The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1871-04-27


sions of this Act may 20 to sustain and
validate such proceedings.
s, THE 9th section above is the substi-
:a.o !os the Sherman amendment. rs
agreed upon by the second conference
committee.l
THE CULMrNATIoN OF THE KU KLUx
ENoRMrTY. The Ku Klux bill has re-
ceived nil the sanction and semblance of
legal authority which the assent of both
houses of Congress and the signature of
the President can iDpart to it,. Its pas-
sage marks memorable era in the his
tory Of the Government-thed date of its
formal departure in purpose, If not in
effect, from the line of constitutional
precedeDts, and every heretofore ac-
knowledged limit of constitutional power.
Such devintions as had occurred preyi-
ously had been palliated, if not excused,
upon the ground that they were forced
upon the Government by the pressure of
military necessity in period OF national
convnlsion and civil war. No such JUS
tificAtion is attempted to be pleaded
now, yet measure is inaugurated which,
Ill the language Of a Republican Sena-
tor, (AIr. Trumbnll.) means nothing
short OF the ''annihilation of the States. !"
1t is virtually avowed by many of its
supporters to have originated in the in
terests of party. The bill, 30 long as its
fundamental features were retained, it
would have been impossible to better.
The details of the measure sink into in
signiicaDce in comparison with the stu-
pendors violations of ali principle and
all justice which mark its main features.
The two leading provisions Of the Act,
as we have heretofore shown, nre the
extraordinary jurisdiction sought to be
conferred upon the courts of the United
States, both in civil and criminal cases,
and the yet more extraordinary powers,
beyond anything heretofore supposed to
be within the limits Of the constitution,
sought to be conferred upon the Presi-
dent.
So fnr MS the former of these two pur-
poses is concerned, it may yet fail Of
practical accomplishment. in some quar-
tors, Mt least. Congress may seek to
convert the Federal Judges into the po-
lice magistrates Of the Union, and to en-
large their jurisdiction Mt the expense Of
the State courts and in defiance of the
have it in their power to shield the peo-
conscientious convictions Of usurpation
in the promises, the Judges may quash
indictments found under the Act, and
refuse to entertain civil suits brought in
pursuance of its provisions Declining,
however, to incur this responsibility, q
test case may as soon as possible be car
ried to the Supreme Court, with every
reasonable hope that this attempt to ig-
more the work Of the fathers in the
formation of the government, will be
frustrated.
The most dangerous powers, however,
are those which are conferred upon the
President, who is made the sole Judge of
the ability and the disposition of the
State authorities to perform their duties.
and is clothed with absolute discretion
to substitute at will military for civil
government in any part of the Union,
whenever and wherever he may think
that tho former will prove more effica-
clous for the suppression of 'outrages ,
and the protection of citizens. He may
suspend at pleasure the writ Of habeas
corpus, employ for the purpose the army,
navy and militia Of the country, or otA.,.
means, as lie may deem necessary. Here
is power actually unlimited rs to the
means to al end. The President has
already signed this bill. and Colonel
Forney, in speech at Washington the
night after i:s passage, claimed for the
President the credit OF having originated
it. urged it upon Congress, secured it's
enactment. The President promises,
says the letter writer's, npon his return
from his farm near st. Louis, to put the
Act into vigorous execution" Where
will he begin and where will he stop?
A third feature was engrafted upon
this monstrous measure in the last stages
OF its passage through Congress. which
deserves n word of comment Military
commanders in time of war, in an ene-
my's country, sometimes deem it neces-
sary for the protection Of their troops
against acts Of private and individual
hostility, to hold the districts or villages
where such nets may occur responsible,
when the actual perpetrators are un-
known and have eluded capture. They
act upon the presumed sympathy OF the
inhabitants with the criminals, and take
the risk of Furnishing the innocent for
the guilty. This exceptional measure Of
military severity the Senate of the
United States deliberately sought to in
troduce into the ordinary criminal iuris-
prudence OF the country, by tacking to
H. III 4