Year: 1866

jurisdiction also extends To all duestions
that may arse respecting contracts. The
agent who IS thus to exercise the Office Of
military judge, may baa q stranger. entirely
Ignorant OF the laws of the place, and expo
sed TO the errors Of Judgment to which an
men are liable. The exercise Of power.
over which there iz no legal supervision. by
SO vast number OF agents as is contempla-
tea Dy Fhe Dill, must BY the very nature of
man pe attende d by acts of caprice: injustice
ana passion: The trials having their origin
under the OH are to take place without the
intervention OF jury, and without any fixed
rules OF law or evidence The rules on
wnlea one Asses are to be heard and deterln-
inca py t'ae numerous agents, under such
rules md regulations as the President,
throu' 81 the War Department, shall pre-
scrip q, no previous presentmentis is required,
nor any indictment charging the commission
o. crime against the laws, but the trial
nust proceed on charges and specifications.
The punishment will be not what the law
declares, but such as courtmartial may


think proper, and from these arbitrary tri-


bunals there is no appeal no writ of error


TO any OF the courts in which the constitu-
! ton of the United States vests exclusively
the judicial power of the country. While
the territory and the class of actions and Of


lenses that are made subject to this meas


ure, are so extensive, the bill itself, should


1t become law, will have no limitation in


point OF time, but viii form part of the


permanent legislation of the country.


cannot reconcile a system of military juris-


dlctlon OF this kind with the words of the


Constitution, which declare that no person


shall be held to answer for capital or 9TH


erWlse infamous crime unless on


preSentment or Indictment of a
grand jury, except in cases arising in the
land or naval forces or In the militia when in
actual service In time of war or public dan
ger, and that in all criminal prosecutions the
aecu sed shall enjoy the right to a speedy
and public trial by an impartial jury Of the
Staf e or district wherein the crime shall
hay G been committed The safeguards
which the wisdom and experience of our
Tor efathers established as securities for the
protection OF the innocent, the punishment
OF the guilty, and the equal administration
OF Justice, are to be set aside, and for the
sake OF more vigorous interposition in be-
half of justice, we are to take the risk of the


many acts of injustice that would of necesi-


ty follow from an almost countless number


Of agents established in every parish or


county in nearly third of the States of the


Union, over whose decision there is to be no


supervision or control by the Federal


courts. The power that would be thus pla-


eed In the hands of the President in time of


peace, certainly ought never to be entrusted


to any one man. If it be asked whether


the creation of such a tribunal within


State is warranted as a measure of war, the


question Immediately presents itself, wheth-


er we are still engaged in war Let us not


unnecessarily disturb the commerce and
credit and industry Of the country BY de-
clarIng to the American people and the
world that the United States are still in a
condition of civil war. AT present there is
no part of our country in which the author
ity of the United States is disputed. Of
fenses that may be committed by individ-
uals should not work forfeiture of the
rights of the same communities The eoun-
try ha3 entered or is returning to a State of
peace and industry, and the rebellion is in
fact at an end. The measure, therefore,
seems to be as inconsistent with the actual
condition of the country as it is at variance
with the Constitution Of the United States


If, passing from general consideration, we
examine the bill in detail, it is open to
weighty objections In time Of war it was
eminently proper that we should provide
for those who were passing suddenly from a
condition of bondage to state Of freedom,
but this bill proposes to make the Freed
mems Bureau, established BY the act of
1865, as one of many great and extraordina-
ry military measures to suppress formida-
bic rebellion, a permanent branch of the
public administration with It's powers great
ly enlarged. | have no reason to suppose,
and / do not understand it to be alleged that
the act of March, 1865, has proved deficient
for the purpose for which it was passed,
although at that time and for a considerable
period thereafter the Government Of the
United States remained unacknowledged in
most of the States whose inhabitants had
been involved in the rebellion. The insti-
tuition Of slavery, for the military destruc-
tion of which the Freedmen's Bureau was
called into existence, as an auxiliary force,
has been already effectually and finally abro-
gated throughout the whole country BY an
amendment to the Constitution Of the Uni
ted States, and practically its eradication
has received the assent and concurrence of
most Of those States IN which at any time
it had existed. | am not therefore able to
discern In the country anything to justify an
apprehension that the powers and agencies
of the Freedmen Bureau, which are effee-
ted for the protection Of freedmen and refu-
gees, during the actual continuation of hos
tilities, and Of African servitude, will now,
IN time Of peace and after the abolition Of
slavery, prove inadequate to the same prop
er ends. If | am correct in these views,
there can be no necessity for the enlargement
of the powers of the Bureau, for which pro-
vision is made in the bill.


The third section ofthe bill authorizes a
general unlimited amount of support to the
destitute and suffering refugees and freedmen
and their wives and children. Succeeding
sections make provision for rent or purchase
estates for freedmen, and for the
erection for their benefit Of suitable buildings
for asylums and schools, the expences to be
betrayed from the Treasury of the whole
people. The Congress of the United States
has never heretofore thought itself compe-
tent to establish any laws beyond the limits
of the District of Columbia, except for the
benefit of our disabled soldiers and sailors.
1t has never founded schools. for any class
of our own people, not even for the orphans
of those who have fallen in the defense of
the Union, but has left their education to
the much more competent and efficient con-
troll Of the states, of communities, or pri-
yate associations, and of individuals. 1t
has never deemed itself authorized to ex-
pend the public money for the rent or
purchase of homes for the thousands, not to
say millions of the white race who are hon
estly toiling day by day for their subsistence.
A system for the support of intelligent per-
sons in the United States was never contnm-