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EDWARD BATES ON MARTIAL LAW.
The Constitutional Convention in Missou
ri and Martial Law in that State.
A CAUSTIC REVIEW.
I come now to treat of martial law, and the
use and abuse now sought to be made of it, in
this State. And my proposition is that martial
law is not the governing rile over this State.
It does not exist here; and whatever may have
fieen done, under that pretence, and contrary to
the laws of the land, is a personal wrong and a
punishable usurpation That is my proposition ;
:in d I shall endeavor to maintain it, even at the
hazard of differing widely from the opinion and
wish of the convention now sitting in St. Louis.
The convention assumes that the State is un
der martial law; and expresses a strong desire
that it so remain ; but it has riot, in any pro
reeding that 1 have seen, informed the people
(whom it assumes to govern with absolute sway)
what martial law is, nor who made, nor when
nor where it was made, nor how it is possible
to repeal or annul it. The convention is prudent
in ab.-taining from any attempted explanation
on these points, because tiie matter is incapable
of explanation upon any grounds consistent
with law or reason. The members may pretend
ignorance, if they will, in order to save for them
selves hereafter, when the day of their shame
shall come, the hackneyed plea of convicted of
fenders —"It was the error of the head and not
of the heart." But there are some members of
that bod)', who ought to know, and do know,
that martial law (as contradistinguished iroiu the
law of the land) is simply no law at ail; that I!
:s neither mere nor less than the suppression of
the • stablished government, and the substitution
, f will, however capricious, oi the military
commander in the vacated place or tbe taws.
That is martial law. pure and simple; and none
but the most ignorant are in any danger of con
founding it with military law, which io not only
another and a different tiling, but the exact op
posite of the despotism of martial law. Milita
ry law consists ot those parts m the constitution
and statutes which relate to the army r.a I its
control and management. In iike manner we
have "-roups of other laws which, for conveni
ence, are classified, and familiarly called by t'tcf
names of their respective subject■= -foi instance,
we have naval 'aw, revenue law. land .aw, ju
diciary law. Vet pvery one of these is admin
istered in the forms of the constitution and by
constitutional functionaries; and in .regard to
every one of Hiem, including military law, ev
pverv man may look into the statute book an!
there read the measure of his obligations and
his rights. But where can you read any legal
description of martial law, any derivation of iG
powers, or any limitation upon their exercise:
Nowhere, and for the simple reason that it has
no legal existence; and the very term martial
law is only a nickname for arbitrary power, a—
sumod, against law, by men in arms.
This kind of despotism differs, in its founda
tion and essence, from the tyranny sometimes
usurpe d bv assemblies of men calling themselves
dF'terative bodies. The first is a strong man
is d, vi ho. conscious of his power to enforce
obedience, proclaims his orders, and ff some pre
sumptuous victim ask for his wan.int ot author
ity, he answers only by brandishing his sword !
The second, (deliberative bodies) conscious ol
its own intrinsic weakness, ar.d that they are
nothing, without the prestige of law, always in
the beginning pretend to have some lavv.u. au
thority for the exercise of their assumed author
ity. And often they seem to prosper for a sea
son. As long as they keep in close alliance with
the armed power, and can induce it ,o be their
minister, to carry out their decrees under mar
tial law, they seem to prosper, and cheat them
selves into the belief that they are all-powerful.
But this state of things cannot long continue.
Armed men, like the unarmed, wili le-oii trie
lessons that are daily taught them. And when
these civil bodies, misled by their own grotesque
egotism, imagine themselves supreme an 1 above
all established laws uud principles, and habitu
ally "frame iniquity into a law," the "strong
man armed" soon learns the lesson thus taught
"him iiy self-conceited ambition. Out of their
own mouths lie convicts them and says to them:
"Yes, gentlem n, you are right; there is noili
ing obligatory in government but power, and as
the power happens to be in my hands, and not
in yours, get you gone out of my way. liius
Croinwell answered the Long Parliament of En
gland, and Bonaparte answered the directory
and Councils of France.
