The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1872-01-04

Protests by tho Governors OF vfr-
ghmia- MkenfacI<y and Missouri.
(6oUcrnor HGLtv's (of YFgbnia. Conserve
firc.) Message. Deccbt5cr8)

CGopcynor WoLtsrs tof Yagmfa. Conserve
five.) Message, Decepib4 o.
THE KU-KLUx LAW.
Although tho Constitution authorize
/, Federal intervention in the local affair
Of State only upon the call Of the State
yet this law authorizes such intervention
even against the will Of the State, and .,
the extent OF the overthrow Of the Stat
government and the obliteration Of Stat
lines, and the substitution in their stead
of military districts and martial law. 4,
the arbitrary keeping of one man ar'
committed the lives, liberties, and proper
~ Of a whole people. Is not this the o.
sence of despotismg What monarch pos
sesses more absolute pOwer2 What tyranl
was ever less untrammelledY = When
1 venality triumphs in our public. place,
and the insidious approaches of tyranny
arc UNDECIDED by the misses; when al
local elections Federal soldiers, by order
of Federal officials, with loaded musket,
and fixed bayonets surround the polls. OF
Federal battle ships with shOttcd cannon
beleaguer a city TO overawe its citizens in
the free exercise of the elective franchise;
when imbecile and corrupt local govern
ments are forced upon people, and they
are punished for the ineficiency and rot
tenness of those very governments by the
arbitrary deprivation Of all civil govern
ment, all rights and all liberty, arrested
| by thousands withuot warrant Of law and
driven to prison like cattle 10 the sham
bles, it is time that the alarm bell was
sounded and the people awakened 10 a
sense of the dangers impending.
From Gorernor Lesiie's (Qf Kentucky, Den,-
ocraf) Message December o.
THE IRREPREssDLE CONFLICT.
This conflict of Federal and State iu-
risdiction will, sooner or later, if not
remedied, produce the most serious con
sequences. have been unable to find
in the Federal Constitution any grant or
power to the general government which
would authorize the punishment, by Fed
eral authority, of breaches Of the State
laws. We have n State law denouncing
the penalty of death against one citizen
for numbering, within the State, another.
So have we State laws Furnishing assaults
and batteries, aifrays, &c, committed
within the jurisdiction of the State. II
Congress has passed any law furnishing
these offences, when. committed within
the jurisdiction Of the State, it is certain
ly without warrant of the Constitution.
1t was never designed by the trainers Of
that instrument that the local police Of
the States should be assumed by the
Federal power; and the fact that this,
in great measure, is now being done
through the instrumentality Of the Fed
erar and the military, is cause for
the greatest apprehension and alarm for
the safety Cd our institutions. Those
who are responsible for these unwarranted
assumptions Of power have attempted to
justify them on the ground that the
State is unable, through her officers, TO
suppress crime and enforce the laws.
This charge against the State is untrue
and if left to herself, and not interfered
with, she would soon suppress the law
breakers, and secure as perfect order a.
we ever had.
From Governor Bro,cn's tof Missouri. LfJer-
al Republican,, Message, DecemBerIGl
THE PERIL OF FREE INSTITUTIONS.
1t is not perhaps pertinent at this time
to discuss as fully as the gravity of the
aspect Of national affairs demands the
peril which threatens free institutions
under cover of the policies Of centraliza-
ton and personal government which
have met with such ready acceptance by
many of those charged to represent US.
In their view the national
power must become the central source
from which all authority shall descend.
It's head must hold the war-making pow
er in the hollow Of his hand. Its crea-
tive fiat must be sufficient warrant for
monopolies in trade, in finance, in public
lands. 1t may establish unjust systems
of taxation to exempt some and Cypress
others, to build up one section and dc.
stroy another. Its offering must sus-
tain jobbery, control votes in Congress,
dictate candidate in the States, and sub
sidize press to denounce all dissent rs
heresy. Its hold upon popular sympa-
thy being shaken, it does not hesitate to
place the elections of every Northern
city Of note under the charge of Federal
authorities and in presence Of military
arm. Those added muniments of citi-
zenship, embodying the settlements of the
war, which in text are restraints only
against wrongs by the States, are cited as
Justification for regulating at will the To-
cal affairs of the people Of those States.
From. this prolific loin, too, is TO be
sprung by incest the charge of all educa-
ton, the conduct of schools, the choice,
perhaps, of textbooks, the regulation Of
underwriting and insurance, the charter
ing of local railways, the supervision and
direction of immigration-pro propositions
already in some degree initiated and very
pressed by those who compose
the political syndicate. And last, though |
not least, loyalty even has been trans
ferred from the cause Of the Union 10 the |
person Of the President, and swift obedi- |
ence manifests itself in surrendering to |
his discretionary control that great writ |
Of right, sole guarantee Of the liberty Of |
each of us. All this is simply high trea-
sop AGAINST ranuhIicau Drinciplo0