Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-07-08
the laws as the most efficient under existing

the laws as the most efficient under existing
circumstances.
"In war it is indispensable to repel force
by force, and overthrow and destroy opposi
ton to lawful authority. But when insur.
rectionary force has been overthrown and
peace established, and the civil authorities
are ready and willing to perform their
duties, the military power should cease to
lead, and the civil administration resume
its natural and rightful dominion. Sol.
emnly impressed with these views, the Gen.
eral announces that the principles of Amer
lean liberty still are the lawful inheritance
of this people, and ever should be- The
right of trial by jury, the habeas corpus,
. the liberty of the press the freedom ofspeech,
and the natural rights of persons, and the
rights of property must be preserved.
Free institutions, while they are essential
to the prosperity and happiness of the peo-
pie, always furnish the strongest inducements
to peace and order. Crimes and ofenses
committed in this district must be referred to
the consideration and judgment Of the regu.
lar civil tribunals, and those tribunals will
be supported in their lawful Jurisdiction"
On the 5th of December he again defined his
position in another military order, in which
he said:
"The true and proper use of military pow
er, besides defending the national honor
against foreign nations, is tc uphold the laws
and civil government, and to secure to
every person residing amo1g US the enjoy
ment of life, liberty and property. 1t is
accordingly made by an Act of Congress the
duty of the commander of this district to pro-
tect all persons in these rights, to suppress
disorder and violence, and to punish, or cause
to be punished, all disturbers of the public
peace and criminals"
In continuation, he referred to one Of the
military orders issued by General Sheridan,
his predecessor in command of the depart
ment and revoked it in these terms:
"rhe commanding general has been .oAi-
cially informed that the administration Of
justice, and especially of criminal justice, in
the courts is clogged, if not entirely frustra-
ted, by the enforcement of paragraph No. 2
of the military order numbered Special Or
ders 125, current series, from these headquar-
ters, issued on the 24th of August, A. D.
1867, relative to the qualifications of persons
to- be placed on the jury lists of the State Of
Louisiana.
"To determine who shal and who shall not
be jurors, appertains to the legislative power:
and until the laws in existence regulating
this subject shall be amended or changed by
that department Of the civil government,
which the Constitutions of all the States un.
der our republican system vest with that pow
er, it is deemed best to carry out the will Of
the people as expressed in the last legislative
Act upon this subject.
"The qualification of juror under the law
is proper subject for the decision of the
courts. The commanding general, in the
discharge of the trust reposed in him, will
maintain the just power of the judiciary,
and is unwilling to permit the civil authori-
ties and laws to be embarrassed by military
Interference He therefore directs
that paragraph No. 2, Special Orders No.
125, relating to the qualification Of jurors,
be revoked, and that trial by jury be hence.
forth regulated and controlled by the Con-
sttution and civil laws"
On the first of January, 1868, he found it
necessary to rebuke the persistent attempts to
force him into interfering with matters ex.
clusively belonging 10 the civil tribunals, and
accordingly issued an order saying:
"Applications have been made at these
headquarters implying the existence of an
arbitrary authority in the commanding gen.
eral touching purely civil controversies One
petitioner solicits this action, another that,
and each refers to some special consideration
of grace or favor which he supposes to exist,
and which should influence this department.
The number of such applications and the
waste of time they involve, make it necessary
to declare that the administration of civil
justice appertains to the regular courts. The
rights of litigants do not depend on the views
of the General. They are to be adjudged
and settled according to the laws. Arbitrary
power, such as he has been urged to assume,
has no existence here. 1t is not found in the
laws Of Louisiana or Texas; it cannot be de.
rived from any Act or Acts of Congress it
is restrained by constitution and prohibited
from action in many particulars. The Major
General commanding takes occasion to re-
peat that, while disclaiming judicial functions
in civil cases, he can suffer no forcible re-
sistance to the execution of processes of the
courts"
These orders are the only ones issued after
the war was brought to close, by any com.
mander Of military department, that showed
any conception Of the constitutional limita-
ton of his powers, or the recognition of the
principle of the subordination of the military
to the civil power, in time Of peace. They
were very distasteful to the authorities at
Washington, and the extreme wing of the
Republican party, and the consequence was,
that two months after the issue of the order
last quoted, he was transferred to the military
division of the Atlantic, where he remained
until General Grant took hiss as President
Of the United States, when, on May II, 1869,
he was ordered to take command Of the de-
partment of Dakota. He continued in charge
of that department until December 3, 1872,
when he was transferred back to the military
department of the Atlantic, which he now
holds, with his headquarters at New York.
CONTROVERSY WITH GRANT.
General Hancock's difficulty with General
Grant grew out of the military orders above
mentioned. When in Washington, on his
way to take command of the military divi-
sion of the Atlantic, Hancock, who resented
the revocation of one Of those orders by Gen
eral Grant, who assumed to do so in his quail.
ity as General in. Chief, treated General Grant
with scant courtesy. The latter resented it
subsequently, by placing Hancock's juniors in
rank IN commands to which he was entitled.
A sharp and voluminous correspondence sub.
sequently ensued between General Hancock
and General Sherman on this subject, Gener-
al Sherman being then Commander-in-C Chief,
but acting under the orders of President