Xo principle is better settled in tlic constitu
tion and policy ol the L'nitcd States than this,
the military is subordinate to the civil power,
and can act only as the minister and servant of
the law. For we have no ruling sovereign but
the law, and therein consists our only claim of
superiority in government o\cr the people of
Europe, who, for the most part, arc governed
by visible human sovereigns, in the shape of em
perors and kings, in the great nations, and all
the way down the scale of power to the petty
princes and dukes, who reign over the inhabit
tants of a few thousand acres of land. Lhis, I
say, is the only claim of superiority over them
in the matter of government, and so long as that
claim is sustained by reality and truth, it is full
of goodness and glory. But if that claim be
falsified—if the laws of the land are no longer
to rule and protect us—we arc indeed under the
despotism of that martial law, so dear to the
convention, then 1 affirm that our government
is tar v. orro <han theiio, and our condition far
ioo" •to .> pitied. For the sovereigns-of Eu
ro (m'>sl of them) derive their place and pow
er from a long line of descent tiom their ances
tors, and all of them from the Queen of Great
Britain down to the Duke of Hesse Darmstadt,
hope to -transmit to their posterity. In that
case every conclusion of reason, and every im
pulse of the human heart compel the desire for
stability and order. A sovereign in that condi
tion raut be not a tyrant only, but a fool, who
would prefer to leave to his successors a degra-
VOU;ME CO.
NEW SERIES.
iled state, an empty treasury, and a seditious
people, rather than leave him an honorable
name in history, a revenue equal to the wants
of the state and a people prosperous, contented
and loyal.
lint what will be our condition if the conven
tion succeed in placing us under the despotism
of inhrtial law .' Our masters will have 110 in
ducement to stability and order for the present
and no hope of continuance in the future, no
rule to work by, and no law to restrain them.
Without any established accountability to law,
and without any fear of punishment for their
misdeeds, except at the caprice of a higher tyr
anny than their own, ours will be worse than
any hereditary despotism can be, for ours must
be continually changing from one master to an
other. It will be despotism multiplied by re
publican forms.
Such, then, is martial law, so eagerly coveted
bv that class of Missouri politicians who are
now laboring to consolidate their accidental and
transient power, and who know right well that
nothing short of despotism will serve their turn.
In different countries and different ages oi' the
world, despotism lias taken a variety of names
and forms. In some countries, the whole gov
ernment was military, resting upon force alone,
and consequently whoever was master of that
force was master of the nation which it held in
subjection, and might rule both alike by bis sim
ple orders, and it is of no importance whether
we call those orders by the name of firman, or
ukase, or decree, or ordinance; for, by what
ever name called, they all do but express the
will of the commander. During the lime ofthe
feudal system ali Europe was governed by mil
itary power, and the sovereign ruler of each
particular country —whether kayser, king, prince
or duke —was the head general of the nation,
the commander-in-chief of the array. In such
governments as those no question can arise a
bout martial law, for the ruler is already des
potic, and speaks to his subjects, both military
and civil, only in the language of command.
If martial law be indeed any law at all—if
it be a rule of action, binding upon any body,
r-.nv where, and at any time, it must have had a
h innbig. It did not always exist here, and if
to v. ,it must be because somebody en
acted it. Surely it "s the simple duty of tir-e
who claim it as the law over Missouri, and who
deprecate its disuse, to inform us, the subject
people, how and when it began to exist here,
who imposed it, and by what pretended author
ity, and by what public act it is made manifest
to the enslaved people. We demand of tliem
the grounds of their tyrannical assumption, and
they are silent They leave us to inter that it
has risen among us, noiseless and unseen, like a
noxious exhalation from a putrid bog, which,
as it tioata away over the lands, taints the vital
air, ami is seen and known only in the fall of
its v ictims.
But if it should ever come to light (as possi
bly it may, for the dirty records of Missouri pol
itics for the last few years must be scrutinized)
that soma acquisitive military man has presum
ed to declare, by what general order or other
wise, that martial law is the governing rule
over thi3 State, my answer is ready—he is a
usurper! Such, a declaration, divested of official
firm and verbiage, and reduced to plain English,
amounts to this: "This State, to be sure, was
made bv law, and the people have hitherto lived
under the protection of their own laws and the
laws of the United States; but that i 3 all chang
ed now ; for I have determined to abolish the
laws and to govern tlie people myself. And
this I do for the good of the people, who need
my protection, and lam the sole judge of public
necessity and the only guardian of public safe
ty !" Such an insolent dictation as this couched
in language intelligible to the people, would
~bock, the common sense of every man whoever
! conceived of civil liberty, and ever read the c >n
-titution of his country, and could not fail to
rouse one universal feeling of indignation a
"ainst the crafty tyrant who tries to disguise
and smuggle in iiis despotism, under the false
and indefinite name oi martial law. And I af
firm that no soldier, high or low, has any shad
ow of authority thus to revolutionize the State.
