Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1868-09-18

which they we're called together to pass.
We publish them as sent to the Gov
ernor for his signature. No apology is
necessary for their large exclusion of
other matter If they can be made to
prevail, all else is worthless. The |
mind reels aud staggers in amazement
at their contemplation. In their unpar
allied assumption of power, they must
break down before that degree of popu.
lar Indignation which in all ages has
unsettled kingdoms and changed the
historic current of the mightiest nations.
The military bill lays violent hands
upon that great Achievements of centu
lies-that pillar Of our Constitution
which forbids standing armies in times
of peace. 1t makes it legal for Gov
ernor, who may have Disseminated
and seditious band of followers ia any
county, to iuaugurate hloodshed aud
revolution in defiance of the vast num-
Der who support and uphold the State
1t draws the blade of revolution across
those costly pages written on the bloody
plains of England in,the the seventeenth
century, and raised to the highest stand
ard of human excellence in the Ameri.
can revolution of the eighteenth. 1t
gives that functionaIy the power, almost
at will, to suspend the haJeas corpus,
the only barrier between the passion Of
the ruler and the enslavement and even
death of the subject. Ii makes taxes
unequal in the Commonwealth, and
finally, at his high behcst, it levels at Il
blowthe barrier of common interest inside
which all good citizens could meet to pro
mote the glory of the State, and incites
those feelings of antagonism which will
outliye the present generation.
The bill for the suppression of the
Kuklur Kan is stab Mt civilization.
If it could be enforced, it would destroy
all government and end the hopes and
aspirations of men. As the culmina>
ton Of passion and brutal maliguity, it
towers above the fragmentary history of
Herod and of Nero. In abandonment
of the low virtue of sclf-love, which
generates fear of rctribution, it is only
equaled by the South Sea Islander, who
eats his own offspring; and in that high
daring which is the soul Of depravity,
its authors have dreamed Of power
while sitting on the necks of men, until
they have assumed the prerogative Of
Heaven.
This bill attempts to bring every
citizen to the low level of the Teuness ee
officer. 1t clothes every man with con
stabulary power, and attempts the i'm
possible thing of bringing them to use
their equality of authority in each
others arrest. 1t offers high premium
for false swearing, suborns the ends Of
all lawlessncss, and is fnai affront tc
human virtue. 1t gives the citizen
without adequate restraint, the right tC
slay his fellow, and in defiance of the
fundamental law of the State and Uuion,
makes its own power retroactive i
gives to one county officer the right t.
collect by summary meaus large amountI
from another county; it clothes tn,
Attorney General, under the stimulus o
pocuniary gains to himself, with th,
power Of proceeding against any one il
response to his own suspicion, and T.
modest by prosecution the traveller o
his way across the Commonwealth; j
even claims the citizens of every countr,
on the globe as ameuable to his process
The bill was passed to provoke rcvolu
ton. 1t has violence and treachery 70
its means and bloodshed for its ends
and has been passed with the deprave,
hope of electiUg Grant to the Presidenc
in defiance Of the sober popular will
10 accomplish this end aud thus proIoni
their power, the perpetrators of this ex
pertinent have como in the garb Of ciyi
justice TO light up the homes Of thei
people with conhagrltiou intended +
fire the turbulent Northern heart 70
renewed aggression upon fallen people
We counsel our friends in Tennessee {
exhibit true courage by refusing, to tn
limit of possibility, resistance TO thi
measure, save through the military arm
of the Federal Government Dcfca
its object. Look to the Ord of Novem
Der; there lies your defence, On tina
day erect high the banner Of Democrac
and redeem our country from anarchy
Beasts of low but vicious instinct rovol
at light, and the administration of Ten
nessee, strong in the environs of it
usurpation aud base in it's treachery {
mankind, will skulk away from Demo
cratic sun in 1868.
We know this act cannot be enforce