Year: 1871

We find the following article in the Chi
cago Times under the above caption, and
which We not only republish but endorse
as a good doctrine to stand by;


"The report that the Grand Jury, acting
under the implied advice of Judge VIII
iams, have not only refused to return a
bill against the parties implicated in the
murder of Col. Grosvenor but haze also
passed a series of resolutions whiteWash=~
ing the whole affair and complimenting
General Sheridan for his services in the re-
cent military occupatiorof Chicago, ex-
hibits one of the portentions signs Of polit-
ical transition now taking place in this
country. 1t is not pretended, even by the
most Jealous apologists for Lieut. General
Sheridan and Mr.. Mason, that the militia
ry occupation of Chicago by Federal troops
was not a violent supersedure ofclvil gov
ernment and civil law by armed force 1t
Is not pretended that it was iustifable,
either under state law or federal law, or
that it was not done in violation Of the
supreme laws of both State and United
States. 1t is simply pleaded in defence
that it was justfable by the emergency
I There waSa necessity, 1t is said (though
all the facts prove the contrary, why CIV
IL government should be superseded in
Chicago by the government Of the sword
IN the hands of q federal soldier


In the political transition from liberty
to desporism-from a popular eonstitu-
tlonal government to a more or less mon
archial government--it is this doctrine of
emergency or necessity, which is playing
] the most important as well as the most in
sldious part. If an emergency may exist
which will warrant the suspension of the
constitution and laws by military force,
/ then there must be some necessity to de-
termine the existence Of such an emergen-
! cy. Who shall decide that the emergen-
cy exists? Shall the mayor of a city de-
eide that the emergency exists which will
warrant the suspensionoft the supreme law
of the State and of the United States, in
fact, of all the functions Of civil govern
ment, and the substitution Of military
force IN the government Of such city?
Whence does the mayor derive such au-
thorty ? Is it from the state law, which
creates the Office Of mayor and prescribes
its functions and duties Surely not. Is
it from the organic law of the state ? No :
that is a constitution Of civil government
only. Is it from some federal law or con-
stitution2 Still the answer must be no.


All 1t Is from the necessity of the easel
But that Is the very point of the inquiry.
If there Is nowhere a constitui ed author
ity to determine the existence of such ne
cesslty, then one man is as much author
lied to determine it as another, and every
man Is law unto himself


Thus does this doctrine of emergency
resolve itself into the annihilation Of all
civil government. 1t creates by its own
lawlessness the very necessity which it as
sumes. It says to Philip Sheridan or q
Ulysses Grant as it said to more than one
of the name Of Bonaparts; Assume the
scepter Of absolute power upon the plea of
necessity; thus you viii determine the
existence Of the necessity which you as
sumo, And as you determine its exist
ence, so you alone can determine when, il
ever, its existence shall cease"


One apologist for Mr.. Sheridan's usur-
patton in Chicago speaks of this very nat
ural view Of 1t as 'transcendental.' Well
as the opposite view oft is that which
has most often conducted free government
to despotic government, and as despotic
government is not usually found, in its
benefits TO mankind, to transcend free gov
ernment, it is probable that the opposite
view of 1t Is not 'transscendentaP and that
the Cook CouRty grand jury isl not trans =
cendeRtaP grand jury.