Still, it is a melancholy tact that there are
many instances in which military officers have
acted in the most absolute and oppressive man
ner, and many other instances in which even
private soldiers, taking courage from the lawless
example of their officers and from the neglect
of discipline which is sure to follow the abro
gation of law, have freely indulged in wanton
outrages both on persons and property, and rare
ly if ever they are brought to condign punish
ment.
I cannot now, and here, dwell upon any of
the many instances of wrong done to individu
als by the military, high and low, in the spirit
;of lawless power. (Their turn may come here
after.) hut I cannot forbear to draw your at
; tention to certain open, direct, contemptuous
| assaults upon the State itself, its dignity and its
laws. It is but the other day since the meeting
of the convention, and, I believe, since it pass
ed that famous resolution in favor of martial
I law, that the commanding officer of a military
i district in the western part ol the State, Col.
! Harding, sent an order to the prosecuting at
; iorney Tor the State, young Mr. Hviand, com
! manding him to dismiss an indictment, then pend
; ing in the State Circuit Court of a county. —
The circuit attorney, it seems, had too much
respect, for the Slate and its laws to prostitute
his office by yielding obedience io sncli n order,
and was imprisoned for his contumacy. But
tiie circuit judge, on" air. 'I utt, was of a more
compliant temper. Intimidated, perhaps, by
the dragoon Doots and long sword ol the bearer
of Col. Harding's order, he succumbed, and en
tered upon his record the humiliating order ol
{court, dismissing the indictment. And thus,
: publicly and of record, the laws of the land
j bowed in homage to the sword.
| Some time ago, a year or more, a case very
like this occurred under the reign of Gen. Fisk
He also suppressed an indictment in a State civti
' court, but I never heard that he had any diffi'
Freedom of Though; and Opinion.
BEDFORD, PA., FRIDAY MORNING, MAY 26, 1865.
• | oulty with his civil officers. 'They, I suppose,
! were better drilled than Harding's, and yielded
| a prompt obedience.
I have heard of others similar in principle,
j but 1 cannot state thein now, (fori have protn
■; ised to make these essays short.) I reserve them
for future use, if need be. But the conclusion
is obvious, that if martial law do indeed prevail
here—if the military commandant may send his
orders to the courts of justice, and enforce them
by the assistant process of imprisonment, lie
may do the same to all other functionaries of
the State. The members of the convention,
when they passed that famous resolution thu't,
no doubt, that martial law would continue to
. be their servant; their tool in working out the
projected revolution of the State, not in govern
ment only, but also in population and property.
But when they find that they have gotten a
master in place of a servant, I opine that some
: of the members would be glad of an opportuni
ty to consider that resolution; but then it will
lie too late. Imagine their ludicrous distress,
if some day, in the midst of a serious debate
! upon the proper oath to be required of a school
; mistress, or some other great constitutional ques
• tion, there should stalk into the hall a grim aid
, or orderly, dressed in jack boots and long sword,
like the one that paid Col. Harding's eompli
: mc-nts to Judge Tutt, arid deliver to Mr. l'resi
- dent Krekel a billet, couched in the language ol 1
• Cromwell or Bonaparte, thus;
"Conventioners!—l am the State! Take a
way that bauble, and cease your babbling about
human rights, and your clumsy efforts at con
-1 stitution-making. Go!
"By order of, &e., J. S. T A. A. A. G.'J
Coi. Krekel, President of the convention, is
: better provided for, as yet, than most of his
brethren, for his good services and law-abiding
character have secured for him the office of U
nited .States Judge for the #'c-!crn district of
Missouri, though he docs not !i e in that dis
trict. When the convention shall adjourn, or
be annulled by martial law, the Co'onel will
at once assume his new functions of Judge, and
will have great advantages over most new Judg
es. He hates conversation, and loves martial
■ law and the radical [tarty, and, as Col. Har
ding's command is within the western district,
Judge K r ffi'l may, from time to time, hope to
i receive military orders, when to act and when
. to forbear; and, possibly, may be furnished
with opinions to be delivered from the bench,
better than his own.
