The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1871-05-20

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certain circumstances, to protect Il State
! against mere domestic violence. This
duty, however, can only arise upon the
! happening of one or the other of two
contingencies: either the State legis-
! lature must apply for aid, or the State
Governor, when the Legislature cannot
be convened, must apply for aid. This
parcnthctical and conditional clause
! means something; it is the key to the
whole position it describes the sole Oc-
! casion on which the National Govern
mcnt may Interfere with the function
! Of maintaining domestic quiet which
| nominally belongs to the States. We
! remark, in passing, that it is only by
| giving full and affirmative force to
another and similar parcnthctical and
| conditional clause that Congress ac-
quires the right to suspend the writ of
habeaS corpus under any circumstances.
! Congress has utterly ignored this ncccs-
| sary limitation, has treated the cOnsti-
! tutional provision us though it did not
exist, and as though the article read
! ''the United States shall protect each of
| the States against domestic ViOlcnce.'
! There could be no palmer departure
from the fundamental principles of the
! organic law, no clearer violation of it's
express prohibitory clauses.
| The fourth section of the statute is ev-
IDENTIFY based upon the clause of the
Constitution relating to the writ of
habe:,S corpus. AS there is no prctcnsc
Of an invasion, Congress has undertaken
to define Il rebellion. Rebellion is !:
word we'll known to all writers upon
| public law; it has wcll-asccrtaincd
! and precise meaning, and describes Il
positive fact and not Il theory of suppo-
sitiOn. Congress, however, has now
declared that several different circum-
stances or conditions, not united, but
each separately, shall constitute Il rebel
| lion-namcly I), when any of the ain
surrectiOns, domestic violence, cOmbi-
nations or conspiracics' already men
toned shall be so powerful as to he
able to set at defiance the authorities of
the State or of the United States, or (2)
whenever the authorities Of the State
shall be in completely with, or shall
connivc at, the purposes of such combi
nations, and the public safety in such
State shall thereby become Impractical
bic. In each alternatives, the combina-
| ton, violence, or conspiracy shall he
deemed a rebellion against the United
States, and the President may suspend
the privilege of the writ of habe;ls cor
pus. The Constitution uses the word
rebellion in the sense recognized by all
| iuriStS. Congress cannot change this
meaning, because it canot change Al fact;
it cannot make that Il rebellion which
is not a rebellion. Rebellion is war
war no longer incipicnt, but actual; it
is Il condition in which all civil admin
istration is suspended or ovcrthrown,
and the nation must, for tho time and
in the district infected, employ its mil
/ itary arm alone to overcome the inSur-
gent enemies of the Government. 1t
should be remembered that Congress
cannot inauguratc a civil war. That
state of hOStilitics must be commenced
by the rebels, and must have developed
itself into war, before the peculiar
military powers conferred by the con-
stitutiOn become operative. But this
statute contempiatcs no such state of
active hostilitics. 1t makes, among
other alternatives, domestic violence,
| unlawful combinations or cOnSpirlciCs,
with the purposes of which the State
authorities are in completely or at
which they shall connivr, Il rebellion
against the United States. No war is
| described here, nor even any resistance
| to the national authority as such, be-
| cause the combinations, violence, and
conSpiracics spoken of are to- be in OPP
| position to State laws alone. II needs
no further analysis of this section to
show that il cannot be sustained by the
constitutional provision which declares
| under what circumstances the writ of
| habras corpus may br suspended. Con-
greSS cannot, by any mere array of
words, make that exist in fact.
! 1t has been asserted that these several
| provisions were copied from AN early
statute, passed in l795, authorizing the
President to call out the militia in GER
| +,;, hat ,r%
has decided, in Il case arising under it,
| that the President Possesses an unlim-
tied and final discretion over tho whole
matter of employing the military force.
! Nothing could he more untrue. The
statute of 1898 was carefully drawn, so
as to comply with the very letter of the
Constitution. 1t simply declared that
sswhcncvcr the United States shall be
| invaded it shall he lawful for the PrcSi-
! dent, to call out the milita,' ctc.; also,
ain case of inSurrcctiOn in any State
! against the Government thereof it shall
| he lawful for the PrcSilcnt on applica-
| ton of the Legislature of such State or
| of the Executive when the Legislature
cannot be convened, to call out tho
militia,' ETC.; also, 'twhcncvcr the laws
! of the United States shall be opposed o,
the execution thereof obstructcl by
combinations too powerful to be sup
pressed by the ordinary course Of judi
cial proceedings, it shall be lawful fol
the President to call out the militia, ,
etc. All this was plain, accurate, ant
in exact conformity with the organi,
law. The ease referred to was Martin
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