special pro Vision that a 'government
might hang one of its own citizens with
out judge or jury, it would still be com
petent for the American people to say,
as they have said, that no such thing
should ever be done here. That is my
answer to the law of nations.
But then they tell us that the laws of
war must be treated as paramount.
Here they becomemysterious. Dothey
mean that code of public law which
defines the duties of two belligerent
parties to one another, and regulates
the intercourse of neutrals with both?
If yes, then it is simply a recurrence to
the law of nations, which has nothing
on earth to do with the subject. Do
they mean that portion of our municipal
code which defines our duties to the
Government in war as well as in peace?
Then they are speaking of the Consti
tution and laws, which declare in plain
words that the Government owes every
citizen a fair legal trial, as much as the
citizen owes obedience to the Govern
ment. They are in search of an argu
ment under difficulties. When they
appeal to international law, it is silent ;
and when they interrogate the law of
the-land, the answer is an unequivocal
. contradiction of their whole theory.
The Attorney General tells us that all
persons whom he and his associates
choose to denounce for gidng aid to the
rebellion, are to be treated as being
themselves a part of the rebellion—they
are public enemies, and therefore they
may be punished without beiug found
guilty by a competent court or a jury.
This convenient rule would outlaw
every citizen the moment he is charged
with a political offense. But political
offenders are precisely the class of per
sons who most need the protection of a
court and jury, for the prosecutions
against them are most likely to be un
founded both in fact and in law.
Whether innocent or guilty, to accuse
is to convict them before the ignorant
and bigoted men who generally sit in
military courts. But this Court de
cided in the price roses that all who
live in the enemy's territory are public
enemies, without regard to their per
sonal sentiments or conduct; and the
converse of the proposition is equally
true—that all who reside inside of our
own territory are to tie treated as under
the protection of the law. If they help
the enemy they are criminals, but they
cannot be punished without legal con
viction.
You have heard much (and you will
hear more very soon) concerning the
natural and inherent right of the Gov
ernment to defend itself without regard
to law. This is wholly fallacious. In a
despotism the autocrat is unrestricted
in the means he may use for the defense
of his authority against the opposition
of his own subjects or others; and that
is precisely what makes him a despot.
But in a limited monarchy the prince
must confine himself to a legal defense
of his government. If he goes beyond
that, and commits aggressions on the
rights of the people, he breaks the
social compact, releases his subjects
from all their obligations to him, ren
ders himself liublelo be hurled from his
throne, and dragged to the block or
driven into exile. This principle was
sternly enforced in the cases of Charles
I and James 11. anti we have it an
nounced on the highest official authori
ty here that the Queen of England can
not ring a little bell on hre table and
cause a man by her arbitrary order to be
arrested under any pretense whatever.
If that be true there, how much more
true must it be here, where we have .no
personal sovereign and where our only
government is the Constitution and
laws. A violation of law on pretense of
saving such a Government as ours is
not self-preservation, but suicide.
populi sup.enia lee—observe it
is not satits reges; the safety of the peo
ple, not the safety of the ruler is the
supreme law. When those who hold
the authority of the Government in
their hands behave in such manner as
to put the liberties and rights of the peo
ple in jeopardy, the people may rise
against them and overthrow them with
out regard to that law which requires
obedience to them. The maxim is re
. volutionary and expresses simply the
right to resist tyranny without regard
to prescribed forms. It can never be
used tostretch the powers of government
against the people.
If this Government of ours as no
power to defend itself without violating
its own laws, it carries the seeds of des
truction iu its own bosom ; it is a poor,
weak, blind, staggering thing, and the
sooner it tumbles over the better. But
it has a most efficient legal mode of pro
tecting itself against all possible danger.
It is clothed from head to foot in a com
plete panoply of defensive armor. What
are the perils which may threaten its
existence? I am not able at this mo
ment to think of more than these which
I am about to mention : foreign inva
sion, domestic insurrection, mutiny in
the army and navy, corruption in the
civil administration, and last but not
least, criminal violations of its laws com
mitted by individuals among the body
of the people. Have we not a legal
mode of defense against all these? Yes;
military force repels invasion and sup
presses insurrection ; you preserve dis
cipline in the army and navy by means
of courts-martial ; you preserve the
purity of tile civil administration by
impeaching dishonest magistrates ; and
crimes are prevented and punished by
the regular judicial authorities. You
are not merely compelled to use these
weapons against your enemies, because
they and they only are justified by the
law; you ought to use them because
they are more efficient than any other,
and less liable to be abused.
There is another view of the subject
which settles all controversy about it.
No .human being in this country can
exercise any kind of public authority
which is not conferred by law; and un
der the United States itmust be given
by the express words of a written statute.
Whatever is not so given is withheld,
and the exercise of it is positively pro
hibited. Courts-martial in the army
and navy are authorized ; they are legal
institutions; their jurisdiction is limit
ed, and their whole code of procedure
is regulated by act of Congress. Upon
the civil courts all the jurisdiction they
have or can have is bestowed by law,
and if one of them goes beyond what is
written its action is 7/Um ritcs and void.
But a military commission is not a
court-martial, and it is not a civil court.
It is not governed by the law which is
made for either, and it has no law of its
own. Within the last five yearsi,we
have seen, for the first time, self-con
stituted tribunals not: only assuming
power which the law did notgive them,
but thrusting aside the regular courts to
which the power was exclusivelygiven.
What is the consequence? This ter
rible authority is wholly undefined, and
its exercise is without any legal con
trol. Undelegated power is always un
limited. The field that lies outside of
the Constitution and laws has no boun
dary. Thierry, the French historian of
England, says that when the crown
and sceptre were offered to Cromwell,
he hesitated for several days and answer
ed : " Do not make me a king ; for then
my hands will be tied up by the laws
which define the duties of that office;
but make me protector of the Common
wealth and I can do what I please ; uo
statute restraining and limiting the
royal prerogative will apply to me."
So these commissions have no legal
origin and no legal name by which
they are known among the children
of men; no law applies to them; and
they exercise all power for the paradox
ical reason that none belongs to them
rightfully.
Ask the Attorney General what rules
apply to military commissions in the
exercise of their assumed authority over
civilians. Come, Mr. Attorney, gird
up tlry loins now like-a man ; I will de
mand of thee, and thou shalt declare
unto me if thou hast understanding."
How is a military commission organ
ized" What shall be the number and
rank of its members? What offenses
come within its jurisdiction? What is
its code of procedure? How shall wit
nesses be compelled to attend it? Is it
perjury for a witness to swear falsely?
What is the function of the judge advo
cate? Does he tell the members how
they must find, or does he only persuade
them to convict? Is liepie agent of the
Government, to command them what
evidence they shall admil, and whatseu
tence they shall pronounce; or does he
always carry his point, right or wrong,
by the mere force of eloquence and in
genuity? What is the nature of their
punishments? May they confiscate
property and levy fines as well as im
prisop and kill? In addition to strang
ling their victim, may they also deny
him the last consolations of religion,
and refuse his family the melancholy
privilege of giving him a decent grave?
To none of these questions can the
Attorney General make a reply, for
there is no law on the subject. He will
not attempt to " darken counsel by
words without knowledge," and there
fore, like Job, he can only lay his hand
upon his mouth and keep silence.