If there be in Missouri a man of reputation
: | for probity and knowledge, who denies my po
sition, that martial law is not law at all, 1 wish
he would do it with his name attached. Bui 1
do not think there is any such man. And thi
point conceded, the second clause of my prop
osition follows of course, that is, "whatever
may have been dune under that preffinee, con
j trary to the law of land, is a personal wrong
■ j and punishable usurpation." So I waste no
■ i time on that.
i j I have not overlooked the shameful fact that
■ the convention did what it could, byway of
■ | ordinance, to insure impunity for past crimes
: for themselves and their partisans, who claimed
i' to be executioners of martial law. I say them
l selves, because one member in his place publicly
i'j boasted that he had burned a woman's house !
• (-because, as he said, she harbored bushwhackers.
And, trusting, no doubt, in acrime covering or
! j dinance, seemed to have no fear that he would
■; ever he called to answer for that arson. And
' 1 am pleased to be able to believe that the or
■ dinance is as important for protection u thede
l' sign of it was mischievous.
* In my next number I shall probably skip o
• : ver my second and third propositions in order
1 j to come more speedily to tin.*, fourth, which re
i ; lates to the convention and its revolutionary
r ; character. EDWAIJU BATES.
-i St. Louis, April 3, 1805.
- The Democracy Sustained by the Ablest
of their opponents.
Republican Journals .Idopfing Dtmocrafic
Opinions About the Respect Due to Cumti
tufions, Lav>s and Civil Court*.
[/■ Vow the Philadelphia Ledger, 1 2lh ins/.]
1 SECRET MILITARY TRIBUNALS.
■> The attempts of Mr. Scanton to set aside the
' courts of law for the trial of offences ami to sub
" ! stitute secret military tribunals are not receiv
-1 ing that quiet deference he possibly hoped for
" from the public. The most strenuous suppor
" ters of the Republican party are loud in their
condemnation of this as arbitrary and unwar
-1 rantable by any law or precedent in the history
• of the Government. The people know what
1 courts and juries are, and submit to their de
" cisions with respect, because they see all the
" machinery and processes by which a decision
s is reached, and know that condemnation comes
3 only from the preponderance of testimony upon a
? jury's mind. Military courts they know nothings
" about, nor are they permitted to know, for every
' tliiug is done .in secret and only their judgment;
y are announced. This outrages every mail's
• sense of justice, and creates a suspicion againsl
the fairness of the proceedings, which weaken'
" tiie reverence which ought to be popularly fell
" for tribunals that nave the power of deciding
~ upon the life and li' .rty of the citizens. Tie
1 \ ar which this country has so successfully wager
B was a war for freedom and the rights of human
> , ity. Trie people do not wish to see it end witl
' riieir liberties in danger. Nothing moreendan
c gers them than this subversion of jury trial:
y and the substitution of secret military court!
r sitting in judgment upon the lives and persona
" freedom of the citizens, if there is anything
the people regard as sacred, and the best sccur
' ity f>r their rights, it is the institutions of jus
'' tice—-an open trial by a jury of their country
men. Closed doors and secret investigations
y with life and liberty at 6take, look too mucl
;. like tbe days of the inquisrion ever to be toler
il' ated as a part of the administration of justic
i- in a free land. Mr. btanton greatly mistake
, he temper of tbe American people when he
I mdertakes this dangerous innovation upon the
istablished institutions which every man has
, fearned to respect, and which he himself is
- tound to recognize and defer to by his oath of
i cffice. There is no functionary in this country
i above the laws, and the strength of power in
I the heads of the Government, is iu adhering
s t> them and administering them in their integ-
I nty and as the people have created them.
i [From the JY. V. Evening Post, 10 th inst.]
f THE TRIAL AT WASHINGTON.
, T l ." Government is making- a prodigious and
, Earful mi: take in the mode of trial it has adopt
) esl ior the conspirators in the late assassination.
