The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-06-30

means I am confident you will not com
nit your serious judgment 70 the proposition
opinions, however unwise In your Judgment
or any assertion or feeling. however resentfui
or bitter, not resulting in breach of law, can
furnish Justification for your denial that pro-
found peace exists in Texas. You might as
well deny that profound peace exists la New
York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, CALIFORNIA;
Ohio and Kentucky, where a malorsy of the,
people differ with minority on these qces-
tIons; or that profound peace exists ia the
| House Of Representatives, or the Senate at
| Washington, or in the Supreme Court where
all these questions have been repeatedly dis
| cussed, ana parties respectfully aud patiently
heard. You next complain that in parts of the
State (Texas) IL is dificult to enforce the GRIM
| 1Hal laws; that sheriffs fail to arrest; that
grand jurors will not always indict; that in
some cases the military, acting in aid of the
civil authorities, have not been able to execute
nave acquitted persons a1udged guilty by
you; and that other persons charged
prosecution. l know not how these things
are; but admitting your representations liter.
ally true, II for such reasons should set aside
Commission, there is no place in the United
States where ii might not be done with equal
| propriety. There is not State in the Union
] North or South-where the like facts are not
/ continually happening. Perfection is not TO
be predicated OF man or his works. No one
! can reasonably expect certain and absolute
\ justice in human transactions; and If military
power is to be set In motion on the principles for
which you would seem 10 contend, fear that
civil Government, regulated by laws, could
have no abiding place beneath the circuit of
the sun. 1t is rather more than limited in
your letter, that there is no local Stale Gov
eminent IN Texas and no local laws outside
OF the acts OF Congress, which l ought TO re-
spect; aud that should undertake 20 protect
Inc rights OF persons and property in my ewn
way and in an arbitrary manner. If such be
your meaning, am compelled to differ with
you. After the abolition OF slavery, ian event
which hope no one now regrets), the laws of
Louisiana and Texas existing prior to the
rebellion, and not in conflict with the acts of
Congress, comprised a vast system of juris-
prudence, both civil and criminal. 1t re-
quired not volumes only, but libraries to con-
tain them. They laid down principl and
presidents for ascertaining the rights and ad-
Justing the controversies of men, in every
conceivable case. They were the ere ations Of
great and good and learned men who bad labor
ed in their day, for their kind, and gone down
to the grave long before our recent troubles,
leaving their WORKS an ineSumable legacy to
formed, connected the civilization of the past
and present ages aud testified OF the Justice,
than one Nation, through whose records they
descended to the present people of these
States. am satisfied, from representations
OF persons competent TO Judge, they are as
perfect system of Ia WIS as may be found else
where, and better suited than any other TO the
condition OF this people, for by them they
have long been governed. Why should IL be
supposed Congress has abolished these laws?
why should any one wish to abolish
them? They have committed no treason, nor
are they hostile TO the United States, nor
cOuntenance crime, or favor injustice. On
them, as on foundation OF rock, reposes al
most the entire snperstructure of social order
in these two Sta es. Annul this code of local
laws, and there would be nc longer any rights,
either OF person or property, mere. Abolish
the local civil tribunals made to execute them,
and you would virtually annui the laws except
In reference TO the very few cases ccgnizable
In the Federal Courts. Let us for a moment
suppose the whole local civil code annulled,
ana that am left, as Commander of the Fifth
Military District, the sole fountain of law and
justice. This is the position in which you
would place me.
1 am now TO protect all rights and redress
ali wrongs. How is il possible for me TO de it?
Innumerable questions arise, of which am
not only ignorant, but to the solution of which
a Military Court is entirely untitled. One
would establish will, another a deed; or the
question is one OF succession, or partnership,
or descent, or trust; a suit of ejectment or
claim to chattelS; or the application may re-
late to robbery, theft, arson, or murder. How
am 10 take the first step In any such matter?
If turn to the acts OF Congress 1 ind nothing
on the subject. L dare not open the authors
on the local code, for it has ceased TO exist.
And you tell me that in this perplexing con-
dition / am TO furnish by dint of my own
hasty and crude Judgment the legislation de-
manded by the vast and manifold interests of
the people! repeat, sir, that you and not
suggestion that there are no local laws or in
situations here TO be respected by me outside
the acts of Congress. | say unhesitgtingly if il
were possible tnat Congress should pass an act
abOlishing the local codes for Louisiana and
Texas-which do not believe-and ii should
fall TO my lot to supply their places with some
thing of my own, do not see how 1 could do
better than follow the laws in force here prior
to the rebellion, excepting whatever therein
shall relate to slavery. Power may destroy
the forms but not the principles or justice;
these will live in spite even OF the sword. |
History tells us that the Roman pandects were
lost for a long period among the rubbish that
war and revolution had heaped upon them,
but at length were dug out of the ruins ,,again
to be regarded as precious treasure.
You are pleased to state that "since the pub
lication OF (myl general orders No. Az, there
has been "a pelceptible increase of crime and
manifestations of hostile feeling toward the |
Government and its supporters" and add that
it is ian unpleasant duty to give such recital
of the condition of the country"
You viii permit me to say that deem it
impossible the first OF these statements can be |
rectness of the second. General order No 40
was issued at New Orleans, Novemb Der ~, 1857, |
and your letter was dated January IL, 1868.
Allowing time for order No 40 to reach Texas |
and become generally known, some addition /
al time must have elapsed before It's effect |
would be manifested, and yet further time |
must transpire before you would be able to |
collect the evidence of what you term "the |
condition of the country; and yet after all !
this you would have to make the necessary |
Investigations to ascertain II order No. 40 or !
something else was the cause The time. |
18th of January, 1853, to reach n satisfactory |
conclusion on so delicate and nice question |
must have been very short. How you pro- |
ceeded, whether You investigated yourself |
or through third persons, and. If Sc, who |
they were, what their competency and |
fairness. on what evidence you rested your
any facts at all, are points upon which your |
letter discreetly omtts all mention, that |
may well be excused for not relying inn plicitly |
upon it; nor is my difficulty diminished by the |
fact that in another part of your letter you |
state that, ever since the close OF the war, a |
very large portion of the people have had no |
affection for the Government, but bitterness |
of feeling only. Had the duty of publishing |
and circulating through the country, long be- |
fore IL reached me, your statement that the !
action of the District Commander was incress- |
ing crime and hostile feeling against the Gov |
eminent. been less painful to your sensibili- |
bilities, 1t might possibly have occurred to |
you to furnish something on the subject in /
addition to your bare assertion.
But what was order No. 40, aud how could IL |
have the effect you attribute To IT, 1t sets |
forth that "the great principles OF American |
liberty still the inheritance of this people, |
and ever should be; that the right OF trial by /
jury, the habeas corpus, the liberty of the |
press, the freedom of speech, and the natural |
rights of persons and property must be pre- |
served" Will you question the truth of these |
declarations? Which one of these great pr1n- |
cples of liberty are you ready to deny and re-
pudiate? Whoever does so avows himself the /
enemy of human liberty and the advocate of /
despotism. Was there any intlmation in gen. |
eral orders No. 40 that any crimes or breaches |
OF law could be countenanced? You know |