The power exercised through these
piiiitory commissions is not only un
regulated by law but it is incapable of
being so regulated. What is itthat you
claim, Mr. Attorney? I will give you
a definition, the correctness of which
you will not attempt to gainsay. You
assert the right of the executive govern
ment, without the intervention of the
judiciary, to captyre, imprison, andkill
any person to whom that, government
or its paid dependents may choose to
impute an offense. This in its very
essence is despotic and lawless. It
is never claimed or tolerated except
by those governments which deny the
restraints of all law. It has been exer
cised by the great and small oppressors
of mankind ever since the days of Nim
rod. ' It operates in different ways; the
tools it uses are not always the same;
it hides its hideous features under many
disguises; it assumes every variety of
form;
It can change shapes with Proteus for advan-
tages, -
And set the murderous Machlevel to school."
But in all_ its mutations of outward ap•
pearanCe it is still identical in princi
ple,.object and origin. It is always the
same great engine of despotism which
Hamiltbn described it to be.
Under the old French monarchy the
favorite fashion of it was a lettre de
cachet, signed , by the king, and this
would consign the party to a loathsome
dungeon until he died, forgotten by all
the world. An imperial ukase will
answer the same purpose in Russia.
The most faithful subject of that ami
able autocracy may lie down in the
evening to dream of his future pros
perity, and before daybreak he will find
himself between two dragoons on his
way to the mines of Siberia. In Turkey
the verbal order of the Sultan or any of
his powerful favorites will cause a man
to be tied up in a sack and cast into the
Bosphorus. Nero accused Peter and
l'aul of spreading a "pestilent super
stition," which they called the gospel.
Ile heard their defense in person, and
:sent, them to the cross. Afterwards
ie tried the whole Christian Church in
one body on a charge of setting fire to
the city, and he convicted them, though
lie knew not only that they were inno
cent, but that he himselr had commit
ted the crime. The judgment was fol
lowed by instant execution; he let loose
the torian guards upon men, women,
and children, to drown, butcher and
burn them. Herod saw fit, for good
political reasons, closely affecting the
permanence of his reign in Judea to
punish certain possible traitors in Beth
lehem by anticipation. This required
the death of all the children in that
city under two years of age. He issued
his "general order;" and his provost
marshal carried it out with so much
alacrity and zeal, that in one day the
whole laud was tilled with mourning
awl lamentation.
Macbeth understood the whole philo-
sophy of the subject. He was an Un
limited monarch. His power to punish
for any offense or for no offense at all
was as broad as that which the Attorney
;eueral claims for himself and his
brother officers u oder the United States.
But he was more cautious bow he used
it. He had a dangerous rival, from
whom he apprehended the most serious
peril to the " life of his government."
The necessity to get rid of him was
plain enough, but he could not afford
to shock the moral sense of the world
by pleading political necessity for a
murder. He must
"Musk the business from the common eye."
Accordingly he sent for two enter
Prising gentlemen, whom he took into
his service upon liberal pay—" made
love to their assistance," and got them
to deal with the accused party. He
acted as his own judge advocate. He
made a most elegantaud stirring speech
to persuade his agents that Banquo
was their oppressor, and had "held
them so under fortune" that he ought
to die for that alone. When they agreed
that he was their enemy, then said the
king—
" So is he mine, and though I cold,/
With bco . efueed power sweep him 'rum my sigirt
Aud -bid my will ay uuen it; yet 1 mmt vet,
For certain friends, wno are both his and mine
‘Vhose loves I may not drop,"
For these, and " many weighty rea
sons" besides, he thought it best to
cununit the execution of his design to a
subordinate agency. The commission
thus organized in Ilinquo's case sat
upon him that very night at a conve
nient place beside the road where it was
known he would be traveling; and
they did precisely what the Attorney
General says the military officers may
do in this country—they took and killed
him, because their employer at the head
of the government wanted it done, and
paid them for doing it out of the public
treasury.
But of all the persons that ever wielded
this kind of power, the one who went
most directly to the purpose and object
of it was Lola Montez. She reduced it
to the elementary principle. In 1848,
when she was minister and mistress to
the King of Bavaria, she dictated all the
measures of the government. The times
were troublesome. All over Germany
the spirit of rebellion was rising ; every
where the people wanted to see a first
class revolution, like that which had
just exploded In France. Many per
sons in Bavaria disliked to be gov
erned so absolutely by a lady of the
character which Lola Montez bore,
and some of them were rash enough
to say so. Of course that was trea
son, and she went about to punish it in
the simplest of all possible ways. She
bought herself a pack of English bull
dogs, trained to tear the flesh, and man
gle the limbs, and lap the life-blood ;
and with these dogs at her heels, she
marched up and down the streets of
Munich with a most majestic tread, and
with a sense of power which any judge
advocate in America might envy. When
she saw any person whom she chose to
denounce for "thwarting the govern
ment" or "using disloyal language,"
her obedient followers needed but asign
to make them spring at the throat of
their victim. It gives me unspeakable
pleasure to tell you the sequel. The
people rose in their strength, smashed
down the whole machinery of oppres
sion, and drove out into uttermostshame
king, strumpet, dogs, and all. From
that time to this neither man, woman,
nor beast, has dared to worry or kill the
people of Bavaria.
All these are but so many different
ways of using the arbitrary power to
punish. The variety is merely in the
means which a tyrannical government
takes to destroy those whom it is bound
to protect. Everywhere it is butanother
construction, on the same principle,
of that remorseless machine by
which despotism wreaks its ven
geance on those who offend it. In
a civilized country it nearly always uses
the military force, because that is the
sharpest, and surest, as well as the best
looking instrument that can be found
for such a purpose. But in none of its
forms can it be introduced into this
country; we have no room for it; the
ground here is all preoccupied by legal
and free institutions.
Between the officers who have a
power like this and the people who are
liable to become its victims, there crin
be no relation except that of master and
slave. The master may be kind and
the slave may be contented in his bon
dage ; but the man who can take your
life, or restrain your liberty, or despoil
you of your property at his discretion,
either with is own hands or by means
of a hired ov rseer, owns you and he
can force you to serve him. All you
are, and all y u have, including your
wives and cl dren, are his property.
If nay Ded and very good friend,
the Atto ney General, had this right of
domino 'on over me, I should not be
very m ch frightened, for I should ex
pect him to use it as moderately as any
man in all the world; but still I should
feel the necessity of being very discreet.
He might change in a short time. The
thirst for blood is an appetite which
grows by what it feeds upon. We can
not know him by present appearances.
Robespierre resigned a country judge
ship in early life, because he was too
tender-hearted to pronounce sentence of
death upon a convicted criminal. Cali
gula passed for a most amiable young
gentlemen before he was clothed with
the imperial purple, and for about eight
months afterwards. It was Trajan,
think, who said, that absolute power
would convert any man into hwild
beast, whatever was the original benevo
lence of his nature. If you decide that
the Attorney General holds in his own
hands or shares with others the power
of life and death over us all, I mean to
be very cautious in my intercourse with
him; and I warn you, the judges whom
I am now addressing, to do likewise.
Trust not to the gentleness and kind
ness which has always marked his be
havior heretofore. Keep your distance ;
be careful how you approach him ; for
you know not-at what moment or by
what a trifle you may rouse the sleeping
tiger. Remember the injunction of
Scripture: "Go not near to the man
who bath power to kill; and if thou
come unto him, see that thou make uo
fault, lest he take away thy life present
ly ; for thou goest among snares and
walkest upon the battlements oUthe
city."
