Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-03-13
COLUMBUS, O., FRIDAY MORNING,

setting up of the so-called Confederate
States, were illegal, those States being still
constitutionally in the Union." Again,
say that the establishment of "peace and
good order'' in these States is not the real
object of the bill. as its preamble declares
butithat under the pretense of enforcing
these things, another and a different object
is sought to be accomplished; for, while
the bill contains no provision by which
these States can be again represented in
Congress, when it appears that sspeace and
good order" are enforced, it does in its fifth
section declare that they shall be ,entitled
representation in. Congress, when their
people shall adopt and ratify a new Consti-
tuition, which shall provide thai the
elective franchise shall be enjoyed by all
o the male citizens twenty-one years old
and upward, of whatever race, color or
previous condition, except such as may be
disfranchised for participation in the rebel
lion, or for felony at common, law, and
when, after the examination and approval
of this Constitution by Congress, the Leg
islatures of these States elected under 1T,
shall adopt the amendment to the Consti-
tuition of the United States, proposed by
the Thirty ninth Congress. thus showing
that the real object of the bill is to secure
negro suffrage and negro supremacy In
these States. False in its inception, it is.
also. despotic and unconstitutional in its
provisions. For, by it. the people of ten
States of this Union-States that in them
selves are free and independent, and to each
Of which the Constitution of the United
States guarantees a republican form of
government, are subjected to military
despotism. Dividing them into five mill
tary districts, it assigns to the command of
each.an officer of the army. with q suffi-
cfent military force to enable him to per-
form his duties, and enforce his authority
mi ,ir,rr 6ictri iaf Tl,o hor of 70,
millions of people-people whose ances-
tors fought side by side with ours, to es-
tablish this Government, and who have,
heretofore, been strangers to oppression,
are in the hands of these five military COM
manders. This act invests them with
full power to organize military COM
missions or tribunals for the trial of
any and all offenses, and renders powerless
the authorities of these States to interfere
in behalf of those who may be made the
victims of their displeasure. The people
of. these States may be wronged. and yet
the tribunals to which they have been ac-
customed to apply for redress cannot af-
ford relief, for these dictators have the
power to close all courts OF justice, and to
administer such laws, and only such, as
they may deem proper. The person who
Is there charged with any Offense, whether
it be real or imaginary one. may ask the
privilege of being tried by jury of his
country men. and under the provisions of
this bill, these despots may return him an
swer that their will is superior to that
clause of the Constitution which provides
that the accused shall enjoy the right to a
speedy and public trial by an impartial
jury of the State and district wherein the
crime shall have been committed. He may
ask to be confronted with the witnesses
against him, and may be informed that no
evidence is necessary for his conviction and
cpnfanaa md when he hae bppp ipnnriS-
oned arbitrarily, and in violation OF all the
laws known to the Constitution of his
State, and OF the United States, he may
likewise be deprived of the privilege of the
writ of habeds corpus, which has been
for centuries the faithful guardian Cf
the personal liberty of the people, not only
in our own country, but in England also,
which has for ages defended this right
from invasion, and has vindicated it when
Invaded, and which the Constitution of the
United States declares shall never be sus-
pended. unless when in cases of invasion or
rebellion the public safety may require it.
Freedom of speech and of the press, which
is so inseparably connected with the SOW
ereignty of the people that the existence
of the one is dependent upon the existence
of the other, is also made. subservient to
the wish of these military commanders.
But is the passage of this bill consistent |?
Is tia fulfillment of the pledges made by
Congress and the leaders of this Radical
party, when, during the war, in order to
raise men and money to carry it on, they
told us that its object was to put down the
rebellion, and that so soon as this was ac-
complished these States should be restored
to their relation to the Union with all their
rights unimpaired? Does it accord with the
resolution passed by Congress in July, 1861,
which declared that the war was notwaged
on our part in any spirit OF oppression,
nor for any purpose of conquest or subju-
CATION, nor for the purpose of overthrow
ing or Interfering with any of the estab-
lished rights or institutions of the States,
but to defend and maintain the supremacy
OF the Constitution, and to preserve the
Union with all the dignity, equality and
rights OF the States unimpaired? The
Constitution, every single provision OF
which has been violated and trampled un-
der foot, answers "No." The annihlation
of the rights of the States answers "No.'
The spirits of the departed soldiers, whose
bones lie bleaching on every field from the
Potomac to the Rio Grande. answer mo-
And the heart of every true lover OF his
country must, within him, when he thinks
that this is the consummation of all the
fond hopes in which he indulged when the
surrender of Lee to Grant, and of John
ston to Sherman, was proclaimed to the
world.
When the people of England presented
to Charles the First their petition of right
setting forth the grievances to which they
had been subjected, and demanded that he
should secure to them the powers and priv
ileges which had been transmitted to then
by their ancestors, and he, entering the
HOUSE of Parliament, told them that what
they desired should be law, acclamations
resounded throughout the House, and uni
versal Joy was diffused over the nation.-
The ends that the people had in view were
accomplished. What they asked had beer
granted. But the popular leaders. impla-
cable and artful. resolved to pursue theil
victory, and making every concession OF
the King the foundation for demands still
more exhorbitant, they finally deter
mined to seize the whole, by the
power of the sword, and bestow it upcr
their adherents. Plunging their countI J
into civil war. they beheaded their king
Event succeeded event, till at last Crom
well dissolved the Parliament and took in
to his own hands all power, both civil ant
military. Resolving no longer to keep an,
terms with the Royalists he issued an edic
exacting the tenth penny, and under tn
pretense that it was necessary in order t.
raise this imposition, he divided the Who'll
kingdom of England into twelve grant
military divisions, and placed them unde
the command of as many Major Generals
These men, assisted by commissioners, un
der color OF the powers granted them
which were sufficiently exorbitant, exer
cised an authority still more arbitrary, an
acted as if absolute masters of the person
and property of every subject, subiectini
the nation (as the historian tells us), to s
military and despotic Government, exer
cised according to the maXims of easter
tyranny. And the passage of this bill, i
my opinion, but paves the way for tn
repetition in our country of the scenes tina
har Qna tpd N
acts of those men who have been called up
on to exercise the high and arbitrary po wer
granted by the bill, force me to conclud
that such will be result. In the Language
of the able men who appeared in the Su
preme Court of the United States, on be
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