The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1871-12-21
STATE RIGHTS |!
Gor. PaEsner of Illinois against
Grant.
A PROTEST AGAINST STATE
DEGRADATION.

DEGRADATION.
Gov. Palmer, of Illinois, recently
sent to the Legislature of that State,
special message in relation to the
military occupation of Chicago, to-
gether with the correspondence be-
tween himself and the President and
General Sheridan. The following is
the message
In submitting these papers to the
General Assembly, it is not improper
for me to say that when the regular
troops that had occupied Chicag from
the 11th to the 23d day of October,
1871, were order to their stations, and
the volunteer force organized by Lieu
tenant General Skeridon was disbsnd--
ed, / did not believe it to be possible
that auv officer of the United States
army could again find any pretext for
internleddling in the affairs of the
State of Illinois. My expectation of
future exemption from military inter-
ference was based upon the belief that
the authorities of the State had airea-
dy done enough for the maintenance
of the law and the protection of the
interests of the people of Chicago to
merit their full confidence, and that
the local officers of the city were then
so alive to their duties and so conf
dent of the support of q powerful
State, that no room would be left for
external intervention. Everything,
indeed, had been done for the aid and
protection of the people of Chicago
that was possible, and If their inter-
ests were not secure, it was because
the resources of civil Government
were not equal to their necessities.
Fowls nspers and correspondence
herewith transmitted demonstrate,
however, that was mistaken, and
that the appropriations made by the
General Assembly for the support of
an adequate police force in Chicago,
the energetic discharge of duty by the
police, and the most orderly conduct
on the part of the people, were alike
unayailing-for on the 31st day of
October, 1871, Gen. W. T Sherman.
upon the application of Lieutenant
General Sheridan, ordered troops to
Chicago to act as police. s@e
Ny letters to the President of the
United States of the 3rd and 20th of
November will prove that I have ex-
erted myself to induce the President
to withdraw these troops from the
State, or to prohibit them from inter-
fering in its internal affairs and those
of the President to me, of date of No
vember 9 and 25, will show that my
efforts have been fruitless, and that
the President has practically referred
the whole subject to the decision of
the officer whose conduct is question:
ed. sae- ara asf es s -5ess
1t is manifest that the order of the
President, described in his letter of
Nov. 25, ends all discussion, and leaves
Lieutenant General Sheridan with
four companies of infantry in Chica-
go with discretionary powers to inter-
| meddle in affairs that are within the
exclusive and peculiar jurisdiction of
the State, and with which the Presi-
dent and his military suberdinates
have no rightful concern whatevr. q
1t seems to me from the letters of
the President and the papers laid be-
fore the General Assembly, that Gen.
Sherman and Lieutenant General
Sheridan entertained the belief that
under our system of government, it is
a part of the dutyof the officers of the
army of the United States to superin-
tend the administration of local gov
ernments, and that if they are not sat-
isfied with the measure of protection
afforded by the States to the persons
and property of their own citizens,
the officers of the army havethe right,
at their own discretion, to introduce a
sort of the army, and through its
Pagency afford such additional protec-
tion to the people as they may think
necessary or proper, and that their
right to interpose for that purpose
does not depend upon the ability of
the States to discharge their duties.
There is no other ground upon
which the conduct of Generals Sher-
man and Sheridan can be placed. No
one will pretend that the State of Ill-
inois is not able to enforce it's own
laws and protect every person and all
| property within its limits; but Gen.
eral Sheridan, in the exercise of his
superintendent of its affairs, was not
satisfied with the provisions made by
| the state for the safety of property,
and the control of what he is pleased
| to call s'the turbulent element" in Chi.
cago, and he therefore informed the
| Adjutant-General that, 81 am satisfi-
ed of the necessity of their (four COM
panies ofinfantry) presence here, and
ask the authority of the Secretary of
War to bring them :" and General
Sherman, acting upon the same priil-
ciple, promptly informed him by tele-
graph that sfour companies Of the
Eighth Infantry are ordered te Chica-
| go to act as police, under your letter
of the 29th.r - if $500 = u sfs.
! The President, it is true, in his let
| ter to me of the 9th of November, in
formed me s.that the only thing
<I,c e.,
| Chicago was how to benefit people
stricken by calamity greater than
| had ever befallen community of the
same number before in this country.
The aid was of like nature with that
| given on any emergency requiring
! immediate action" 1t is to be re-
one of the most wealthy and power
full States of the Union; that the State
Government is in full vigof, and its
laws everywheres enforced, and that
| its resources are ample for the dis
charge of all its duties. 1t viii sur
prise no one, then, that pro-
test thatl no emergency has Z ex-
listed at any time in the history of the
State of Illinois for which it was un-
able to provide, and nothing in the
VI LuC l0Mo " SlN0 ING
President or his military subordinates
the right to determine when it is heo-
essary or proper for the authorities of
the Uuited States to interfere in the
internal affairs of the States. alb o. g
Ialso deny thatth officers of the ar
my have the right to determine the
measure of the duties of any civil off,
Ger, under any circum stances what
ever, or that their powers are increas-
ed by any emergency that can possi-
bly, happen in the affairs of any State.
They are not, as they seem to suppose,
the natural rulers of the people under
circumstanceso of difficulty aud danger,
but they are at times. the interiors OF
the humbiest officer created to exc
cute the laws of the land.li iotiisllei /
cannot expect that Lieutenant
General Sheridan will accept this as
the proper estimate of his official pow
af,.. =, L