The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-12-09

UOtu III tuo NOItu uuu sAo SoosAs Vo
have aeen the great writ .uf Aabeas corpus
trampledS under foot, and too often the
gleam of tho soldiers bayonet has
flashed before Che eyes OF hereditary
freemen. s - =
Tn the North, the s-ny hes been eui-
ployed in popular elections. More espe-
cially has it been used to aid the internal
revenue officers, and upon high authority
it mny be added that, under existing
regulations, the revenue officer is the
sole Judge of the need of military aidl
In the South, the army, even in the
reconstructed States-that is, in the
States formally restored by law to their
Constitutional privileges, has boen freely
employed in affairs purely civil, upon
the ground of alleged disorders, riots, or
interference with the election laws of
Oongress-an this before civil processes
have even been attempted, not to say e.c-
hausted.
We cannot but hold these new prac-
tices to be inconsistent with the public
security, the public peace, and the pub
lie liberties. If, in times Of war, LAWS
are silent amid ARMS, surely, in times of
peace, ARMS should be silent amid LAWS
at least, ought the military not to be in
voked until all civil means are fully ex-
hausted. We candidly admit that
the spirit of justice should be unfettered,
but at the same time, we are not un-
mindful of the fact that the substance of
civil liberty is the property of the Ame-
rican citizen.
AS far back as $50 years ago, in Eng
land, whence we derive our free institu-
tions, the line of distinction between the
civil and military departments of the
Government was clearly drawn and
jealously guarded against infringement.
Werefer in proof to the legislative enact
ments of that period. For instance, the
warrant of King George, dated Septem-
ber 20, 1717. even when the statute ex-
pressly authorizes aid to the customs
officers, only allows the civil magistrates
to decide when the use of troops is need
ed. And in the earlier days of our own
Republic, we are very well satisfied
that the public sentiment of the country
would not have been slow to rebuke that
habit of military interference in civil
matters which of late has grown to be q
serious evil
AS q matter of course, we desire to
have the law obeyed and the peace pre-
served. We recognize the obligation of
the Executive department of the Go
vernment, by constitutional methods, to
protect the citizen in his life, liberty and
property. This is, indeed. the very end
of oil government But We submit, that
before the power of the sword is in
voked, in o land of liberty regulated by
law, it is due to the citizen and the 60
MUS of our free institutions that cipil
remedies should be exhausted before the
door is opened to the perpetration of
military ,cromgs.
We desire to guard against any such
misconstruction of our views as would
tend to weaken the force of tho argu.
ment that we have employed. We do
not sock to cast any unjust or unwor-
rantable reflections upon the military de-
partment of the Federal Government.
We appreciate the dignity and the utility
of arms. But it is our desire to repeat,
that the limits which divide the military
from the civil branch of the Government
should be rigidly observed, aud, in con-
clusion, to add, that it will, in our judg-
ment, be IN evil day for the great Ame-
rican Republic when it's regular army,
no longer standing with proud reserve
upon its constitutional ground. shall be
made machine to subserve party ends,
or TO crafty private revenge, or to de-
spoil the citizen of his time-honored and
blood bought rights and immunities.
The DEMANDS OF GERMANY ON FRANCE.
The Berlin correspondent, November
16, of the Allgemeine Zeitung, remarks
that tho German territorial demands on
Franco will not be extended by the