The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-05-06

the forest with his whoop1ng yellS In BioRt-
ing anticipation of future opportunities.
General Grant is forward to tell the country
that the Ku-klux bill "applies to all parts Of
the United States, and will be enforced
everywhere to the extent of the powers vested
in the Executive" Why should he thus
bully and threaten the whole country without
the slightest pretext or provocation2
General Grant declares that he twill
not hesitate to exhaust the power
thus vested in the Executive. Which
means that he will go just as far as the Ku-
klux bill will let him, stretching and strain
ing the law to the utmost limit. And what
is the authority which this upstart tyrant
threatens to "erhduSt9" " 1t is authority to
shut up the courts of justice, supersede the
laws, make war upon citizens, suspend the
habeas corpus, proclaim martial law, and put
every mans life and liberty at the mercy of
his arbitrary will. These are the powers
which this modest President claims that he
possesses ''in all parts of the United States,"
and which he threatens to Exhaust if he
can find occasion. He is not content to let
the sword rest in its scabbard until neces-
sity arises for its use; he makes haste to draw
and flourish it in the eyes of unoffending
citizens in sheer insolence and menace.
He is perhaps incensed by General Sher-
mans emphatic statement in his speech at
New Orleans the other day, that the Ku-klux
bill is needless and foolish. But whether the
proclamation is a mere counterblast to Gene
raj Sherman, or is an unprovoked and self
prompted menace, it is such a document as
none of General Grants predecessors would
have given to the public.
No President who respected republican in
stitutions could show such alacrity in threat
ening the whole country that he meant to
Exhaust" the temporary power to suspend
the hdbedS corpus if he could get an oppor-
tunity. The fact that Congress trusts him
with this power only till the end of its next
session, is confession that the power is ex-
traordinary and unsafe; that it is fit to be
exercised only in a great emergency;
that it is like the reserve of an
army which is kept back and never ordered
to take part in an engagement till the troops
in front begin to waver. But General Grant,
instead of regarding these extraordinary
powers as a reserve, to be used only as last
resource, thrusts them forward while as vet
no enemy has appeared. Instead of using
them as final resort to supplement and sup
port the ordinary execution of the laws, he
makes indecent haste to parade them when
as yet he can point to no fact since the
passage of the Ku-klux bill which requires
him to set in motion even the ordinary
judicial machinery. The bill is bad enough
at best, but General Grant attempts to exc
order of proceeding is first, to wait till
case arises under the law; then to instruct the
District Attorney of the locality to prosecute
the offenders in the appropriate court;
thirdly, to see that the Marshal executes the
sentence of the court if the parties are found
gHilty; and finally, if the Marshal is resisted
by a combination too powerful for him and
his posse to withstand, to make the procla-
nation required by law and support the Mar
- l~.-A O,,L
this legal order of procedure. He is so i'm
patient to exercise arbitrary power that he
issues a proclamation before any offense is
committed of which the Government can
take cogniZance under the new law. As
the Constitution prohibits eD post fdcto
laws, the Ku-klux bill cannot apply to acts
committed previous to its passage; and since
it's passage nothing has been done even to
justify a warrant of arrest or an indictment
by grand jury. The proclamation is an i'm
psrtinencs, because it has no facts to go upon;
and instead Of applying to any State or dis
trict in rebellion it is brandished as threat
in the face of the whole people of the United
States To threaten the peaceful citizens of
thirty-seven States, guilty of no crime, with
martial law and a suspension of that sacred
guarantee of personal liberty, the writ of
b0beGS corpus, is a gratuitous and wanton
insult which loyal, law-abiding President
would never offer. 1t may sometimes be
necessary in desperate cases to administer
nauseous medicines; but that is no reason
why physician should hold assafetida under
the nose of every we'll man he meets. All
that the Ku-klux bill says about proclama-
tions is in its fourth section, which we here
copy
"Secton sThat whenever in any State, or part Of
State, the unlawful combinations named in the
preceding section OF this act shall be organized and
armed, and numerous and DOWerful to be able.
by violence, to either overthrow or set at defiance
the constituted authorities Of such State aud OF the
United States within such State or when the const-
tnted authorities are in cenpicity with, or shall
coDniVe at, the unlawful purposes or such powerful
and armed combinations; and whenever, by reason
OF either all of the causes aforesaid, the c0nVic-
tton OF such offenders and the preservation OF the
public safety shall become in such district mprac-
ticable in every such case such combinations shall
he deemed rebellion against the Government of
| the United States, and during the continuance OF
such rebellion and within the limits of the district
which shall BE so under the sway thereof, such
limits to be prescribed by proelamation it shall be
lawful for the President OF the United States when
in his judgment the public safety shall require it, to
suspend the privilege OF the writ OF habeas corpus,
TO the END that such rebellion may be overthroWn
Provided, that all the provisions OF the second Sec
ton OF an act entitled IAN act relating to habeas
| corpus, and regulating judicial proceedings in GER
tain cases., approved March 3, 1868, which relate to
| the discharge OF prisoners other than prisoners OF
| war, and to the penalty for refusing to obey the
order OF the court shall be in full force so far as the
same are applicable TO the provisions OF this Sec
ton: Provided further that the Prespent shall first
| have made proclamation, as now provided by law,
| commanding such insurgents to dsperse: And pro-
Vded ase, that the provisions OF this section shall
not be In force after the end OF the next regular
! session of Congress-"
Now, be it observed, that the timing of a
proclamation by the President, the area or
district to which it must relate, and the gene
raj tenor OF its substance, are all defined by
law, and that General Grants proclamation
conforms to none of the requirements either
ha