The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1879-05-22

convenient thereto, as may be necessary,
and the use of militia SO to be called forth,
may be continued if necessary until the ex-
piration of thirty days after the commence
ment of the ensuing session.
In 1875 this provision was substan-
TALLY re-enacted in law which repealed
the act of 1899. In 1907 the following
act became tho law by the approval of
President Jefferson
That in all cases of instruction or OBJ
struction to the laws, either of the United
States or of any individual State or Terri
tory where it is lawful for the President of
the United States to call forth the militia
for the purpose of suppressing such insur-
rection or of causing the laws to be duly ex-
ecuted, it shall be lawful for him to employ
for the same purposes such part of the land
or naval force of the United States as shall
be judged necessary, having first observed
all the prerequisites of the law in that re-
spect.
By this act it will DO seen that the
scope of the law of 1895 was extended
so as to authorize the national govern
ment to use not only the militia but the
army and navy of the United States in
causing the laws to be duly executed.
The important provisions of the acts Of
1892, 1895 and 1907, modified in their
terms from time to time, to adapt them
to existing emergencies, remained in
force until, by an act approved by Pres
ident Lincoln, July 80, 1861, it was re-
enacted substantially in the same Ian
guage in which it is now found in the
revised statutes, viz:
Section 5,29S. Whenever by reason of I'M
lawful distractions, combinations or assem-
klages Of persons, or rebellion against the
authority of the United States, it shall be-
President to enforce, by the ordinary course
of judicial proceedings, the laws of the
United States within any State or Territory,
it shall be lawful for the President to call
forth tho military Of any or all States and
employ such other parts of the land and ma
val forces of the United States as he may
deem necessary to enforce the faithful exc
cution of the laws of the United States or to
suppress such rebellion in whatever State or
Territory thereof the laws of the United
States may be forcibly opposed, or the exc
cution thereof forcibly obstructed.
This ancient and fundamental law has
been in force from the foundation of the
government. 1t is now proposed to alb
rogate it on certain days and at certain
places. In my judgment no fact has
been produced which tends to show that
it ought to be repealed or suspended for
single hour, at any place in any of the
States or Territories of the Union. All
the teachings of experience in the course
of our history are in favor Of sustaining
its efficiency unhnpaired. On every oc-
I casion when the supremacy Of the consti-
tuition has been resisted and the perpe-
tuity of our institutions imperilled, the
principle Of this statute enacted by the
fathers has enabled the government of
Union to maintain its authority and to
preserve tho integrity of the nation at
the most critical periods of our history.
My predecessors in the executive Office
have relied on this great principle. 1t
was on this principle that President
Washington suppressed the whisky re-
bellion in Pennsylvania in 1894. In
1906, on the same principle, President
Jefferson broke up the Burr conspiracy
by issuing orders for the employment Of
such force either of the regulars or Of
the militia, and by such proceedings of
the civil authorities as might enable
them to suppress effectually the further
progress Of the enterprise. 1t was I'M
der the same authority that President
Jackson crushed notification in South
Carolina and that President Lincoln
issued his call for troops to save the
Union in 1861. On numerous other oc-
casions Of no less significance under
probably every administration, and GER
tainly under the present this power has
been uscfully exerted to enforce the laws
without objection to any party in the
country and almost without attracting
public attention. The great elementary
constitutional principle which was the
foundation of the original statute of
1902, and which has been its essence in
the various forms it has assumed since
its iirst adoption, is that the government
OF the United States possesses under the
constitution in full measure the power
of self-protection. If the bill before mo
should become law it would impair the
force of many important statutes. do
i