The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-03-27
4nnuo,ld 1lspattit,
MONDAY, MARCH q, 1871.
The President Entraps Himself.

In the proclamation Of the President
against certain disorderly persons in South
Carolina he walks directly into the mesiles
of the Constitution, which, unless ne
breaks through them, must restrain HIM
from any interference with the state au-
thorities. He begins by declaring that ~
sis provided in the Constitution OF VI.
"United States that the United states SHAH
"protect every State in this Union 0" op-
"phcation Of the Legislature or me h1e'"'
"tve when the Legislature cannot ps 'o"-
"vened) against domestic violence ".:
Exactly. This is what the Cens''tu.ion
provides and il is concession from "o"'
GRANT that he should so palpapiy acAho".
LEDGE this In solemn proclamation Jus'
about the time he is urging Congress 10
pass law giving him power to interfere
without being called upon by the Execu-
tive or the Legislature to do so, and there
fore in violation of the Constitution.
There is no disorder in the South that
cannot be quelled by the States, unless this
South Carolina affair be an exception,
which we very much doubt. And it Is
quite time enough for the President to ap-
pear to take q part in these alleged dis
turbances when he is asked fer aid as IN the
case Of South Carolina.
There are fewer murders in the South
than there are at the North. Some that
happen at the South no doubt proceed from
political feeling; but, then, murders from
this cause are not confined to one party.
Men have killed one another in quarrels
growing out of differences in politics from
the foundation Of the republic to this day.
As murder may be occasioned by disagree
ment on any ground, it is Impossible TO
prohibit by law quarrels about politics
from proceeding to the extreme of murder.
1t is easy to assume that all murders IN
the South are caused by politics. And since
it is evidently determined to be the policy
of the Administration to renew the war
upon the South by every species OF eXag'
geration, the aspirants for the favors OF Inc
President are always ready to make the
worst Of every case. So the needed testl
mony is rapidly accumulated; and upon
this testimony, this suborned evidence, the
titte-tattle of corrupt applicants for Office
that it is now proposed to put the Southern
States under euard-under military SUR
veillance, and SO keep them until the Pre-
sidential election, which may be deter
mined possibly by the bayonet, employed
in this manner.
Whether the President and his followers
will gain their point remains to be seen
Congress has not been in q hurry. The
placing of all the Southern States under the
immediate control of the President, with
his bayonets, because of alleged local dis
turbances in limited districts, is il PROPOSE
ton so startling that even the ultras ap.
proach it with hesitation. General GRANT
acknowledges in his proclamation that the
Constitution prohibits him from interfering
in enforcing the State laws unless his aid is
requested by the state Legislature or Ex-
ecutive. Yet he is asking for some law that
may relieve him from this restraint, in vic.
lation Of the Constitution. And what can
do this? The establishment Of martial law
in the South, under the preteXt that the
South is in a state Of Instruction.
This would be usurpation Of the powers
of the Government that would wipe out
the last vestige Of republicanism.
Any other mode that would give the
President this control of the Southern
States, independent of their own laws,
would be equally unconstitutional, and
would result in like manner in the destruc-
ton of all State authority.
Whether Congress will be ready now,
Fix years after the war, to take such step,
is the question. There is not much to en-
courage the President on this point, thus
far.
What the Northern States think of this
new attempt to grasp the power of the
Government upon the pretext of Southern
outrases (when the South is as quiet and
orderly as any country in the world),
time must show. But if the South is
ground down under the heel of tyranny,
the North cannot expect to escape.