3 It makes a double blunder, in fact, first in re
- sorting to a military tribunal, and secondly, in
. causing the proceedings to bo held in secret. —
i What law is there tor these military courts, now
3 that the war has ceased, now that the President
-1 himself has declared in a formal proclamation
lj that the "armed resistance in certain States is
, j virtually sit an end," now that the plea of nc
j | ccssity is wholly voided"? The civil law is every
i | where in the ascendant, and the ordinary courts
-jure competent to any criminal inquest and de
-1; cision. They possess the confidence of the peo
, j [ile, because their methods of arriving at jus
-1 tice. matured by the experience of centuries,
- are regular, effective, well understood. But
J, these military commissions are new things, as>
| foreign to our habits as they are unknown to
- our laws, and whatever is done by them takes
t that color of force or of Government dictation,
- which renders them suspected iu the popular mit-d.
i Judge and jury we know ; but Major Generals
j and Judge Advocates, not with swords in their
hands, but with pens behind their ears, we do
s' not know.
r i The off ences, moreover, for which these eon
-! spin dors arc to be tried are not all military of
[''fences. The killing of the President, who is
- also Commander-in-Chief of the army and na
r ;%y. may bo construted to a military offence, but
! j the attempt upon the life of the Secretary of
1 iState, tin exclusively civil officer, was not of
- that character. As a crime it comes wholly un
it r the cognizance of the civil law, and the
- <perpetrators of it, -criminal and atrocious" as
| they may be, are yet sheltered by that provision
j jol the Constitution which declares that "no
• person shall be held to answer for a capital or
otherwise infamous crime, unless on a present
. | mctil ir indictment of a grand jury, except in
cases arising in the land or naval service, or in
i the militia, wheh in actual service, in time of
• war or public danger." This is a positive un
! repealed, invaluable muniment of the liberty
L ot the individual, and no administration has a
righ. to set : t aside without answering for it to
- the people. President Johnson has just as much
r right to proclaim himself emperor to-morrow us
- Secretary Stanton has to enact these strange
r forms of procedure.
j j What renders this resort to nil unusual tri
| buual tiie more offensive is, that the doors are
tjto he closed during the trial. A military court
f ( is sufficiently orij etionable, but a military court,
< I sitting vviiii closed doors, is infinitely more so;
1 j it is a shameful departure from our legal usages,
- and a disgrace b. a nation that boasts of its
; liberal, free and open institutions. The pre
t text that it will not be prudent to publish the
evidence about to be given, because of the fears
- of the witnesses that they may expose them
selves to the malice of the unknown accomplices
[ of the criminals, seems to us a feeble one. It
is a pretext that would defeat trials
- iu cases involving a great deal o™ersonal or
political passion. No community should give
. way to it. Is not our government strong e
r nough, and our society orderly and well dispos
. Ed enough, to protect any man who does his
j duty I Every loyal house in the nation would
furnish him a shelter, every loyal heart be ready
to defend id? person. Besides, let a proper ex
ample be made of the assassins we have caught
t already ; let them be hung speedily, alter a fair
trial, and those we have not caught will disperse.
?Vot one of them is likely to be in a position or
a mood to pursue his criminal ends, after the
L Confederacy that hired him has been exploded,
and the leading scoundrels that conspired with
liira have had their necks stretched?
We want a public trial, because it is due to
tbe people at borne, to the people of the South,
and to the people of foreign nations, that their
e judgments be satisfied of the entire fairness and
justice cf the procedure. If the fate of Payne,
. Atzeroth and other wretches depended on it
r only, it would be a matter of some importance,
. but not of so much importance as it is in othei
r relations. Our Government, on the strength
•- of evidence drawn from tho confessions cf these
y offenders, and from the witnesses to be used in
t this trial, iias proclaimed to the world the com
.. plieity of Jefferson Davis, Thompson, Clay,
e Tucker, Sanders and Cleary, in the awful ruur
n der of Mr. Lincoln. It is a ch.vrge that musi
j be fully sustained, not to recoil unpleasantly oi
;J injuriously upon the heads of its authors. Tin
-..j proof of it must be ample, direct, unequivoca
■- of a kind to convince tiie general inind, tojusti
;s fv tiie issuing of such a proclamation. If it be
's deficient, doubtful, indirect, or liable to suspicior
,t of having been procured and manipulated for
effect, we shall have put weapons into the hand:
It of the friends of those distinguised rebels to be
cr wielded in aid of their cause and in sympathy
io for their persons. For ourselves we have littk
J doubt that the proof is complete ar.d satisfac
tory. and it must be given to the public also ii
h the most complete and satisfactory way.
