The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-02-02
GEN. HANCOCK AND ACTING GOVERNOR
PEASE.

| OF 1eXas, requested zen. Hancock 10 lnStl-
tute military commission for the trial of
certain alleged offenders in Uvalde county, of
that State. Gen. Hancock declined to order
the commission, declaring that he saw no
occasion for it in the state of facts repre-
sented by the acting governor Acting Gov
ernor Pease now replies in letter. published
in the Texas papers, taking issue with Gen.
Hancock on the view of the law presented by
that officer, and attempting TO show that his
| reasons for declining to order the commission
are unfounded. The acting governor takes
the usual ground that the government of
| Texas is not a goyernment-that Institution
having been, in his opinion, extinguished by
act of Congress. He recites the portion of
the law pronouncing the governments of the
"rebel States illegal, and the further por-
ton declaring them to be provisional, and
sums up this portion of his argument as
! follows
! ] am a. loss to understand how a government
without representation in Congress and without
| any militia force, with such limited powers. aud
thus subject 20 be further limited and changed A.
| pleasure by the military commander of the dis
trct, can With any proprety be called Stdte
/ gOUernmeTtt organized IN SubOrdiHdtiOn to The
| and az Jul exercise Of all as proper p0lre,S.
Acting Governor Pease seems not to COM
| prehehd that the question is not, whether or
not the State government of Texas is illegal
and provisional, but whether or not the State
government of Texas exists. The reconstruc-
ton laws, in accordance with which General
Hancock acts, declare that government to be
| illegal and provisional; but in that very de-
claration they assume that it is in existence.
| They provide machinery for superseding it
with another government; but they take care
not to annihilate it; nor do they confer the
| power to annihilate it on the military COM
mander. They assume paramount authority
for the United States; but they do not dele
gate paramount authority to General Han
cock. They confer certain powers andimpose
certain duties on that officer, and he cannot,
| legally, exceed those powers and duties. He
can, if he please, remove officials; but he
cannot set aside the laws. He may, if he
choose. try offenders by military commission,
but he is not compelled to adopt that method
of enforcing the criminal law. In General
Hancock's judgment no occasion for the ex-
eTcise of this power exists in Texas; and
General Hancock's judgment is quite as good
as that of Acting Governor Pease. At all
events the acting governors exalted idea of
the prerogatives of the military commanders,
even in questionable matters, ought to show
him the improperly of disputing General
Hancock's right to exercise an unquestioned
power, in the manner which pleases him.
The acting governor also dissents from Gen.
-. Al.
country is in state of profound peace" He
says that peace does not exist in Texas because
great many people feel no affection for the
United States government; because many of
them regard the legislation of Congress as I'M
constitutional and hostile to their interests;
because they look on the Acknowledgement of
portion of their class as an act of insult and
oppression, and because homicides are of fire.
quent occurrence in the State. All of which
is simply nonsense. Mems political opinions
may lead to war; but they are not war. A
man may consider the acts of Congress I'M
constitutional, oppressive, and tyrannical
without subjecting himself to capture and i'm
prisonment as a public enemy He may
think it oppressive and insulting to disfran-
NAAAoO AiAi' NAAAouN bOAAiS justly iV5dLuCl as u
belligerent. If acting Governor Pease thinks
that the existence of such opinions-in other
words, general tendency to disagree with
him in politics-cOnstitutes a state of war. he
ought by all means to ask, not for military
commissions, but prize courts. He ought 10
capture these hostile people, and imprison
them. He ought to besiege their towns, and
a. fbair Gn1Iu Dr7E 70 49,, I.
military commission would be violation Of
the laws Of war.
Public enemies are entitled to belligerent
rights ard The treatment due to prisoners of
war, should they be captured. To tell Gen
eral Hancock that Texas is at war with the
United States, and then to ask him to try the
belhgerents by military commission, is to re-
quire him to act the part Of Butler or Haynau
OF course the absurdity to which the argu-
ment leads is conclusive as to its fallacy 1t
is treated seriously here, only because Acting
Governor Pease appears to advance it seri-
ously. It is certainly unfortunate that homi-
cides occur so frequently in Texas; and quite
as unfortunate that the culprits so often es-
cape. But If this circumstance justifes the
suppression Of civil authority and the estab-
lishment of military despotism, who can tell
when the necessity is to pass away? The act
| ing governor says that men are now pre-
vented from killing each other in Texas, ad
tLih1a, only by fear of military commissions.
The inference is that the total withdrawal Of
military authority and the full re-establish-
ment Of statute law would lead to a renewal Of
Eomicidal acts. But the object Of the recon-
| struction acts is declared to be the final reor-
ganizatiun Of the civil authority Hence the
inference is that the acting governor can see
no termination to the long vista Of military
domination. This is the necessary deduction
from his argument, but it is a deduction
which the moro rational and philosophical
mind of General Hancock rejects and con-
tennis.
" Echoes from the Clubs" an Eagsh pubca.
ton, has paper on the subject Of Literary
Lareenies." in which the principal standard