'the right, of the executive govern
'ment to kill -and imprison citizens far
political offenses hasl-not been priotti
cony claimed In this country; 'except in
cases where commissioned officers of the
army were the instrument, used. Why
should it be confined to them Why
should not naval officers be permitted to
share in it? What is the reason that
common soldiers and seamen are ex
cluded from all participation in the
business? No law has bestowed the
right upon army officers more than
upon other persons. If men are to be
hung up without that legal tali which
the Constitution guarantees to them,
why not employ commissions of clergy
men, merchants, manufacturers, horse
dealers,
butchers, or drovers, to do it?
It will not be pretended that military
men are better qualified to decide ques
tions of fact or law than other classes of
people ; for it is known on the contrary
that they are, as a general rule, least of
all fitted to perform the duties that be
long to a judge.
The Attorney General thinks that a
proceeding which takes away the lives
of citizens without a constitutional trial
is a most merciful dispensation. His
idea of humanity us well as law is em
bodied in the bureau of militaryjustice,
with all its dark and bloody machinery.
For that strange opinion he gives this
curious reason: that 'the duty of the
commander-in•chief is to kill, and
unless he has this bureau and these com
missions he must " butcher" in
discriminately without mercy or justice.
I admit that if the commander-in-chief
or any other officer of the Government
has the power of an Asiatic king, to
butcher the people at pleasure, he ought
to have somebody to aid him in select
ing his victims, as %veil as to do the
rough work of strangliw , 's
and shooting.
But if my learned friend will only con
descend to cast an eye upon the Consti
tution, lie will see at once that all the
executive and Military officers are com
pletely relieved by the provisions that
the life of a citizen shall not be taken
at all until alter legal conviction by
a court and jury.
You cannot help butsee that military
commissions, if suflbred to go on, will
be used for most pernicious purposes. I
have criticized none of their past pro
ceedings, nor made any allusion to their
history in the last five years. !But what
can be the meaning of this effort to
maintain them among us? Certainly
not to punish actual guilt. All theends
of true justice are attained by the
prompt, speedy, impartial trial which
the courts are bound to give. Is there
any danger that crime will be winked
upon by the judges? Does anybody
pretend that courts anti juries have less
ability to decide upon facts and law than
the men who sit in military tribunals?
The counsel in this cause will not insult
you by even hinting snob au opinion.
What righteous or just purpose, then,
can they serve? None whatever.
But while they are utterly powerless
to do even a shadow of good, they will
be omnipotent to trample upon inno
cence, to gag the truth, to silence patri
otism, and crush the liberties of the
country. They will always be organized
to convict, and the conviction will fol
low the accusation as surely as night
follows the day. The Government, of
course, will accuse none before such a
commission except those whom it pre
determines to ruin and destroy. The
accuser can choose the judges; and will
certainly select those who are known
to be the most ignorant, the most un
principled, and the most ready to do
whatever may please the power which
gives them pay, promotion, and plun
der. The willing witness can be found
as easily as the superserviceable judge.
The treacherous spy, and the base
informer —those loathsome wretches
who ,lo their lying by the job--
will stock such a market, with abun
dant perjury, for the authorities
that employ them will be bound to
protect ffs well as reward them. A cor
rupt and tyrannical government, with
such an engine at its command, will
shock the world with the enormity of
its orioles. Plied as it may be by the
arts of a malignant priesthood, and
urged on by the madness of a raving
crowd, it will be worse than the popish
plot, or the French revolution—it will
be a combination of both, with Fouquier
Tinville on the bench, and Titus Oates
in the witness's box. You can save us
from this horrible fate. You alone can
" deliver us from the body of this death.'
To that fearful extent is the destiny o
this nation in your hands.
The Congress of the clergy and laity coin.
posed of the proposed new Diocese of the
Episcopal Church assembled in Christ
Church on the afternoon of Tue4day, and
adjourned on the evening of yesterday.
There was a full attendance of both clergy
and laity, and the proceedings have been
full of interest. The conclusion reached,
were in favor of our immediate division,
and the line adopted, leaves Philadelphia;
Bucks, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware
counties in one diocese. and the rest of Penn
east of the A 'l. , alieny Mountains
in the oilier. These qut,Li, , lls were adopted
unanimously, as was also a resolution
pledging liberally to support the new
diocese.
The services on Tuesday and yesterday
were rendered very impressive, not only by
the it usual array of clergy, but also by the
carefully prepared and elaborate music of
the celebrated choir of the Church. Lu
ther's grand choral " Ein l'este burg - was
especially MTh,'
The sermon, c. ere by the Rev. Mr. Lett
cock, of Harrisburg, and the Rev. Dr. Morn
htn•t of Lancaster, and were able and elo
Anent discourses.—Heading Times.
)allastown has recently been the scene of
one of the most appalling and distressing
accidents imaginable. A youth, about 18
years of age, by the name of Smith Ayres,
went down into a well which is about 60 feet
deep, owned by Joshua Peeling, for the
purpose of getting a well-bucket which bad
fallen down. lie was let down by means
of a rope. He hail been in the well but
probably live minutes, when he told them
to "hoist." They had raised him but a
short di,tance when the wall caved in, and
the pour fellow was doomed to die beneath
that frightful mass of stones and earth.
This occurred about halfpast one o'clock,
on Monday afternoon, February Ilth. After
the wall had caved in he was heard to
say "for Gods sake take me out." The
alarm was instantly given, and the people
of the vicinity assembled and did every
thing that could ue done to rescue the un
fortunate youth. After having taken out
stones to the depth of about twenty feet,
the ground began to cave in, adding new
terror to the dreadful scene, and causing
great danger to those at work in the well.
A frame was constructed and lowered, fur
the purpose of keeping the ground front
caving in. Thriiimhout the night and the
day following the most intense excitement
prevailed, until half past 3 o'clock in the
afternoon, when the body of the youth, who,
ui kours before, had entered the well full
of life, was brought out of that frightful
place, cold and lifeless.— York Gazette.
Bloody Garments Discovered
On Tuesday morning Mrs. Smith, residing
at No. 683 Penn street, in the Fifth ward,
discovered in the sink at the rear of her
residence, a bundle of clothing concealed.
The package was brought to light, and with
in it were discovered two chemises, torn and
bloody, evincing marks of a fearful strug- .
gle for existence on the part of the owner
or owners, a fine hat for a lady, to which
was attached a veil, another fine lace veil,
and likewise a man's shirt. All the articles
were more or less bloody, and all appeared
as though they had been the property of
persons of refinement it not of wealth, being
made of the finest materials, and the female
garments being ornamented with inserting
and edging. It is fared that some foul
crime has been committed, the perpetra
tor of which has made way with his victim
or victims, and here concealed the evidences
of his guilt. The garments all bear witness
to the struggles of the owners, being torn
and covered with blood. On of thechemises,
which is torn about the breast and sleeves,
bears the impress of a bloody hand. A
pillowcase was likewise found covered
with gore. We hope to see this mystery
speedily unraveled.—Pittsburg Post.
