Year: 1868

Oau lhe PRESIDENT OF the United
States prosecute case before a court
martial? He cannot, because Con.
gress has conferred upon a subordi.
nate officer of the Army that power,
and the President, though Commander
sn-Chief, cannot set it aside.


A Trend near me says these are sub
ordinates. l answer that the General of
the Army of the United States is also
a subordinate. He is to Congress as
judge advocate, a auartermaster. or
barrack-master. 1t makes no differ
ence how high his rank may be, he is
nevertheless a subordinate to Congress.
The President is Commander-in-Cbief.
but he must command in accordance
with the rules and Articles of War
the acts of Congress.


call attention to the oath that eve
ry officer and enlisted man takes be-
fore entering the Army. 1t is in these
words:


Il do sOlemnly swear that will bear true
allegiance to the United States" .


and will observe and obey the orders of the
President Of the United States and the orders Of
| the officers appointed over me according to the
rules and articles for the government Of the
Army Of the United States"


Now, should the President of the
United States give to the humblest
officer nf the Army an order contrary
to the Rules and Articles of War or to
the law OF Congress, the subordinate
can promptly refuse to obey, because
the order has not been given in accor-
dance with the rules and regulations
of the power which commands both
him and the President.


Now, if Congress cansmake laws as
signing special duties to subordinate
officers, such as judge advocates, quar-
termasters, and barrack-masters, what
new doctrine is this that it may not al
SO assign special duties to the General
of the Army? The volumes of stat
utes are full of laws of Congress COM
manding all classes of officers to per-
form all kinds of duties. 1t is now
proposed to require of the General of
the Army the performance of a special
duty, namely, the duty of directing
the operations of that part of the Army
which occupies the States lately in re-
| bellion. If the General should neglect
this duty the President as Commander
in-Chief can call him to account for
such neglect, bat he cannot prevent
his obedience to the law. - . -


So much for the constitutionality of
this section. now come to inquire


why this legislation is needed. 1t is
because this Congress, in its work of
restoring 70 their places the States
lately in rebellion, authorized the
President to assign the officers Of the
Army TO the duties prescribed in the
law, and the President has made such
use o. that. as to obstruct and
delay the restoration of those States.


Without violating the letter of the
law, he has been able in a great meas
ure to hinder the full and efficient ex-
ecution of the law. His acts and those
of his advisers are to-day the chief
obstacles to the prompt restoration of
the rebel States, and Congress proposes
to remove those obstacles by transfer
ring the power to the hands of one
who has shown his loyalty to the coun-
try and his willingness to obey the laws
of the Union.


Mr.. Speaker, | will not repeat the
long catalogue of distractions which he
has thrown in the way by virtue of the
I BOnCA upou hAAA- IL ElAc To-
construction law of 1867, but l will
allude to one example where he has
found in a major general of the Army
a facile instrument with which more
effectually to obstruct the work of re-
construction. This case is all the more
painful because an otherwise meritoTi-
GUS officer, who bears honorable scars,
earned in battle for the Union, has
been made a party to the political
madness which has so long marked the
conduct of the President. This gener-
al was sent into the district of Louisi-
ana and Texas with law of Congress
IN his hand, a law that commands him
to see that justice is administered
among the people of that country, and
that no pretense Of civil authority shall
deter him from performing his duty,
and yet we find that officer giving
lectures in the form of proclamations
and orders on what ought to be the re-
lation between the civil and military
departments of the Government. We
see him issuing a general order in
which he declares that the civil should
not give way before the military. We
hear him declaring that he finds moth
ing in the laws of Louisiana and Texas
to warrant his interference in the civil
administration of those States. 1t is
not for him to say which should be
first, the civil or the military, in that
rebel community. 1t is not for him to
search the defunct laws of Louisiana
and Texas for a guide to his conduct.
1t is for him to obey the laws which he
was sent there to execute. 1t is for
him to aid in building up civil govern
ments, rather than preparing himself
to be the presidential candidate of that
party which gave him no sympathy
when he was gallantly fighting the bat
ties of the country.


Mr.. Speaker, the Union party will
take no step backward in this work of
reconstruction. The policy inaugura-
ted by the Thirty Ninth Congress we
are now carrying out. The State of
Tennessee has already been restored to
its relations to the Union. Alabama
has prepared a constitution, and on the
4th of February her loyal people will
vote to adopt or reject 1t, and before
the middle of February l expect to see
her clothed and in her right mind, and
her Representatives occupying seats in
these Halls. Seven more States are
now holding conventions and framing
constitutions of government IN pursu-
ance of the laws of Congress; and in
the two remaining States, Florida and
Texas, elections have been ordered and
the people will soon vote for or against
a convention. The work is going on,
and, if there be no adverse action to
th1art it, before another twelve month
we shall see these States completely
restored. Who now is opposing it 2
Gentlemen upon the other side are
manifestly arrayed with the President
IN endeavoriDg to obstruct the work of
reconstruction, and without charging
upon them rebel sympathies or imput-
ing to them any improper motives l do
say that their conduct is pleasing to
every unrepentant and unchanged
rebel in the South. The whole mass OF
the rebel population are in favor of
obstructing the reconstruction policy
Of Congress. There is not man who
went into rebellion against the Govern
ment, not a guerrilla who shot down
our wounded soldiers in ambulances,
not a man that burned our cities and
steamboats,, not a man that starved our
prisoners, not man who aided in the
assassination of our President, not a |
rebel from one end of the country to |
the other, who is not to-day in sympa- !
thy with this party in Congress in its
attennts TO obstruct and defeat the re- |