Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1868-01-24

very respectfully, lr, your ooedtent ser
want ED. R. S. CASBY,
Brevet Major General Commanding.
BARSwELL, Jan. Z, ls6s'-SIR: reply
immediately to your note Of the 4th January
just received.
l did not expect, and did not ask, that you
q military commander, would consider the
constitutonality of the reconstruction acts,
But did expect that you would point to the
clause in those act which empowered you 10
suspend me from the performance of the du-
ties Of my office and TO deprive me of my
property in that Office, by ordering the State
Treasurer to withhold the salary which the
State contracted to pay me when was com-
stoned one of her Judges. You will remem-
Der, that am still Judge of South Carolina.
You have not ventured to remove me vet,
aud If you had, You cannot deprive me of my
office. You cannot point to any authority
In the acts, but excuse your injustice and
usurpation by saying, 'that as your action
involved serious delay In the dministration
Of justice, and imposed upon the State, In its
impoverished condition, additional expenses
fol the maintenance Of prisoners, and for
of the districts in the Southern Circuit, | did
not consider it proper or just to add to those
burdens by authorizing compensation for SER
vices that were not rendered"
Indignantly repel This SANDER. was in
the actual performances Of my duties, under
the laws Of the State of South Carolina, that
had conferred on me my judicial Office, and
to whom, alone, | am accountable When
you, by high-handed usurpaton of au thor
ity, not conferred on you by any law OF Con-
gress, or article Of war, suspended me in the
very effort, was making TO administer JUS
tice to asuffering people. What yUsTics was
to be administered by such juries as you had
directed to be drawn7 You know or should
have known, that your order as To juries, was
not authorized by any act of Congress-
You know or should have known, that ju-
ries selected as you directed, presented the
most serious impediment to the admnistra-
ton Of justice. You know or should have
known, that my oath Of office prevented me
from carrying out yeur order-snd yet as
mere partisan, without considering the dig
nifty OF my position, the character Of my be-
loved State, or the responsibility Of your
own station, in the very wantonness of pow.
Ell, you put upon me an indignity which was
unworthy OF the great government you re-
present, and must add, appears to me now
to be not only rcsentful, but unmany. LET
YOUR BROTHER OFFICERS OF THE OLD ARMY
JUDGE.
As Conscientious Judge and man of
honor, ] could not carry out your order with.
out violating my oath Of Office. said so
frankly. You suspended me. yielded
without murmur, and now, because have
a conscience that will not permit me, as
think, TO violate my oath Of Office with high
handed tyranny, you not only deprive me OF
the dignity of that Office, but rob me Of its
support, and then insutingly tell me that
my "action bas involved a serious delay in
the administration Of justice" forgetting
that il was your own unauthorized and Off.
cious interference with the laws Of the State
that placed the first and only impediment In
the way of justice. With what consistency
can you talk about the ''impoyerished con-
dtion" Of The State, when only on the Sd
Of December last, yor issued general order
No. l39, assessing tax for the very salary
you have directed the Treasurer TO withhold,
and did actually make an appropriation for
its payment How does II help the people
of an impoverished State, to wiring taxes out
of them, which you afterwards direct TO be
locked up in the treasury
Why trouble yourself about State bur-
dens, when the people, Il mean white people,
tax-payers,) with singular unanimlty ap-
prove my course and sustain me under my
present trials3
No, sir, | am not deceived, nor 10 the coun-
try, by this mere subterfdge. You cover