Distressing Disaster—Steamer Blown Bp,
MEMPHIS, Feb. 20.—The Avalanche of
this morning says: The David White left
New Orleans on Thursday night for Louis
ville, with one hundred passengers and five
hundred tons of freight for Nashville and
Louisville. She exploded her larboard
boiler Sunday noon, near Columbia, 225
miles south of here. The forward part of
the boat was literally torn to atoms. Many
passengers and officers were blown up one
hundred feet in the air, with fragments and
debris of the boat. The scene is described
as heart rending. The clothes were blown
off some of the officers. Captian Kinney
was blown up one hundred feet, and landed
in the river much bruised and scalded.
Captain Shaw, the clerk, reports the loss of
passengers at sixty-five. Manp names are
unknown, as the books were thrown over
board and could not be tound. The boat is
a complete wreck. Part of the boiler ex
ploded upwards, and part downwards, tear
ing the hull wide open. The engineers and
and firemen on watch were blown down
with the hull. The steamer Peter Balen
picked up the survivors. The Emerald and
Pauline Carroll brought them here.
%amour
WEDNESDAY, FOIAIIARY 27, 1867
Military Despotism,
In the cant phrase of smart Repub
licans, we are making history 'very fast.
After refusing representation to one
third of the people of the country, our
rulers at Washington are about to make
another experiment in Democratic in
stitutions by the establishment of Mili
tary Despotism 4u the South. Nine
States are to be divided into five mili
tary districts, each governed by an
officer "not below the rank of Briga
dier General," whose duty it shall be
"to protect all persons in their rights
of person and property, to suppress in
surrection, disorder and violence, and
to punish or cause to be punished all
disturbers of the public peace and crim
inals; and to this end he may allow
local civil tribunals to take jurisdiction
of and try offenders, or, when in his
judgment it may he necessary for the
trial of offenders, he shall have power
to organize military committees or tri
bunals for that purpose." Who shall
ascertain and determine rights of per
son and property, elsewhere the most
delicate function of the law? The
Brigadier General, by means of a mili
tary committee. Who shall decide what
is insurrection and disorder, and by
whom they have been committed? The
Brigadier General, through a military
tribunal. Who shall enact the laws
under which men are to be punished
as criminals? The Brigadier General.
Who shall try men on the specific and
well defined (!) charge of being crim
inals? The Brigadier General and a
drum head court martial. In each dis
trict, the Brigadier General is to be leg
islator, judge, sheriff and executioner,
—au absolute, irresponsible military
tyrant.
True, his military majesty may gra
ciously condescend to " allow" judges
to sit and juries to act, but all this is at
his sovereign will and pleasure. If the
Brigadier General or any of his subor
dinates should covet the estate or effects
of a planter, how promptly a court
martial might dispossess the proprietor.
If the latter should resist or protest, the
same officer and tribunal might " sup
press ,disorder," and "punish the dis
turber of the public peace" by trans
portation or execution. If the press
should dare to expose the outrage of the
satrap, an application of the same rem
edy would quickly silence complaint.
Or if a citizen should venture on re
monstrance, freedom of speech would
speedily share the fate of freedom of the
press.
It may be said that such deeds as these
are not contemplated and cannot be
committed. No theory of government
ever intends wrong, but bad men per
vert the theory, seize the opportunity
and perpetrate the wrong. Monarchy
was designed to be a mild, beneficent
and patriarchal system; but the baser
passions of human nature perverted it
into an engine of terrible oppression.
And how can it be said that fearful out
rages will not be committed under this
military system, when thousands of
subaltern officers are Vested with impe
rial powers and scattered over half a
continent? The eye and arm of the
Brigadier General, were lie as pure as
Butler is foul, could not reach them all.
Nor is the jurisdiction of the Briga
dier General and his subordinates con
fined to any particular class of persons.
Conceding for the sakeof argument that
rebels are outlaws and felons, the loyal
ists and negroes of the South are, never
theless, entitled to the rights of Ameri
can freemen. Yet over these the mili
tary power of the satrap is supreme,
and their rights of person and property
are adjudicated by courts martial, with
out escape or appeal. A rare system,
forsooth, for the ‘ education of negroes in
the duties of American citizenship!
And if the loyal freeman of the North
ventures, either temporarily or perma
nently, to cross the Southern frontier,
he leaves his freedom behind, aud be
comes the subject of the Brigadier whose
district he enters. A Northern freeman
crosses the Potomac, and is falsely ac
cused of crime, perhaps murder or theft.
He invokes the protection of the law
and claims his constitutional right of
trial by jury. The Brigadier responds
by detailing a court martial, the sub
altern becomes accuser and judge, and
without law or even a decent hearing,
the freeman is sacrificed and a tile of
soldiers seals his doom. A system that
will permit the perpetration of such an
outrage on a free citizen of the land is
not only a disgrace to Republican insti
tutions but a blot upon the' civilization
of the age. There is no fit place for it
between • Turkey—and the United
States.
" Russia In America."
"Russia in America" has heretofore
comprised a small strip of territory in
the North-western part of this conti
nent, inhabited by a few trappers who
take the animals that abound there for
the sake of their furs. The possession
of this unimportant portion of America
by the Great Despotism that throws its
long and dark shadow from the gulf of
Finland to Behring's Straits, has never
given uneasiness to the people of this
country. It has never been apprehend
ed that Russia would make any attempt
to extend her authority beyond the
small strip of territory she occupied in
the northwest, nor that, from having
her as our neighbor, we should become
so fatally enamoured of her institutions
as to transplant them to our own soil.
While we have been living in fancied
security. Russia, through her Radical
agents in the Congress of the United
States, has stolen a march on us and car
ried her institutions into the very heart
of our country. "Russia in America"
is henceforth to extend from the Poto
mac to the Rio Grande. Ten States,
lately in this Union, have been taken
out from under the protecting wings of
the "American Eagle" and placed be
neath the bloody paws of the "Northern
Bear." Virginia, " the mother of States
and of Statesmen," on whose noble
bosom Washington, Jefferson, Henry
and Madison were nurtured, is hence
forth to be a province of the New Sibe
ria, and her citizensare to hold their lib
erty and their property at the breath of
SOME Cossack who has watered his steed
in the Merrimac and,appeased his own
hunger at the onion beds of Wethers
field. Georgia, who went through the
fires of the RevolutiOn arm-in-arm with
Pennsylvania, is not to be governed by
the Constitution which both of them
agreed to at the close of that struggle,
but by the Sabre of a Dragoon who is
to be detailed to dispense Russian jus
tice within her limits. All through the
South, the harsh and heavy tread of the
military satrap is to take the place of
the noiseless step of the officer of the
law, and the judge on the bench is to be
superseded by the corporal on the drum
head.
RO . II up the map of the American
Union and put the Russian knout in the
talons of the Eagle.
“Hagerstown Mall.”
The Hagerstown Mail, which was
burnt out several weeks ago, reappeared
in an enlarged form on Friday last. It
looks so well and is so ably edited, both
in its general and local departments,
and its selections are so judiciously
wade, that we can see no room for fur
ther improvement in it.
The World Moving.
aye Clip the following interesting item
: - from one of our leading Republican ex-
C j/es
• • FRIEDERICK DOLTGLASS.--Frederick,Dding
laszOn Monday last, was treated with dis
tinguished honors at Lansing, the capital of
Michigan. By a formal vote of the Hone
of Assembly, he was invited to a seat on the
floor, where be received the compliments of
the members. Some twenty-five years ago
he made a lecturing tour in those regions,
and was received with honors of a different
sort—trolleys of brickbats and showers of
rotten eggs. The world moves.
