Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1880-08-07

stltutlng certain qualifications for persons
to bc eligible t" do jury duty. such quail
iications bcing made by military order.
General Hancock revoked the order, AN
nouncing that he would not permit the
civil authorities to- be embarrassed bv
military interference In December he
issued IN order prohibiting military in
ri,rcncc with the elections, unless when
. ssary to keep the peace at the polls.
"a i'cing contrary to law, and he ordered
that no soldier he allowed to appear at
any polling place unless as citizens Of
the State. registered voters, and for the
purpose of voting; but he ordered fur
thcr that the commander of posts
act promptly in preserving the
peace i'll eases where the civil
authorities failed to do so Men in
terestcd i'll civil controversies i'll great
numbers applied at the Generals head
quarters for interference, assuming ON
his part both the arbitrary power to i'll
tcrfcrc and the Willingness to do so.
Gencral Hancock. by general order,
again announced that the administration
of civil justice pertained only to the reg
ular courts. and that the rights of the
litiyants did not lependon his views as to
the merits of their cases. Having been
appealed to by the Governor of the
State to remove from Office the President
and members Of the Police Jury of the
Parish of Orleans, they being charged
with appr ,priatinS tO their own Use,
public funds. General Hancock rcitcr-
atci the principle that these were matters
pertaining t. the civil administration,
and should lie solely dealt with by the
courts.
A DISCUSSION on CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERN
MEST.
Governor Pcase, Of Texas, q provis-
iOnal Governor, took exception to this
order; declared that Hancock had power
topumish offenders, either by military
commissions or civil tribunals, as he
should deem best; that the people We're
still i'll rebellion, and regarded the re-
construction legislation Of Congress as
unconstitutional, and the emancipation
of their slaves andtheir own disfranchise-
ment as an insult and an oppression. He
demanded that General Hancock should
set aside local tribunals and enforce PEN
alties by military commission.
But the soldier replied to the civilian
Immediately and directly.
He pointed ont the option given him
by the Reconstruction act, to govern by
the local civil tribunals, if in his judg-
ment he thought best. The act, there
fore, recognized those local civil tribu-
nails as legal authorities for the purpose
specified.
He showed that such matters as the
disaffectiOn or respect or hatred of the
people, so long as not developed into viO-
lation of the law, were matters beyond
the power Of human tribunals, and that
freedom Of thought and speech, though
acrimonious, was consistent with human
welfare. What the people Of Texas
thought of the constitutiOnality or un-
constitutionality of nets of Congress, had
nothing to do with the manner in which
they should be ruled
He declared that, at the expiration of
two years after the close of the war, it
was time to remember that the American
people should he freemen and that it was
time to tolerate free popular discussion,
and to extend forbearance and cOnsidera-
ton to opposing views.
He showed that to deny a profound
state of peace in Texas necessitated a like
denial in regard to any State in the
Union where differences of opinion ex-
listed between majorities and minorities,
and that, if difficulties III enforcing
criminal laws in Texas authorized the
setting aside of the local tribunals and
the setting up of the arbitrary COM
missions, they would warrant them that
in every State of the Union where it is
true that sheriffs fail often to arrest,
where grand juries will not always indict,
where petit Jurors have acquitted per-
sons who were guilty and were prisoners
charged with offenses have broken Jail
and escaped. Such reasons for estab-
fishing military commission would wipe
civil government and law and liberty
from the face of the earth.
He showed with clearness that If he
set aside the laws enacted for the people
of the States lately in rebellion, which
laws we're not in conflict with the Con-
stitution and acts of Congress, there
would no longer exist any rights of per-
son and property, and he demonstrated
the absurdity of military commission
to establish wills, deeds, sIccessio,Is, or
to settle any of the thousand questions
which arise between men, for the
solution Of which laws and courts were
established and for dealing with which
military commissions were utterly in
capable.
He finally showed from the statistics
that neither crime nor disloyal Oflenses
were on the increase under the operation
of "Order No. 49," but the contrary was
expressly true.
During his entire administration of this
great and embarrassing trust, all his
official acts were BASED on the principle
enunciated by him, that 1.-The right Of
trial by jury, the habcas corpus, the
liberty of the press, the freedom OF
speech, the natural rights Of persons and
all rights of property, should be pre-
served"
HIS REMOVAL.
1t was determined at Washington to
remove him for refusing to carry out the
policy of the Republican majority in
Congress. The General of the Army
Grant was given unusual powers, ex-