Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-05-10
CIT FIREMAN.
Fair Warning.

The Presidents admonition and proclama-
ton to the lawless Ku-Klux bands in some of
the Southern States, must bring these cow
ardly az, assins, as well as the communities
that tolerate them, to understand that the
Government Of the United States is not yet
ready to abandon the protection of it's citi-
zens upon its own soil, or admit even by
implication its want Of power to reach and
punish the violaters of law and order, wher-
ever they may carry their work of unsat-
isfed revenge That it is the unextinguished
moulderings of the late open rebellion that
the government now has to deal with, no enc
need to be told, and, element of disor-
der, is more dangerous TO communities than
actual war For the government that fails
to overcome these disturbances, and TO put at
rest all anxiety arising from sense of dan
ger which lawlessEess and anarchy always
creates, comes short in the most important
essential of the very first object of It's crea-
ton. Take away that feeling of security
which is made dependent upon the barriers
which power imposes to suppress or keep
down the Iawless and the malicious, and you
remove the corresponding sense of allegiance,
which is the only safeguard Of any system Of
government And the most critical hour of
a Republic like our own is, when trusting
all to the people under the constitutional
privileges and prerogatives Of sovereign
states, they fail to exercise that prerogative
in such q manner as TO secure safety to the
persons and property under state municipal
ity, and it becomes necessary to improYise
new powers and put them in force, TO attain
the ends for which government was insti
tuted In such crisis administrative
prudence may well be invoked, but the cry
Of state sovereignty or reserved rights should
not be permitted to blind or mislead any one
a to the imperative duty of the central
power, when the question is anarchy and
disorganization, or enforced quiet and good
order And the end must Justify the means,
to any extent that Is necessary to make the
result sure, and forever silence all doubts,
not only as to the determination but the
ability Of the general government to interfere
whenever states fail to be protecting.
If the feuds remaining from the late rebel
lion have created new necessities, why should
the government hesitate to provide the anti
dote, or Why should constitutional limitations
be plead IN exhaustive speeches, as evidence
that there Is nO constitutional way provided
for stopping the midnight hangings and
cutting of throats in revenge for defeat in an
open fight
We believe the constitution does provide
way to reach such emergencies, and if the
counsels Of our ablest lawyers and statesmen
prevail. the executive branch Of the govern
Inent will have no trusts or responsibilities
imposed upon it that are not already within
constitutional limits Whether the plan
devised was the very best, has passed beyond
the limits of useful discussion, and every
good citizen must rejoice that Congress found
a way, even if it was not the very best, to
overturn the apologists Of the disorders and
outrages to be encou ntered that the Presi-
dent now promises to exhaust all the power
vested in him, If necessary to accomplish an
extinction Of this new phase Of the rebellion,
will be equally gratifying. If we would not
drift into the Mexican OF Italian, and we
might add French, system Of holding on to
the frail tenure Of life and all it stands for
let the cauterizing remedy be applied wher
ever the disease Is so deep-rooted that it
cannot be reached by milder treatment.