i- What an inconsistency it is that we, win
is boast of the free and popular character of oui
ts institutions, should revive these secret courts
al these military conclaves, these mysterious Vehm
ig Gerichte at a time when they have l>een discard
r- ed even by the monarchies and despotisms o
s- Europe! When Henry the Fourth of Franc<
y- was assassinated by Kavaillac, though it wa
3, supposed that the whole Jesuit society stood lie
:h hind the criminal, he was yet publicly tried i
r-! the regular courts. Balthaser Gerard, wh
ee ' murdered the good William the Silent, was trie
83 in that way, aud of the numerous Italiaua wh
WHOLE NUMBER, 3111
at different times Imve attempted the life of \
Louis Phillippc or Napoleon 111., we cannot re- j
i member that a single one was ever handed over j
to military justice. Shall we, at this late day, j;
' renew a bad example so happily abandoned '
i How dangerous it is as a precedent we need not
say, for that view of it is so obvious a? to sug
gest itself to every mind. If we may try Her- ;'
old, Payne, and their confederates by military i
'• courts, how long will it be before we shall un- j
dcrtake to try other less atrocious offenders in I
tiie same irregular WAY ! How long will it SK; J
before the established judicial system is .-et aside
for nrw-fapglerl and irresponsible methods! Let ;
the people think of this, and let them, through |
the journals, protest against the abuse.
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
The life and strength of the old Democratic j ■
party was its national spirit. From its earliest j 1
history this never failed to assert itself clearly, j 1
fervently, we may say, indeed, fiercely, on every j
question involv ing the preservation, or the en- j;
largemcnt, or the honor and glory of the coun
try. In our great controversies with England, j j
with France, with Mexico, it was peculiarly the 1
i war party. In every minor dispute with other j '
nation®, it was always the parly most apt to plant , f
itself on high pretensions and extreme claims, j
,In our domestic affairs, it was the party that j'
alicays labored most earnestly to put down, section- ' 1
| al discord, and to strengthen the bonds of the U- \ 1
' num. —New-York Times.
True, every word of it!
j Reverence for the Constitution, respect for !
the reserved rights of the states, and devotion ■
to the Union founded thereon, are the wateh- j
words of the Democratic party. Intense A- ;
; merican nationality, chastened and enlightened 1
by the supremacy of law, pervades the whole !•.
frame-work of its policy. Its very nationality :
made the vexed and vexing question of slave- j
labor a disturbing element in its councils. That >,
■ topic parted men in the free-labor states who I
• agreed on all other public questions. But now i
I that, forevermore in our America, there shall j
; be neither Nave to flee nor master to pursue, ; <
the Democratic party will, in perfect forgetful- '
• ness of past differences, re-assemble its scatter- j.
cd elements, and so secure a re-union of all men 1
who look to JACKSON, SH.AS WKKJHT, WOOD
BCRY, BENTON, M.vncv, or DOCGLAS, among tnc I
later departed worthies of the republic, as the ;
authors or expounders of their political faith. <
What the nation needs now are, lofty patrio- !
. tisni, s'.ern integrity, and personal courage, iike ; :
; that of the men who stood around JACKSON in
his memorable contest with corruption. Ibe .
, I country requires not only that cabinet ministers
,! have correct political doctrine®, but that they :
, surround themselves with subordinates who,
, setting themselves like flint against the proflig
acy and demoralization of the hour, dare to he ,
. i honest. Sound principles of government avail -
, nothing without upright and fearless executive :
! officers. The tax-payers of the land demand 1
! retrenchment and reform in the financial affairs .
!j of every department at Washington. Law-a
biding men demand that courts of justice shall
'■ be permitted to resume the exercise of their
proper functions, and that the old-fashioned
. guarantees of individual liberty and property .
