Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-12-07
The usurpations Of the Governor ana 'h'
|rH Legislature.

The usurpations Of the Governor and tho
Icf Legislature. 4,
A correspondent Of the fress ana
Tsm,s savs "there rests now an impef-
alive duly upon the Legislature 20 pass
he Nile hyineipg on the election OF Judges
and A,torneys General" The CORE
spondent then proceeds 70 show .na'
"under our constitutional law, the guar
fled voters have the right to select tne,r
Juaees and Chancellors; and Il Is made
the duly Of the Legislature not only 10
snnnort the Constitution in one respect
bnt in all. and TO provide that the cleo.
lions of Judges aud Attorneys General
sball be held, so as TO give the people
1,be oualified yoters) their right 70 choose
whomsoeyer they may please to be their
Jndoes: and this privilege cannot be
lawfully withheld from them, Asd 70 40 so
in any department OF our State govern
ment is violation OF the supreme,
law of the land, a usurpation oil
mower. aud a plain violation OF duty
IN sucb department" This is the tone
in which a correspondent Of the Radi'
cal organ at the capital is compelled to
refer 10 the usurpations Of Gov. Brown
low. The Legislature is urged to pass
hin bringing on the election OF Judges
and Attorneys General, when the con-
stitution and laws already in force make
Il the imperative duty Of the Governor to
order elections wherever vacancies may
exist. The Radicals have given us an
impracticable Governor, a man who
usurps power to such an extent that
members of his own party call upon the
Levi.lature to check him in his mad
career. not directly it is true, but BY
enac,ing law requiring him to do what
he il already required to do by law now
on the statute book. Is this the way to
deal with a usurper7 1t is an anomaly
in the history Of State, especially OF
Tennessee, that the Legislature IS COM
nelled 10 remind the Governor OF the
duty he has sworn to perform. Would this
conduct be tolerated If the Governor hap
nened TO be a Democratf Look at the
pretexts that we're set up by the Radicals
IN Congress as justification OF their
efforts to depose President johnson. Ii
he had been guilty Of a 1.-THE OF the
nsurpations which have marked the ad-
ministration Of Gov Brownlow, Is there
a man in all this broad land who does
not feel and know that be would have
been deposed and disgracedf Yet the
legislature. because the Governor is a
Radical. proposes to only mildly rebuke
him for acts which even his partisans are
compeled TO denounce as usurpahons.
Th;I i NOT the vay 10 deal with men in
hish Offices who set law at defiance. Ii
Gov. Brownlow has been guilty, as the
proposed law implies, of usurpation, In
making judicial appointments not au-
thorized by law, and of wilful disobedi-
ence of the Constitution and the law, In
not ordering elections 10 fill vacancies
in the judicial department of the
government, why should he not be
dealt with as other offenders? 1t is
admitted by the correspondent OF the
Radical organ at the capital, end taciily
by the members of the Legislature who
favor the passage of the bill now before
that body to bring on the election OF
Judges and Attorneys General, that the
Governor has been acting without the
authority of law in the appointments he
has made. The men he has thus sp-
pointed Judges have gone on and held
Courts in the several Circuits and passed
sentence upon parties convicted of Grim
inal offedses, and yet it appears they had
no legal authority to do so. Not only
has confusion been thus brought into the
Courts of the State, and the action taken
therein liable to be set aside by a compe-
tent tribunal, but the men who have as
sumed TO act as Judges under an ap-
noiptment and commission from Gov.
Brownlow, have placed themselves in a
positiou in which they might be sub
iected to criminal prosecution. The
Code of Tennessee provides as follows:
"4sl9. 1t shall be misdemeanor--
al. For any person falsely to assume
TO be a Judge, Justice of the Peace, Sher-
if. or other judicial or ministerial officer,
and take upon himself to act as such, or
to require any one to aid or assist him In
any matter pertaining to the duty OF any
such officer
10. To take upon himself to exercise
and oficiate in any Office or place of au-
thority in this State without being legally
authorized"
1t is a clear case that the men who
have been appointed by Gov Brownlow
as Judges were not illegally authorized"
TO act as such, because be has no authori-
ty to make judicial appointments except
in temporary cases. What their acts
would amount to before properly con-
stituted court, court composed Of men
who reverence constitutions and laws, it
is not dificult to guess Union and Dis
patch.