Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1871-12-21

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ton altogether. Heavy penalties are de-
nounced against these officials for neglect
of duty. but no redress or protection is
afforded the citizens for the I'm law full de-
priva'ior of his inalienable rights. Acts
which in themselves were lawful under
the common as we'll as the statute laws OF
the land are branded as criminal, and
heavy punishment pronounced against
them, while to the long catalogue OF
crimes enumerated in our laws ere added
many others unknown to our or any other
criminal jurisprudence. Already have
some of our most worthy citizens beena
dragged from their homes and subjecte
to great annoyance and expense in defend
ing themselves against unfounded char
ges instituted under these laws. The
qualification of partisan and personal ma
leyolence has usually been the actuating
motive of these prosecutions. But extra
ordinary and unpreoedent as this legis-
lation was, and uneonstitut ional as I be-
lieve it to be, so far &c it interferes
with State elections, it was but the pro-
cursor Of an other statute enacted by the
Forty second Congress, which more COM
pletely compasses the real purposes for
which they were enacted. This was sp-
proved on the 20sh of April, 1871, and
is entitled an act to enforce the prov isions
Of the Fourteenth Amendment t. the
Constitution of the United States, and for
other purposes" Now, the Fourteenth
Amendment engrafted upon the Rational
Constitution but four new ide.s O. prin-
ciples, viz: First, a definition of citizen
ship and its ighs;sssecond, the basis Of
representation in Congress, third, dis
reimbursement ofall prominent nen in
the Southern States; fourth, the inYiola-
bility of the national debt. 1t clothes
neither Congress nor any Of its oo-ocdi-
nances With any power or function except
what may be necessary &c tie appropri-
ate execution of these feur ideas or prin-
ciples. Can the.e be found in these pro-
visions any authoE..y for the suspeps on
of that great Wiz of right, the kabeas
corpus? or for the delegation Of that au-
thority with ,.hich Congress alone was
clothed by the original constitution {?
Certainly not. And yet that authority is
attempted to be vested in the President
Of the Unit State. y the terms Of this
act. uLde> sAe specious prstext of en-
forcing the provisions of the Fourteenth
Amendment. The privilege of the writ
OF habeas corpus shall not be suspended
unless when in cases of rebe lion or inva-
sion the public safety may require it. is
the language Of the Federal Cons ti>ution.
The origin. nature and history o. thi:
great writ, and tie bulwark it inter2oses
between the freedom Of the citizen and
the open OF stcaltby oncroachments of
syranss we're thoroughly I'LL derstood and
profoundly appreciated by the trainers of
the Constitu ton. Hence the absolute
prohibition Of its suspension except in
the two extreme emergencies, of foreign
invasion, or when rebellion raises itself to
such formidable proportions as to threat
ell the public safety equally with foreign
invasion. But the Congress without even
the pretense that either of these exigen-
cies had arisen, proceeded in the aot un-
der consideration, not only to resign to
the executive this carefully guarded pow
er with which it alone was invested by he
Constitution, butte clothe him With the
discretionary authority to exercise it at
will. Although the Constitution author
ICES Federal intervention in the local af-
fairs ia State only upon the call of the
State, yet this law authorizes such inter
vention even against the will of the State,
aud to the extent of tho overthrow oil
State government and the eblteraion oil
State lines, and the substitu ton in their
stead of N ilitary districts and martial
law. To the arbitrary keeping of one
man are comm tilted the lives, liberties
and property Of a whole people. l. not
this the essepce of despotism? What
monarch possesses more absolute power ? F.!
What tyrant was ever less untrammelled7
This act is the fitting climax to the legis-
Is ion that preceded it. Running through
all is the same underlying purpose-the
destruction of State governments and the
Capitalization of all power in the Federal
government Under the former she ctti-
zen, without any fault Of his own, may
be deprived of bis elective franchise, and
the election of State officers prevented;
while under the later the innocent citi-
zens may be deprived of all rights. and
the liberty itself, and the government Of
his State rendered powerless to afford
him protection, step by step has this con-
summation been reached. One precedent
creates another. What yesterday was
fact, to-day is doctrine. Examples are
supposed to justify the most dangerous
measures, and when they do not suit ex-
actly the defect issupplied by ana logy.
Such condition of affairs could never
be apprehended by the fathers of the re-
public. Having before them the expert
ence of past generation and past nationali-
ties, md - uated by the most profund re-
gasa for the Liberty Of the citizen, as well as
the efficiency of Government, with fore
cast amounting almost to presciencs, they
formed our government for perpetuity.
They omitted no principal necessary to
its'preservation, and they included none
which, properly administered, could work
its destruction. The absorption ofthe
powers and functions IF the States by the
Federal Government was as foreign to
their design as the modification or re-
pudiation of Federal authority By the
individual action Of the States, for the
triumph Of either involved the destruction
Of the Uaion. And yet between these
fatal extremes. secession upon the one
hand and Capitalization on the other we
have been oscillating since the foundation
of the governments. We have passed the
terrible ordeal of attempted secession, but
the recoil has carried US to the other ex-
IRENE, and the dangers which menaced
the nation in 1861 are finding a parallel
in 1871. Power is ever graspihg after
power. It's insatiate NAV is never cloyed
It climbs by fraud an d holds by corrup-