It has become a fashion with Re
publican papers, whenever they publish
anything to show that the negro is
rapidly rising to social equality with the
white man, to wind up with the im
portant announcement that " the world
moves."
John Hickman slaps a coal-black negro
on the back and calls him " brother "
at a public meeting in Chester county,
and forthwith we are informed by the
Radical press that "the world moves."
John W. Forney, despising the negro
iu his heart, but willing to do anything
to please his radical masters in the
Senate, and prevent them from muster
ing him out of the "bread and butter
brigade," receives and entertains a
party of negroes at his residence in
Washington, and again we are in form•
ed that "the world moves."
The Radical Legislature of Pennsyl
vania passes an act compelling conduc
tors on railroads to put big, greasy,
stinking negro wenches on the same
seat with white women, and thereupon
Republican papers again triumphantly
announce, the fact that " the world
moves."
The Legislature of Michigan, gener
ally supposed to be composed of white
men, invites the negro Fred. Douglass
to a seat on the floor, where, throned
like a king, " he receives the compli
ments of the members," and of course
"the world moves" again.
Joshua commanded the sun to stand
still and it obeyed him. The Negro
commands the world to move, and ac
cording to all Radical authority it moves
at his bidding.
But the honors paid to negroes are riot
the only evidences we have that the
world is moving.
Murder, robbery, arson, rape, and
crimes of every grade and hue, prevail
to an extent never before heard of in
the history of mankind. " The world
moves."
The Penitentiaries of Illinois, Ohio,
New York and other States, have twice
,as many inmates as they had five years
ago, and those of Pennsylvania (at
Philadelphia and Pittsburg) are crowd ,
ed to such an extent that it is now pro
posed to erect a third, to be located at
Harrisburg. " The world moves."
Traitors who reviled the Constantly
all their lives, and worked and prayed
for the overthrow of the Union, now
rank among the "purest patriots" in all
the land. "The world moves."
The Pennsylvania Legislature, the
elect of the "pure and loyal sentiment"
of the old Keystone, is denounced as
thoroughly corrupt and debauched by a
majority of the ltepublican papers of
the State, and among them the very
journal from which we clip the above
tem about Fred. Douglass. But the
Republicans will re-elect these corrupt
members, and the journals who de
nounce them will assist them back
to the seats they disgrace. " The
world moves."
Verily, the world does move, but
whither is it tending? So far, at least,
as this portion of it is concerned,
its course is downward, and the
fact that it "moves" is far from matter
for congratulation. To "move" is one
thing; to move in the right •dir•cetion is
another, and may be a very different
thing. Let all honest and good men
give this subject their earnest consider
ation.
A Cotton Claim
General hick Taylor's sudden conversion
to Unionism is now accounted for by the
fact that he is interested in a two million
cotton claim against the Government. It
wouldn't be the first case of cotton conver
sion in which Richard has been engaged
during the past live years. Perhaps he
finds himself going down in the world
more rapidly Ma n is agreeable, and he
thinks he can "bale" out his sinking
fortunes.
The above is clipped from one of the
leading Republican papers of Pennsyl
vania, the editor of which may know
even more than he has chosen to tell
about Dick Taylor's cotton operations.
We heard several years ago, (and it
came from a high Republican source,)
a story about certain cotton transactions
which General Dick Taylor was con
nected with on the one side, and Gen.
N. P. Banks on the other.
The story ran that Banks, then in
command at New Orleans, entered into
a "strictly private" arrangement with
Taylor, who was at the head of a Con
federate force of considerable strength
up the Red River. Banks wanted cot
ton, (for Butler had left him no spoons
to steal,) and Taylor was in great need
of greenbacks and bacon. The arrange
ment was, that Taylor should collect
all the cotton in his section at a certain
point on Red River, on the pretence of
taking it under the protection of his
army. At the right time, Banks was
to advance in superior force, and Tay
lor was to fall back precipitately, leav
ing the cotton to be gobbled up by
Banks, who had his agents ready to
ship it to New England and sell it on
private account. The cotton safely on
board of the vessels waiting to receive
it, Taylor, reinforced, was to surprise
Banks' camp, and the latter was to re
treat in such haste as to leave his well
filled military chest and a large stock of
bacon to fall into the hands of the
former.
This arrangement, which promised to
operate so advantageously to the " high
contracting parties," was utterly spoiled
by the inconsiderate action of the officer
in command of General Banks' ad
vance guard, who either had not been
let into the secret or was dissatisfied
with the arrangement and determined
to break it up. This officer, instead of
merely following up a reconnoitering
party sent out by Taylor •on the ap
proach of Banks, pitched into it with
shot, shell and sabre, and sent it bleed
ing and shattered back upon its main
body. Taylor, taking this for Indisputa
ble evidence of treachery and violation
of contract on the part of Banks, turn
ed vengefully upon him with his whole
force, and gave him that terrible thrash
ing which has linked the name of "Red
River" with one of the most stupend
ous Federal disasters in the field.
If this is the cotton transaction out of
which Dick Taylor's " two million cot
ton claim against the Government" has
grown, and which is alleged to account
for his "sudden conversion to Union
ism," might it not be well for the Rad
icals in Congress to inquire whether
General Banks, who is now a member
of the House, has any pecuniary interest
in it ?
Toadies Rewarded
Not long ago Mr. Walter, of the Lon
don Times, was in Washington, when
Forney got up a banquet which was at
tended by many prominent Republi
cans. This country throughout the war,
had no worse enemy than Walter; but
it was said he had undergone a change,
and he was toadied to extensively—and
the toadies have got what they deserve.
Walter has gone back, and the Times
is filled with abuse, wherein Forney
and others who toadied, are particularly
named, in contrast to Andrew John
son.
Judge Black's Argument.
We publish to-day the' argument
of Judge Black before the- Supreme
CAtartof the United States in what is
known is the "Indiana Conspiracy,
Case." We trust Lt will be published by
every conservative newspaper the
United States and no more appropriate.
1
time for its publication'cionld be found
than the present. Every word of it is
applicable to the infamous military gov
ernment bill of Thaddeus Stevens, under
which just such unconstitutional and
murder-breeding military commissions
as Judge Black crushed in this great
argument are to be set up in ten Sover
eign States of this once glorious Union.
Judge Black's pre-eminent powers of
mind, and his ability to express his
thoughts in language of amazing force
are admirably set forth in the following
article from the Maryland Prince Geor
gian :
Judge Maelig Speech at the Eighth of
January Celebration.
An eminent gentleman—lawyer, orator
and scholar—writes
" I send you Black's last and best. Every
uceeediug occasion when his mind and
heart are both roused, fills me with higher
admiration of his genius. His power of
words without his power of thinking would
be a great oratory."
There is much good criticism in these
few words. We print thespeech in another
column. A cunning pattern of excelling
art it is. But we don't agree that it is his
best. For there are superlative things in
the oration for Milligan that car ied the
Supreme Court unanimously—Lincoln-
Judges and all--and saved the Constitution•
We say oration; because it rose above law
argument. lie is great even in mere dic
tion. ii may well be called "power of
words ;" and Is, Indeed, the genius of the
orator.
" Great as thou art In all the power of words,"
is Pope's poetical homage to Mansfield.
