ld be loyal to the party, since IL
Constitution IN anSapdict with the
After reading such q prea~.,o :.
would naturally be supposed thai
the body of the act contained pro
visions looking to the more adequate
protection for life or property" but
are any such provisions to be found
there9 not at all, ON the contrary
the subject is never alluded to; what
protection we had by our laws was
taken from us; then the preamble
was mere false pretense our pro-
lection was confided to the tender
mercies of a military despotism. The
ten Southern States were made to
comprise five military districts, each
placed under the CONTROL of a military
commander, probably in imitation Of
the example set by an arbitrary and
tyrannfcal King of England, who
divided the kingdom into. military
districts -four l believe) with gen.
erai in command of each district.
The act proceeds to declare that it
shall be the duty of the com handing
generals, P" to protect all persons in
their rights of property, to suppress
instructions, disorder and violence,
and to punish or cause to be punish
ed, all disturbers of the peace and
criminals Now, mark the broad ex-
tent Of this language; the military
officer was to do all this without law,
without courts, except military
courts, without jury; no rule to
guide him but his own will. And
what little power was wanting to
make his will absolutely supreme
has been given him by the recent act
Of the called session. And this is the
protection TO life and property so
fDreshadowed by the PIE
lmDle. If it be protection to the
lights OF peEsVu and property to
place them at the discretion of one
nan-to dispense with the principle |
hat no man shall be deprived of life, |
ibeTty or property but by due course |
If law-to dispense with warrant
ounded on affidavit as prerequisite
o arrest--to dispense with the sacred
light of trial by jury-to deny the
privilege of the h0beds corpus, then
re have it, and civil government is
mere mockery. Either history is
llse, or military government is the
lOst tyranical, the most oppressive,
nd the most insecure for life or prop
rty OF any other, excepting only the
of an assembly of tyrants.
he man must be deluded, indeed,
no can believe that protection or
God order was any part of the OBJ
Ct Of these acts. What, then, were
lie objects9 | repeat, party strength,
estruction Of the government. 1t
plainly to be implied from the
nguage Of the preamble. that
ongTess claimed a supremacy over
lie State governments, but this
aim is undisguisedly set forth in
Ie sixth section which declares that
any civil government which may 9
list in any of the said States, shall {
deemed provisional only, and: in G
respects subject to the paramount r
lthority of the United States, at G
" time to abolish, modify, control t
supersede the same" There is r
installing this language it /
MOUNTS simply to an assertion that c
,ngress is supreme, and can abol. b
a, control, modify or supersede the b
ate governments at pleasure, for it P
IS been shown that Mississippi was
State in the Union, 80 recognized t
: all the departments, so settled S
yond the power of denial, by the a
,ue of the war. If this can be done E
tn regard to Mississippi, then the G
me may be done with regard to II
y other State, or all of them. p
till further to prove that the alleged 9
security for life and property were :,
t the evils to be redressed, we look q
vain in the acts for any provision q
luiring the convention to be called u
provide any further security than a !,
at already furnished by the laws u
the State. We find them, how p
er, very clear and explicit on an q
Ter subject, and thelobject so clearly,
t forth we must take as the true