Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1879-05-21
Iaw but the orders Of the command

tI-lI clbSt3 "lOSC pc Soudl VIII Is inc
highest law. In the latter, the mill
tary power acts only in subordina-
tiou to the civil authority.
That the military shall be Deepen
dent on and subordinate to the civil
power is a maxim of constitutional
government as old as English liber-
,ty. 1t means that a military estab-
lishment shall exist only by creation
OF law, and be employed only to up
hold the constitution and support
the civil administration not to su-
percede it by IA military administra-
ton. To set up the military above
the civil power, to s%upercede the civ
il administration of the law by the
military administration OF army Or
ders would destroy every guarantee
OF The constitution aud render "uil-
itary independent OF and superior to
the civil power" an attempt to do
which the king OF Great Britain was
assigned as one Of the causes for
separation of the American colonies
from the mother country. Civil lib
erty aud military domination cannot
endure togt Their, said Judge Davis in
the Miligan case, ''tbe antagonism is
irrecoucilab!e, and, in the conflict,
one or the other must perish"
The Bourbon partisaus in Con-
gress are ~endeavoring to deceive the
unthinkiug by the false pretense Of
standing on this ground in opposi-
ton to what they style military i'll
reference" at elections. "The bay
onet must not and shall not control
the ballot" is the specious catch
phrase of the blatant demagogue,
Blackburn 1t anyone were propos-
ing thai the b%ayonet should control
the bGilot-if any n were adyocat-
ing military interference at elections
like that which a executed under
! .ha orders OF General Mcclellan in
Maryland in 1861, and later by Gen.
Sheridan in Louisiana, and General
Ruaer in South Carolina there
would be some force III such deliy-
erauces. But no man proposes or
advocates any measure or mode Of
military interference at elections, or
with any part or branch OF the civil
administration. There is no law on
the statute book, and never has been
any, authorizing or pretending to
authorize the slightest military inter-
terence with the civil administrator
OF the election laws, or any law.
The election laws neither intimate
nor permit such interference, and
no man has suggested that they
should. There is no question of mil
tary Interference. There is abso-
Iutely nothing on which any ingeuu-
ity could raise tie idea of such an is
sue in the MUD Of any citizen of re-
spectacle Intelligence.
The ouly question now is whether
TIE military power shall! or shall not
be employed to support the civil add
ministration Of the national election
laws in last the civil authorities be
distracted by hostile force. The
question is somewhat far-fetched,
because such condition can only ap-
| pear in Il state OF war, of great pop
ular commotion, or of uncommon
social disorder. They have appear
ed, however, in many disorderly To-
caiities, within quite recent time,aud
may appear again; so that the ques-
ton is not practically devoid Of i'm
p|ortauce. As usual, the Bourbon
politicians have chosen to array
! themselves on the wrong side of this
question, by denying to the national
executive any right to employ the
military arm in support Of the civil
administration of the law, unless
upon TIE application of the local
legislature that are more likely to
| desire the n~0n-eXecution of the law
than its execution.
Upon this question of the power
! of the national executive to employ
the military in support Of the civil
execution Of the laws whenever it
| becomes necessary to their execution
one Of the most cogent arguments
yet made is that of Senator David
Dayis-not delivered from his place
in the senate, but a few years ago,
from his seat on the supreme bench,
in the cas- entitled er purte MjHigan
lie cited a case in which the same
court held that a state (%acting by its
! go~vernmen.) may use its military
power to down an armed insurrec-
| linn too Strong to hn c~ontrnllel by