Mirubeau says "words lire things," and
Webster repeats it, as coming from a mas
ter of human e,loquence. Fine examples of
this power of expression, which carries ir
resistibly the reason and feelings together,
may be found in the few remains we have
of Chatham.: We quote a few of them,—
not for their eloquence only, but for their
wisdom and truth—never of more yalue
than now —in this epoch of political judges,
and political preachers; of chicane in silk,
and casuistry in lawn.
That despotism In America would be fatal
to liberty in England: "America, if she
fall, will fall like the strong man. She will
embrace the pillars of the temple, and pull
down the Constitution with her."
On the legal inviolability of every habi
tation In England from arbitrary power,
searches and seizures: "A wretched hovel
it may be; decayed and roofless; the storms
may beat through it; but the King of Eng
land, with all his power, dare not cross the
threshold of the ruined tenement."
Or when he spurred die House of Lords
to stand up, us their ancestors had, fur the
laws and liberty of England: "The iron-
Ba rous of Magna Charta were not the silken
Barons of a Court. But three words of
their barbarous Esti n—nullus fiber homo—
are worth all the classics."
In this excellence, this facility of putting
the best thoughts in the best words, none of
our speakers (spud Black. Ile rises with
such ease to the 1 . glit of a great argument ;
and uo smoke 01, eures his fire. His intel
lect has the "clear Bahl," as Bacon calls it.
What can be better, fur simple energy and
congineing truth, than his brushing away
the judicial twaddle that finds "doubtful
constitutional construction" in the prohibi
tion to put an accused to death without
judge or jury? "No one can make any
mistake about it, if he has sense enough to
know his right hand from his left. It is as
plain as anything in the ten command
ments; as simple as any sentence in the
Lord's prayer; as ally moral precept in
the child's primer." Or his warning of the
fate of Titus Oates, " to Mr. Holt, Mr. Con
over, and the .other officers, agents, spies,
delators and witnesses of the Military Bu
reau." Or his denunciation of the "toad
spotted traitors, who would subvert all the .
legal defences of life , and liberty, and put
human rights ut the mercy of mobs, mur
derers, kidnappers, military commissions,
and bureaus of military justice."
How fine, and yet how simple, is the de
fense of trial by jury, in the oration for
Milligan.
"I do not assert that ihe jury-trial is an
infallible mode of ascertaining truth. Like
everything human, it has its imperfections.
I only say that it is the best protection for
innocence, and the surest mode of punishing
guilt, that has yet been discovered. It has
borne the test of ,a longer experience, and
borne it better, than any other legal institu
tion that ever existed among men. England
owes more of her freedom, her grandeur and
prosperity to that than all other causes put
together. It has had the approbation not
only of thosewho lived under it, but of great
thinkers who looked at it calmly iron' a
distance, and judged it impartially. Mon
tesquieu and De Toequeyille speak of it with
an admiration as rapturous as Coke and
Blackstone. With the present century the
most enlightened states of Continental
Europe have transplanted it into their
countries; and no people ever adopted it
once, and were afterwards willing to part
with it. -
1 n the following execration of military
commissions, the facts are as tersely and
accurately stated as the argument is forcibly
and eloquently drawn:
" While they ar6 utterly powerless to do
auy good, they are omnipotent to trample
upon innocence, to gag truth, to silence pa
triotism, and crush the liberties of a coun
try. They may always be organized to
convict. The governMent will, of course,
accuse no one before a military commission
but whom it predetermines to ruin and de-
stroy. The acct‘ser can choose the judges,
and will certainly select the most ignorant,
the most unprincipled, the most ready to
please the power which gives them pay,
promotion and plunder. The willing wit
ness Will be found as easily as the super
serviceable judge. The treacherous spy
and the base informer—those loathsome
wretches who do their lying by the job—
will stock a market with abundant perjury,
for the authorities that employ them will be
bound to protect, as well as to reward them.
A corrupt and tyrannical government, with
such an engine at its command, will shock
the world with the enormity of its crimes."
Getting Alarmed
The Evening Leader, a new Radical
newspaper published in Washington,
seems to be considerably exercised in
reference to the election which took
place yesterday in Georgetown, District
of Columbia, and which is the first that
has taken place in the District since
Congress vested the negroes therein
with the right of suffrage. It says;
"If the negro element should come to the
polls and cast their first vote in a body for
the Republican ticket, the news of it will
go North as an earnest that the colored peo
ple know their friends from their enemies,
and can be trusted to discrintinate between
them at the ballot-box. I f, on the other hand,
a large number of negro votes should be
cast for the Democratic party, the effect
will be disheartening to the friends of the
colored race everywhere.
So it seems that the Republicans are
not quite sure that they can countupon
their negro friends as allies, but fear
that they may desert in a body to the
Democracy. In this case " the friends
of the colored race" will be "disheart
ened," and negro suffrage will doubtless
lose its savour in Republican eyes. It
will convince them beyond question
that the negro is not capable of exer
cising the rights of self-government.
It is a rather bold and shameless avow
al, however, for the Leader to indicate
thus clearly that the Radicals favor
negro suffrage only because they expect
to reap negro votes. , Colored man, say
they, vote with us, and you are a free
and intelligent citizen ; if you vote
against us, you 'will prove yourself to
be but a brute, and your new-born priv
ileges shall be taken from you. The
Republicans are evidently in favor of
a qualified negro' suffrage—qualified,
that is, with a condition that the negro
shall vote right. Their fears that the
negroes will eventually, as they grow
in intelligence in their new condition
of freedom, vote the Democratic ticket,
are undoubtedly well founded. We an
ticipate no other result.
A drunken man drove his horse and
buggy on the railroad track at Dayton. He
met the passenger train, and was knocked
headlong to the bottom of the embankment,
his horse being killed and himself taken up
for dead. After some time, however, he
revived, and it was found that be was not
seriously injured.
The Dragoon Bill for the South.
7/ The National Intelligences and the
Washington Repablic4n, papers that
never were in any genie -organs or sup
porters of the Deinocratic party, strong
ly condemn the Radical Dragoon Bill
for the Government of the South. The
Intelligencer was the organ of the Whig
party from its formation until its disso
lution, and It opposed the attempted
secession of the Southern States with all
its might. The Republican was started
as the organ of President Lincoln, and
it maintained that relation till the close
of his life. These facts, which are too
well known to be disputed, ought to
induce Republicans who may have
some disposition to view public affairs
dispassionately, to read and reflect upon
what these papers say.
(From the National Intetligencer.l
At a late hour on Wednesday night the
reconstructiOn bill passed the Senate, with
the odious House amendments included—
amendments that should have palsied the
hands that penned them, as they will black
en in after days the character of those who
pushed them forward to a successful con
summation. We know that the better sort
of Republicans desired at heart that that
form of embittered proscriptiveness should
not be forced upon them ; but the behests
of fanaticism and mercenariness were all
powerful, as is seen by the apparently de
spairing vole against the bill.
(Fro m the Washington Republican.l
If the President approves of the measure
lie will make himself a military despot
over ten States of the Federal Union. He
cannot sign it with honor. It sets aside the
Constitution and Supreme Court of the
United States, disregards all civil authori
ties and laws, and confers absolute power,
unlimited and Uncontrolled by men, upon
the President. We believe him to be too
much of a patriot to accept the boon thus
offered him. At the same time we sincerely
hope and believe that he will return the
bill with his objections, and throw the re
sponsibility of having enacted such a inoe
strous law von its authors. Such a thing
in a man's" pocket; would certainly wake
him feel uncomforWle.