, shall, in the United -States, be everywhere up- j
_ j held and respected. It is not easy to find two j
j! men, once Democrats, who differ about these j
[ | tilings. If they do disagree, it will be because j
3 j one of them has become corrupted by bad as- i
r social ion or has some scheme of treasury plun
;! dor in his head. The lirst great prerequisite, j
therefore, to a good government at Washington, ;
_ under I 'resident .JOHNSON, will be, in his own j
s ; way and his own good time, to expel liom pow- j
j er all men, of whatever rank or degree, who ;
y : persist in using the arm of the executive, not j
only to benefit and enrich partisan adherents, (
I I but to heap great burdens of unnecessary tuxa- '
r fion upon laboring men, North and South. —
; World.
r: Tiie Stantonian Government.
e . .
• Horace Greely on Civil Liberty.
Are vre Still At War?
0 j
) ' Henry S. Foote was, fifteen years f.go, a i
r United States Senator from Mississippi and dis
• tinguished liimself by his support oi the Cotn
- ' promise measures of 1850, in opposition to his
lt colleague, Jeff'. Davis, who opposed them in
S behalf' of "Southern Bights." At tiie ensuing
r State Election, these two Senators were pitted
against each other us "Union" and "State
e Bights" candidates respectively for Governor,
11 and Foote beat Davis over 1,000 votes in the
l " pall ever had in the State ; the vote
'■> standing Foote, 28,738; Davis, 27,729. Foote
■'* j removed, on his return to private life, to Mem
=t phis, Tennessee, where he stood out for the Un
,r ion until the Secession tide ran mountain high,
lC when lie. like John Bell and too many others,
'I | succumbed to it, and became a Secessionist,
i- As such, he was sent to the Bebel Senate, where
0 : his inveterate antagonism to Jeff. Davis was so
11 manifested that he probably did the Rebellion
r more harm there than he could have done by
is : adhering to the Union. Finally, becoming sat
,e isiied that the Rebellion was a failure, he aban
y ! doned it in disgust, and was making his way to
! the Union lines, when lie was arrested and ta
ken back to Richmond. His second attempt
:n was more successful, and lie reached Washing
ton, but, not being ready to take the oath of
10 allegiance, he was required to leave the coun
ir try. He went to England; but soon returned
s- to this port, where he was arrested and kept for
n- sonic time in jail. On the urgent reprcsenta-
J, tion of friends, he was at lengtli released on
of parole, being required to report himself to Gen.
Dix each alternate day. He so reported him
as self one day last week, when he was shown an,
c- order from the War Department that he should
in either staud trial for treason or quit the country
10 at once. He chose to go, and departed for
;d Canada, where we presume lie still is.
io Now if we are still involved in a terrible civ-
■ il war, which imperils the life of the Republic,
and if Foote is a dangerous person, we hold
this arbitrary banishment to be justifiable!; if
not, not. If every rebel force this side of the
Mississippi is captured or disbanded, and trade
with the late rebel districts rc-opened as though
they were at peace with us, and if Foote is no
longer an enemy of the Union, but ready to
deport himself henceforth as a loyal, peaceful
citizen, then we hold that there is not a cow in
our State which our Government has less rea
son to regard with apprehension and alarm
than this old man. It might possibly be worth
while to try and punish him, though we think
not; but can be secured, what evil
averted, by compeHinir him to live in Canada
rather than in New York 1 And, if his ban
ishment be in no sense a necessity, is it not
clearly an act of tyranny ?
Of course, it can be sort o' justified, or blus
tered over, and those who disapprove it charg
ed with sympathy with traitors; but how will
it look acro-s an ocean or an interval of ten
years ? The New York Times will turn a back
summersault, if required, ami protest that any
generous or uianly sentiment expressed through
its editorial columns crept into tbera by accl
d nt; the Union League will resolve, if duly
prompted, that this banishment adds anotherto
tie innumerable proofs of the superhuman
wisdom and energy that irradiate the War De
partment; and Chip?. Marshall will make a
-p: • h to the Chamber of Commerce, .showing
thai, Jack Cade's month was the perfection of
all pos-ible parliaments", but all tLese do nSt
constitute public opinion, nor even indicate it.
Oti lite contrary, we venture to assure Mr. new
President that the American people, having
now given • a fair trial to the Stantonian and
republican forms of Government respectively,
do greatly prefer the latter, and desire a return
to it at the earliest possible di!y—-which they
believe to be this day. If we are stiii at war,
and our Government in peril, the orders that
have recently been issued re-opening trade and
reducing our armaments ought to be counter
manded or forborne ; but if the war is virtually
ended, the rebellion discomfited and the nation
saved, then we insist that the regime under
which a district provost-marshal ranks the Gov
ernor of a State ought at once to pass away,
the privilege of habeas corpds be restored, and
the reign of law and liberty be re-established.
