The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1868-03-14

that tribunal. General Grant has bee
put at the head of the army and author
lied to suppress all the great civil right
and institutions ofthe Southern people,
to suspend the CONSTITUTIONAL SUP
press trial by jury to kill whom h
Wills to take the property of whom h
wills; to imprison whom he wills, and
as we hear, proceedings in the cast Q
McCardle have been discontinued by til,
military authorities, to dodge by al
means the Supreme Court! That i
what they call Radical patriotism
General Grant, next to the President, i
at the head of the army, and in doin;
these things We take it for granted he i
determined to make up an issue between
the people of the United States and til,
army of the United States. The poop
lie prefer the civil establishment but the
Radicals and General Grant prefer mill
tary establishment The people would
like to defer to the decision of the Su
preme Court. General Grant and the
Radicals think it better to dodge the
Supreme Court. Mr.. Stanton-Gene-
raj Grants particular friend-had Gen.
eral Thomas arrested the other day, and
McCardle-like, had him suddenly dis.
charged from custody that was dodg,
ing the Supreme Court. This is Radi.
cal patriotism.
The Constitution c%onfers upon Con
gress certain specific powers, prohibits
that body from doing certain things,
limits its Jurisdiction to the granted
powers. The Supreme Court is made, by
the organiclaw ofthe Union, the judge Of
the powers granted to the other depart
ments. To dodge the Supreme Court, then,
is strategy. Nobody can see how a linn
i~tation put upon Congress is of any val
ue, or can be of any force, if no author
ity is constituted to determine in any
given case whether that Limitation has
been respected or not. A law that can
not be enforced is not much of a law,
after all. So we see by lodging the
Supreme Court, Congress becomes alb
solute. The Constitution is nullifed to
that extent. AS quite all the acts of
Congress which violate the Constitution
confer arbitrary powers upon General
Grant, whose vision is limited to the
narrow world of Congressional authori-
ty, it is that functionary more than any
other upon whom is devolved the strate-
gy of lodging the Supreme Court. The
grand object is to erect military power.
To do this, the Court must be avoided.
General Grant, rightly enough, prefers
army government; and if he will confne
it to soldiers and officers, nobody will
object. W. speak the English Ian
guage; and where the English language
is spoken, persons in civil lite have
never been governed by martial law.
The arbitrary will of a commander is
called, by courtesy, "martial law" 1t
is not law at all. 1t is the point and the
edge of the swo:d-it is force-it is trea-
son against humanity. II the enslave-
ment Ct Africans was a crime, what is
the ~enslavement Of Americans by Gen
eral Grants military government ? Afri-
can slavery was proscriptive General
enslavement of the whites of the
comes of the order of a Radical
caucus. In obeying a Radical caucus,
and lodging the Constitution and the
Court, General Grant has iden-
tilted his fortunes and cast his future
into the fortunes andfuture ofRadicalism.
General Grant prefers to stake his chan
ces on the perpetui,y of Radicalism,
andto be governed by the tenets of Rad
calism-to live Or die with Radicals
than to lean on the Constitution, and
live or die in its service.
Radicalism suppresses trial by Jury,
and puts millions Of lives in the keep
.ng of General Grant, and impeaches the !
President for turning Stanton out of thu
War Office. Radicalism assumes III
light to substitute its will for the Gu@@
law of the Constitution, and impeacSgs
he President for breaking the Tenure of
IN official person whose term exnired, in
ruth, under the act. of March ., 1867,
IN the third of April, 1865. Stanton
vas appointed Secretary Of War by Mr..
to succeed Cameron ; and the
let of March 2, 1867, says he shall hold
he office for and during the term of
he President by whom he was appoin-
ed, and for one month thereafter" sub
ect to removal during said term) by
md with the advice and consent of the
President Lincoln's "term"
xpired on the 4th of March,, 1865; and
0, in n month thereafter, Stanton's
term ABSOLUTELY expired. For clos
ng Btanton from a place he held byl
ufG 8ce the President is impeacha%
eonstruing a statute as everybe4aw-
f is compelled to construe its as the
ipta@Pveted it as it must ever
e bhePreted by bench and bar, the
resident is %impeached!
Now, we say to the country, impeach-
lent is the frstdDait of the military des-
otism estabI&ed by Congress-, under
he dictatorship of Genral Grant. We
Ike t9bbM things by their right names.
Tissue is the military against the
power. What most enrages Con-
%ss is SINS of disobedience to the for .
Ter, an2espect for the latter. For such
ken ancock is threatened with expul- :
0aSfrom the army. Be it so, gentle t
pa. We accept the issue, and we pro-
- light you till va haze an ahsa $
q aay g5sSz4aHsneSNdhoadz -
Mgemcer.
the Sword.