Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1869-03-16

ing subordinate officers independent of and abl
to defy their chief They have attempted t.
place the President under the power of a bold
defiant and treacherous Cabinet officer. The.
have robbed the Executive of the prerogativ
of pardon, rendered null and void acts of elem
ency granted to thousands Of persons under th
provisions of the Constitution, and committed
gross usurpation, by legislative attempts to ex
erclse this power in favor of party adherents
They have conspired to change the system
OF our Government by preferring charges agalns
the President In the form of articles OF Inn
parchment, and contemplating, before hearing
or trial. that he should be placed in arrest, helC
IN durance, and, when it became their pleasure
to pronounce his sentence, driven from place
and power in disgrace. They have in time O.
peace increased the national debt by reckless
expenditure of the public moneys, and thu.
added to the burdens which already weigh up.
on the people. They have permitted the ma
ton to suffer the evils of a deranged currency
to the enhancement in price Of all the necessa
ries of life. They have maintained large
standing army for the enforcement Of then
measures Of oppression. They have engaged
In class legislation, and built up and encouraged
monopolies, that the few might be enriched al
the expense Of the many. They have failed to
act upon important treaties, thereby endanger-
Ing our present peaceful relations with foreign
| powers.
| Their course of usurpation has not been
limited to inroads upon the Executive Depart
| ment.
| By unconstitutional and oppressive enact
ments, the people of ten States Of the Union
have been reduced to a condition more intolera
bic than that from which the patriots of the
Revolution rebelled Millions of American
| citizens can now say of their oppressors, with
| more truth than our fathers did of British ty-
rants, that they have forbidden the governors
to pass laws Of immediate and pressing import
ance, unless suspended until their assent should
be obtained )" that they have refused to pass
other laws for the accommodation OF large dis
tricts Of people, unless those people would re-
linquish the right of representation in the Leg
islature-a right inestimabe to them, and
formidable to tyrants only" that they have
made judges dependent upon their will alone
for the tenure of their offices, and the amount
and payment of their salaries - that they have
''erected multitude OF new offices, and sent
hlther sWarms of officers to harass our people
and eat out their substance that they have
affected to render the military independent of
and superior to the civil power combined
with others to subject us to ajurisdiction fereign
to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by
our laws" ''quartered large bodies Of armed
troops among US, - protected them by mock
trial from punishment for any. murders which
they should commit on the inhabitants of these
States, imposed taxes upon us without our
consent, deprived us in many cases of the
benefit of trial by jury taken away our char
ters, excited domestic insurrectlOn amongst US,
abolished our most valuable laws, altered
fundamentally the forms Of our Government,
suspended our own Legislatures, and declared
themselves invested with power to legislate for
us in all cases whatsoever"
This catalogue crimes, long as it is, is not yet
complete. The Constitution vests the judicial
power of the United States in one Supreme
Court" whose jurisdiction ''shall extend to all
cases arising under this Constitution and the
laws of the United States" Encouraged by
this promise ofa refuge from tyranny, citizen
of the United States who, by the order of a
military commander, given under the sanction
of cruel and deliberate edict Of Congress, had
been denied the constitutional rights of liberty
Of conscience, freedom of the press and of
speech, personal freedom from military arrest
Of being held to answer for crime only upon
presentment and indictment, of trial by jury,
of the writ of habeas corpus, and the protec-
ton Of civil and constitutional governments
citizen, thus deeply wronged, appeals to the
Supreme Court for the protection guaranteed
to him by the organic law Of the land. At
once fierce and excited majority, by the ruth
less hand Of legislative power, stripped the er~
mine from the judges, transferred the sword Of
justice to the General, and remanded the op-
pressed citizen to degradation and bondage
worse than death.
1t will also be recorded as one Of the mar
yes OF the times, that party claiming for itself
monopoly OF consistency and patriotism, and
boasting, too, of its unlimited sway, endeavor
ed by a costly deliberate trial, to impeach one
who defended the Constitution and the Union
not only throughout the war of the rebellion,
but during his whole term of office as Chief
Magistrate; but at the same time could find no
warrent Or means at their command to bring to
trial even the chief of the rebellion, Indeed
the remarkable failures in his case were 50 of~
ten repeated that for propriety' sake, if for no
other reason, 1t became at last necessary to eX
tend TO him an unconditional pardon. What
more plainly than this illustrates the extremity
of party management and inconsistency on the
one hand, and OF faction, vlndlctlvenes and IN
tolerance on the latter? Patriotism will hardly
be encouraged when, In such record, it sees
that its instant reward may be the most viru
lent party abuse and obloquy, if not attempted
disgrace. Instead of seeking to make treason
odious," it would in truth seem to have been
their purpose rather to make the defence of the
Constitution and the Union a crime and to
punish fidelity to an oath OF office, IT counter
to party dictation, by all the means at their
command.
Happily for the peace Of the country, the
war has determined against the assumed power
of the States to withdraw at pleasure from the
Union. The institution of slavery also found
its destruction in a rebellion commenced in its
interest 1t should be borne in mind, however
that the war neither impaired nor destroyed
the Constitution, but, on the contrary, preserv-
ed its existence, and made apparent its real
power and enduring strength All the rights
granted to the States, or reserved to the peo
Pile thereof, remain therefore intact. Among
those rights is that of the people of each State
to declare the qualifications OF their own State
electors. It is now assumed that Congress can
control this vital right, which can never be ta>
ken away from the States without impairing
the Fundamental principles of the Government
itself 1t is necessary to the existence of the
States, as well as to the protection Of the liber-
ties of the people; for the right to select the
elector in whom the political power of State
shall be lodged involves the right Of the State
to govern itself When deprived of this pre-
rogatiye, the States will have no power worth
retaining all will be gone, and they will be
Subjected to the arbitrary will of Congress- =
The Government will then be centralized, if not
by the passage Of laws, then by adoption
through partisan ipfuencc, of an amendment
directly in conflict with the original design of
the Constitution. This proves how necessary
it is that the people should require the admin
istration of the three great departments of the
Government strictly within the limitations of
the Constitution Their boundaries have been
accurately defined, and neither should be allow
ed to trespass upon the other, nor, above all, to
encroach upon the reserved rights of the peo-
nla and States The troubles of the mast four