How much longer must we wait for it?—N. F.
Tribune.
From the Boston Fourier, May 4th.
THE PENALTIES CF GLIB-LIPPED
LOYAL LEAGUEISM.
■Fifty Dollars Damages for calling a Man a
Traitor, and Thirty-five Thousand Dollars
for preferring an Unfounded Formal .Ac
cusation of Treason—Mirabile DicTx —A
Boston Jury rejecting Great Moral Ideas.
The newspapers throughout the country are
conveying the grateful tidings of the important
verdict rendered in the Supreme Court, last
Friday, in the case of Slurtevant vs. Allen.
Some of our distant western cotemporaries, we
perceive, are already commenting upon it with
approbation, and in some cases with surprise,
that such a verdict could have been agreed up
on in Massachusetts—in Boston, during times
like these. In this respect, we cannot but think
it is a peculiarly happy circumstanee. as show
ing that, even in a day ot extraordinary po
litical excitement, a jury of our citizens, com
posed of men opposed in politics, could disre
gard altogether party relations, in obedience to
the superior demands of justice and the claims
of law. Certainly, these gentlemen deserve
the highest commendation of their feilow-citi
zens for such conscientious discharge of their
duty.—Doubtless, the}' were much assisted in
coming to just conclusions by the impartial in
struction ot the able and learned court; while
judicious listeners to the argument of plaintiff's
counsel declare, that for irresistible reasoning,
apt illustrations, and touching appeals, Mr.
Sohicr's address to the jury has not often been
; equaled. While few who heard or read the
I testimony in the case could hesitate as to the
rightfulness of the plaintiffs claim, there were
i many who doubted whether really substantial
j damages would be awarded, even if the jury, in
i times like, these, could be induced to agree,
j It is understood, however, there was no e.ssen
! rial difference between them. Happily, a great
I wrong has riius found a prompt remedy, at the
j hands of justice; and there can be r.o doubt
j that the decision will redound very much to the
j credit of this community, throughout the coun
try. The jury also wisely discriminated, as it
I seems to us, in the different measure of dama
! ges settled upon for several counts in the writ.
—For calling the plaintiff "a traitor," they as
sessed damages only in the sum of fifty dollars;
while for preferring a formal accusation against
him to the same elicet, in consequence of which
he was arrested and subjected to imprisonment
affecting his reputation, his feelings, and his
health they gave him thirty-two thousand live
hundred dollars, a sum certainly not niggard,
• though no amount of money could repair the
whole damage done. In the first respect, they
may have thought that the opprobrious term in
question had been so carelessly, as well as too
often maliciously, applied, in party beat, to men
of the highest character for patriotism and in
tegrity—formerly, for example to so pure a man
as Gen. McClellan, and more recently to an of
ficer so distinguished as Gen. Sherman—that it
had lost much of its injurious force!; and a
slight mulct in damages, therefore, would be a
sufficient reminder to the defendant and others,
that they could not thus trifle with the reputa
tion of their neighbors. The other count was
based upon more serious considerations; and to
this the jury applied the smart money which
they deemed the propriety of the case required.
The influence of this verdict in vindicating
the supremacy of the law, and in checking not
only slanderous imputations, bat outrages of
every kind resulting from political antagonism,
will be widely felt, and the example has already
been most salutary. When men become sensi
ble that, sooner or later, they will be called up
on to pay in damages for unjust accusations
and violent proceedings, and that they cannot
escape such consequences, whenever the law re
sumes its rightful dominion, they will pause.
We are glad to observe the attention which the
case has excited elsewhere; and could wish that
a i'ull report of the trial might be published
and widely circulated.
£3~There are nineteen thousand graves around
the prisons at Andersonville, Georgia.
®"Gov. Pierpont expects to leave for Rich
mond to establish the Virginia State Govern
ment there by the middle of next week.
gsTFour year% ago Oil City numbered 100
inhabitants, now it contains above 10,000-
VOL. 8, NO. 43.