Sound Resolutions
In the State Senate, ou Tuesday last,
Hon. Wm. A. Wallace offered the fol
lowing resolutions:
Re.roh•ed, First, 'chat the Constitution,
and the laws of the United States wade in
pursuance thereof, are the supreme law of
the land, and extend over and bind every
citizen of the Republic in every portion
thereof.
Second, That the privilege of the, writ of
habeas corpus ought not to be suspended
when the courts are open unit civil law in
full force.
_
Third, That no person shall be held to
answer for a crime unless on h presentment
or indictment of a grand jury, nor be de
prived of life, liberty or property without
due process of law.
Fourth, That peace exists ; that the right
of trial by jury should remain inviolate in
every part of the Republic, and the military
power should now, in all cases, be in strict
subordination to the civil power.
Ten years ago, these resolutions would
have been passed unanimously in both
branches of our Legislature, but on
Tuesday last they were " shelved" by
being referred to the Committee on
Federal Relations, the Republicans vot
ing to refer them and the Democrats
voting against a reference.
Corruptlonlsts Punished
The law against legislative bribery
and corruption is being executed with
wholesome vigor in NeW Jersey. A
month or two ago a member of the Leg
islature of that State was convicted of
bribery and corruption and sent to
prison, where he is still confined. On
Tuesday last, at Trenton, Barclay
Haines, who had pleaded guilty to the
charge of offering a bribe to a member
of the Legislature, with a view to affect
his official conduct,
.was sentenced to
pay a fine of one thousand dollars and
the costs of prosecution. In passing
sentence, the Court indulged in the fol
lowing just reflections upon the offence
of the prisoner:
You have pleaded guilty to the charge of
offering a bribe to a member of the Legis
lature, with a view to affect his official con
duct. Such an act is made highly penal by
the laws of this State. The extent of the
punishment as prescribed by the statute is
a fine of $l,OOO, five years imprisonment at
hard labor, and perpetual disqualification
to hold office. The severity of these penal
ties are indications of the enormity of the
offence in the estimation of those who pas
sed this enactment; and it is believed that
there are but few persons who, if they will
reflect upon the subject, will regard them
as inordinate. Regarded in its consequences
there are not many crimes more prejudicial
than this attempt to bribe, of which you
have been convicted. It is obviouv that if
those who hold the high power of legisla
tion in their hands can be led to betray the
trust reposed in them by the people,
the very foundation of republican
government becomes undermined. This
Court can have no doubt, therefore, that a
crime of this character should in almost all
cases be visited with severe inflictions. The
act of offering or of receiving a bribe should
be stigmatized and made disgraceful by the
mode of its punishment.
Thus far the Court has no difficulty.
Each member of the Court regards this
offence as one of great enormity, and pro
ductive of great injury to the morals and
rights of the community. Recently we
have been called upon in the discharge of
our official duty, to declare publicly by a
signal example that we also think that
the punishment of this crime should not be
of an ordinary character. If ottences of this
kind should be hereafter perpetrated wd
should esteem it as the duty of the judiciary
to punish such offenders to the full extent
of the power which the statutes give them.
Impressed with these views we have felt
much hesitation, before we have come to
the conclusion to mitigate in your case, that
severity of punishment which, as I have
held, we think the nature of this crime in.
-general deserves. But there are some con
siderations on the side of clemency which
have weight with us. But a short time
since, the penal justice of the State, with
respect to the crime now before us, was
fully, and as we think rightly executed by
the punishment of an offender against the
same law. We are induced to think that
for the present, that example will be suffi
cient. We also observe your case differs
in your favor from the one just alluded to,
for you have not betrayed any confi
dence reposed in you, nor have you
violated any official oath. But more
than this you have pleaded guilty to the
charges contained in this indictment. The
shame you must feel at your present dis
qualified position we know must be a great
trial and punishment to a person who has
occupied a glace in society so respectable
as yours has heretofore been. The specta
cle of so humiliating a situation brought
about by your own misconduct, must neces
sarily affect the public mind, and serve as a
warning to rill persons against the perpetra
tion of similar offences, almost if not quite
as effectual as any incarceration to which
this court could consign you. These con
siderations have been sufficient to induce
us to listen favorably to the appeals of your
counsel and have inclined us to the side of
lenity.
The sentence of the court therefore is, that
for the crime of which you stand convicted
vote pay a fine of $lOOO, and be forever dis
qualified to hold any office of honor, trust
or profit under this State, and stand com
mitted until the fine and costs are paid.
Disfranchisement in Tennessee—How it
We take from a cotemporary, says the
New York Times, the following fact, which
nicely illustrates the operation of the dis
franchising principle in Tennessee. It would
not be difficult to find hundreds of similar
anomalies under the working of the sys
tem in force in that state:
" A firm in Nashville, one of the largest
and most respectable mercantile houses in
the West, paying annually many thousand
dollars of taxes, has, including clerks, six
persons employed in the concern, besides
the porter, who is a negro. The latter Is
now the only one of the whole con, ern who
is allowed a vote under the present Brown
low constitution. The point of the joke is,
that the negro was the bitterest rebel of all,
and was an officer's servant in the late rebel
army, and when fighting by his master's
side he was the third man over the ram
parts of Fort Pillow, where he fell like an
avenging thunderbolt upon the negroes who
so gallantly surrendered that stronghold."
How Outsiders Look Upon It
The Zanesville (Ohio) Courier says: "Set
a rogue to catch a rogue," is an old adage,
which the Pennsylvania Legislature ap
pear to have acted upon, when they heard
that the people suspected them of having
been bought by Cameron's money to place
Cameron in the Senate. They set a com
mittee of their own members to work to
ascertain if the charges were true, and it is
barely probable Cameron bought them up,
for they report that in the matter of fraud
they " couldn't see IL"
Petroleum in Virginia.
The Alexandria Gazette says : "We are
informed by a gentleman who has lately
visited the scene of the boring operations
now in progress on the land of Col. John
Powell, near Republican Mills, in Fairfax
county, that oil has unquestionably been
obtained there, and that the discovery of
valuable wells is daily looked for. The
steam engine which turns the augers is
kept at word day and night, and the depth
reached up to this time is 130 feet."
Military, Gorerimentlia tie Bono.
The' bill tO""establlttli more efficient
governments for the Southern States"
has passed both houses of Congress, and
Is now in the hands of the President.
It will doubtless be vetoed, but will, of
course, be passed over the veto in less
than an hour after Its return to the
house in which it originated. In order
that our readers may have a clear un
derstanding of the subject, we give the
bill as it passed and was sent to the
President. It is as follows:
Whereas no legal State governments or
adequate protection for life or property now
exists in the rebel States of Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, ueorkia, Missis
sippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas,
and Arkansas; and whereas it is necessary
that peace and good order should be en
lorced in said States until loyal and re
publican States governments can be legally
established; therefore,
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of Amer
ica in Congress assembled, That said rebel
States shall be divided into military , dis
tricts and made subject to the military
authority of the United States, as herein
after prescribed, and for that purpose Vir
ginia shall constitute the first district ; North
Carolina and South Carolina the second
district: tleorgia, Alabama and Florida
the third district; Mississippi and Arki)-
; sas the fourth district ; Louisiana and Texas
the tifth district.
