|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 2
But what is a free Military government? There is precisely the same
difference between a free and a despotic _military_ polity as between a
free and a despotic _civil_ polity. It is the essential nature of
_despotic_ rule that it recognizes the fountain head of all power to be
the ruler, and the people are held as the mere creatures of his
pleasure. It is the essence of _free_ government that it regards the
people as the source of all power, and the rulers as their agents,
possessing only such authority as is committed by the former into the
hands of the latter. It matters not, therefore, whether a ruler be
exercising the civil power in times of peaceful national life, or
whether, in times of rebellion, he wields the military authority
essential to security, he is alike, at either time, a despot or a
republican, accordingly as he exercises his power without regard to the
will of the people, or as he exercises such power only as the national
voice delegates to him.
Wendell Phillips said in his oration before the Smithsonian Institute:
'Abraham Lincoln sits to-day the greatest despot this side of China.'
The mistake of Mr. Phillips was this: He confounded the method of
exercising power with the nature of the power exercised. It is the
latter which decides the question of despotism or of freedom. The
methods of the republican governor and of the despot may be, in times of
war _must_ be, for the most part, identical. But the one is,
nevertheless, as truly a republican as the other is a despot. Freedom of
speech, freedom of the press, the right of travel, the writ of _habeas
corpus_--these insignia of liberty in a people are dispensed with in
despotic Governments, because the ruler chooses to deprive the people of
their benefits, and for that reason only; they were suspended in our
Government because the national safety seemed to demand it, and because
the President, as the accredited executive of the wishes of the people,
fulfilled their clearly indicated will. In the former case it is lordly
authority overriding the necks of the people for personal pride or
power; in the latter, it is the ripe fruit of republican civilization,
which, in times of danger, can with safety and security overleap, for
the moment, the mere forms of law, in order to secure its beneficial
results. They seem to resemble each other; but are as wide apart as
irreligion and that highest religious life which, transcending all
external observances, seems to the mere religious formalist to be
identical with it.
But how is the Executive to ascertain the behest of the people? In
accordance with the modes which they, as a part of their behest,
indicate. But as there are two methods of fulfilling the wishes of the
people, one adapted to the ordinary routine of peaceful times, and
another to the more summary necessities of war, so there are two
methods, calculated for these diverse national states, by which the
Government must discover the will of the people. The slow, deliberate
action of the ballot box and of the legislative body is amply
expeditious for the purposes of undisturbed and tranquil periods. But in
times of rebellion or invasion, the waiting and delay which are often
essential to the prosecution of forms prescribed for undisturbed epochs
are, as has been said, simply impossible. War is a period in which
methods and procedures are required diametrically opposite to those
which are so fruitful of good in days of peace. The lawbreaker who comes
with an army at his back cannot be served with a sheriff's warrant, nor
arrested by a constable. War involves unforeseen emergencies, to meet
which there is no time for calling Congress together, or taking the
sense of the populace by a ballot. It is full of attempted surprises,
which must be guarded against on the instant, and of dangers which must
be quickly avoided, but for whose guardance or avoidance the statutes
make no provision. Hence arises a necessity for a mode of ascertaining
the will of the people other than the slow medium of formal legislation
or of balloting.
The Government of the United States is the servant of its people. It was
ordained to insure for _them_ 'domestic tranquillity, provide for the
common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of
liberty to' themselves and their posterity. Its laws and statutes are
but the forms by which the people attempt to secure these things. But
the people are sovereign, even over their laws. As they have instituted
them _for their own good_, so may they dispense with them for their own
good, whenever the national safety requires this. As they have
established certain modes of lawful procedure _for their own security_,
so may they adopt other modes when their safety demands it. Their laws
and their codes of procedure are for their _uses_, not for their
destruction. 'When a sister State is endangered, red tape must be cut,'
said Governor Seymour, when it was telegraphed to him that some delaying
forms must be gone through in order to arm and send off our State
troops who were ordered to the defence of Harrisburg; and all the people
said, Amen! The people of the United States inaugurated a government,
whose forms of law were admirably suited to times of peace, but have
been found inadequate to seasons of intestine strife. They have, as we
have seen, superadded, in some degree, other methods of action,
indorsing and adopting those to which the Executive was compelled to
resort as better adapted to changed conditions. They have not done this
in accordance with prescribed forms, in all instances, because the forms
of _civil_ government do not provide for a condition of society in which
civil authority is virtually abrogated, to a greater or less extent, for
military authority.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|