The Elk advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Elk Co., Pa.) 186?-1868, 1867-08-01

each military commander the power to
suspend or remove from office, or from
the performance of official duties and the
exercise of official power, any officer Or
person holding or exercising, OF profess
ing to hold or exercise, any civil or mil
itary Office or duty in such district un-
der any power, election, appointment, or
authority derived from or granted by or
claimed under any so-called State or
the government thereof, or any munici-
pal or other division thereof" a power
that hitherto all the departments Of the
Federal Government, acting in concert
or separately, have not dared to exer-
else, is here attempted to be conferred
on subordinate military officer. To
him, as q mlitary officer Of the Federal
Government, is given the power, sup
ported by sufficient military force,"
to remove every civil officer of the
State. What next? The district COM
mander, who has thus displaced the
civil officer, is authorized to gil the va.
cancy by the detail Of an officer or sol.
dicr Of tho army, or by tho appointment
Of some other person. This military
appointee, whether an officer, soldier,
or some other person, is to perform the
duties Of such officer so suspended or
removed. In other words, an officer or
soldier Of the army is thus transformed
into civil officer.
He nay be made q governor, leg,
islator, or judge. However unfit he
may deem himself for such civil duties
he must obey the order The officer Of
the army must, if detailed, so upon the
supreme bench of the State with the
same prompt obedience as if he were
detailed to go on a court martial The
soldier, if detailed to act as justice Of
the peace, must obey as quickly as if he
were detailed for picket duty. What
is the character of such military civil
officer? This bill declares that he shall
perform the duties of the civil Office to
which he is detailed. 1t is clear, how
ever, that he does not lose his position
in the military service. He is still an
officer or soldier Of the army. He is
still subject to the rules and regulations
which govern it, and must yield due
Difference, respect aud obedience to-
wards his superiors. The clear inten-
tiou Of, this section is that, the officer or
soldier detailed to fill civil Office must
execute its duties according to the laws
of the State. If he is appointed gov
ernor of State he is to execute the du,
ties as provided by the laws of the State,
and for the time being his military
character is to be suspended in his new
civil capacity. If he is appointed a
S:ato Treasurer he must at once assume
the custody and disbursement Of the
funds of the State and must preform
these duties precisely according to the
laws Of the State, for he is intrusted
with no power. Holding the Office Of
treasurer, and entrusted with funds, il
happens that he is required by the
State laws to enter into bond with Sc.
curity and to take an oath Of Office
yet from the beginning of the bill TO the
end there is no provision for any bond
or oath of Office or for any single quail,
fication required under the State law
such as residence, citizenship, or any
thing else. The only oath that is pro
vided for in the ninth section, by the
terms of which every one detailed OF
appointed to any civil Office in the State
is required " to take and to subscribe
the oath of office prescribed by law fol-
the officers of the United States" Thus
an officer of the army of the United
States, detailed to fiji civil Office in one
of these States, gives no official bond
and takes no official oath for the per
formance of his new duties, but as {
civil officer of the State only takes the
same oath which he had already taken
as a military officer of the United States
He is at least a military officer perfor
ming civil duties, and the authority un
der which he acts is Federal authority
only, aud the inevitable result is tha
The Federal Government, by the agency
of its sworn officers, in effect assumes thu
civil government of the State,
A singular contradiction is apparen
here. Congress declares these loca
State governments to be illegal govern
ments, and then provides that the illega
governments are to be carried on b,
Federal officers, who are to perform the
very duties imposed on its own officer
by this illegal State authority. |
: would be novel spectacle if Congress
should attempt to carry on legal STATE
government by the agency of its officers
1t is yet more strange that Congress
attempts to sustain and carry on an lille
gal State government by the same Fed
eral agency.
In this connection l must call atten
tion to the tenth and eleventh section
of the bill, which provides that none o
the officers or appointees of these mill
tary commanders shall be bound il
their action by any opinion of any civi
officer of the United States, and that al
} the provisions OF the act shall be con
strued literally to the end that all tn