See... And be it further enacted, That it
shall be the duty of the President to assign
to the command of each of said districts an
officer of the army, not below the rank of
brigadier general, and to detail a sufficient
military three to enable such officer to per
form his duties and enforce his authority
within the district to which ho is assigned.
SE'. a nd be it further enacted, That it
shall be the duty of each officer assigned as
aforesaid to protect all persons in their
rights of person and property, to suppress
insurrection, disorder and violence, and to
punish, or cause to be punished, all dis
turbers of the public peace and criminals,
and to this end he may allow local civil
tribunals to take jurisdiction of and to try
offenders, or, when in his Judgement it may
be necessary for the trial of offenders, lie
shall haws power to organize military coot
missions or tribunals for that purpose; and
all interference under color ofStale authority
with the exercise of military authority
tinder this act shall be null and void.
.4 ad be it further enacted, That all
persons put under military arrest by virtue
of this act shall be tried without unneces
sary delay, and no cruel or unusoal punish
ment shall be inflicted; and no sentence of
any military commission or tribunal here
by authorised, affecting the life or liberty
of any person, shall be executed until It iv
approved by the officer in command of t
district, and the laws and regulations for
the government of the army shall not be
affected by this act, except in en far as they
conflict with Its provisions: Provided, That
no sentence of death nnder the provisions
of this act shall be carried into effect with.
out the approval of the President.
5. And be it further enacted, That
when the people of any one of said rebel
States shall have formed a constitution or
govertnnent in conformity with the consti
tution of the United States in all respects,
framed by a convention of delegates elected
by the male citizens of said State twenty
one years old and upward, of whatever
race, color, or previous condition, who have
been resident in said State for onu year previ
ous to the day of such election, except
such as may be disfranchised for par
ticipation in the rebellion or for
felony at common law, and when
such (smstitution shall provide that the
elective franchise shall be enjoyed by all
such persons as have the qualifications
herein stated fur eleetion of delegates, and
when such constitution shall be ratified by
u majority of the persons voting on the
question of ratification, Who are qualified
us electors for delegates, and when such
constitution shall have been submitted to
Congress for examination and approval,
and Congress shall have approved the same,
and when said State, by a vote of Its Leg's.
latu re elected tinder said constitution; shall
have adopted the amendment to the consti
tution of the United States, proposed by
the thirty-ninth Congress, and known as
article 14, and when said article shall have
become a part of the constitution of the
United States, said State shall be declared
entitled to representation in Congress, and
Senators and Representatives shall be ad
mitted therefrom on their taking the oath
prescribed by law, and then and thereafter
the preceding sections of this bill shall be
inoperative in said State: Provided, That
no person excluded from the privilege of
holding office by said proposed amendment
to the constitution of the United States
shall be eligible to election us a member of
the convention to frame a constitution for
any of said rebel States, nor sheik any such
person vote for members of said conven
tion. •
Sic. G. And be it
_further enacted, 'Phut
until the people of said rebel States shall be
by law admitted to representation in the
Congress of the United States any civil gov
ernMents which may exist therein shall be
deemed provisional only, and in all respects
subject to the paramount authority of the
United Slates at any—time to abolish, modi
fy, control or supersede the same; and in
all elections to anv office under such pro
visional governments all persons shall be
entitled to vote, and none other, who lire
entitled to vote under the provisions of the
filth section of this act; and no person shall
be eligible to any otlieu under such pro
visional governments who would be dis
qualified Prone holding office under the pro
visions of the third article of said constitu
tional amendment.
The following are the yeas and nays in
the Senate on the final passage of the bill :
Yeas—Messrs. Brown, Cattell , t. handler,
Conneas, Cmgin, Creswell, Edmunds, Fen
sender), Fogg, Foster, Fowler, Frelinghuy
sun, H arris, Henderson, Howard, Howe,
Johnson, I: irk wood, Lane, Morgan Morrill,
Poineroy, Ramsey, Ross, Sherman,
Stewart, Sumner, Trumbull, Van Winkle,
Wade, Willer, Williams, Wilson and Yates
Nays—Me.srs. linekalew, Cowan, Davis,
Hendrick., Nesmith, Patterson and Sauls
bury—T.
A RepubliCOU Picture of Cougrtoog
A Washington correspondent writes to
the New York Pest:
"The Republicans are by no means
united. A part of them, in both House, do
not really desire to complete any practical
of reconstruction. They mean to keep the
Southern States out as long as they can, to
treat them us harshly as possible, to force
through Congress measures which shall in
crease instead of diminishing thetlivergenee
between the President and Congress. These
men oppose the Blaine amendment to the
military bill, and insist on the passage of
military bill alone. The violent and ex
treme republicans in both Houses exercise
an influence disproportioned to their num
bers, by reason of their virulence and intol
erance. They denounce as a copperhead
every republican who offers to differ from
them, and exercise really a system of ter
rorism, which has broken down the inde
pendent judgment of very many, and makes
some of the ablest men in the House and
Senate so anxious to avoid their proscrip
tion, that they are silent or acquiescent to
measures which theirjudgment condemns."
New Jury Law
A bill has been introduced into the State
Legislature which provides fur a now
method of selecting Jurors. Two commis
sioners are to be elected annually in each
county, who with the Sheriff are to select
and draw the Jurors on and after next Octo
ber. The jury commissioners are to be paid
the same per diem as the county commis
sioners receive.
The bill is deficient in that it makes no
provision for the cierk to copy off the names
as they are drawn, nor Is it made the busi
ness of any person to furnish lists of the
jurors to put up in the offices of the County
Commissioners, Prothonotary and Sheriff.
As that part of the old law which obliged
this to be done is repealed by the new bill,
no one will be likely to volunteer his ser
vices. Again, there is no provision that
obliges the notices to be served on the jurors
drawn.
The Lincoln Medal—]lre. Lincoln's
Reply.
It may be remembered that after the as
sassination ot President Lincoln a subscrip -
tion was opened in France to present
commemorative medal to Mrs. Lincoln.
That has now been done, and that lady has
sent the following letter to the committee
through the agent specially sent over:
CRlCAoo„January 3, 1867.—Gentlemen :
I have received the medal you have sent
me. I cannot express the emotion with
which this proof of the sentiments of so
many thousands of your countrymen fills
me. So marked a testimony to the memory
of my husband, giving in honor of his
services in the cause of liberty by those
who in another land work for the same
great end, touches me profoundly, and I beg
you to iiecept, for yourselves and those
whom you represent, my most grateful
thanks. I um, with the profoundest re
spect, your most obedient servant,
MARY LINCOLN.
Surratt at the Jail
Surratt, on arriving at the jail, was at
once con e ucted tau cell, and appeared quite
cool and cheerful. He informed Warden
Brown that lie intendednot to give him any
trouble. He asked particularly about his
sister, speaking of her in tender terms, and
said he thought she was dead. ' rho War
den informed him that he believed she was
in Maryland, and he replied: " Oh, I reckon
she is with her grandmother." The warden
told him that it was his duty to keep him
safe, but would grant him all proper privi
leges, and asked if there was anything he.
wanted. Surratt replied that he would like
to have the privilege of smoking, and this
was granted him.— Washington filar,
Bitten by a Mad Dar
The wife of John Shirey, of Stoughstown.
and two of their children were bitten by a.
rabid dog on Sunday last. The dog-be
longed to Mr. Shirey. We have notlearned.
any further particulars of this sad event.—
Carlisle Volunteer.