568 



MILITAEY COMMISSIONS. 



m about forty-eight hours. The rooms of this 

 house will be gas-tight, and when filled with 

 fruit, if closed up for two days, a candle will go 

 out in them almost instantly. The fruit will 

 be then surrounded by an atmosphere composed 

 of the nitrogen of the air and carbonic acid. 

 The former is destitute of all active properties, 

 good or bad. The latter is not sufficiently acid, 

 unless under heavy pressure, to produce any 

 action on fruits immersed in it. Hydrogen and 

 carbon then cease to be evolved from the fruit, 

 as there is now no agent to unite with them, in 

 the same way that they cease to be evolved 

 from a burning candle, when the air is re- 

 moved. Decomposition ceases in both cases, 

 and for the same reason. The principle is thus 

 stated by Liebig : " Decay is much retarded in 

 the absence of moisture, and by the substance 

 being surrounded with an atmosphere of car- 

 bonic acid, which prevents the air from coming 

 in contact with decaying matter." 



From the census returns of 1864 we extract 

 the following table of towns containing over 

 five thousand inhabitants : 



Population, I860. Popnls'n, 1864 



Adrian 6,194 7,044 



Ann Arbor 4,447 6,731 



Detroit 45,378 58,170 



East Sapinaw 8,005 5,725 



Grand Kapids 8,090 9,770 



Jackson 4,799 6,544 



Kalamazoo 6,075 6,897 



The only election held in the State in 1865 

 took place on April 3d, and was for an Asso- 

 ciate Justice of the Supreme Court and two 

 Eegents of the University. The Democrats 

 having made no nomination for the former 

 office, Isaac. P. Christiancy, Eepublican, was 

 almost. unanimously elected, receiving 59,720 

 votes out of a total vote of 59,892. The vote 

 for Regents of the University was as follows : 

 Republicans E. C. Walker, 52,334; G. Willard, 

 50,843. Democrats O. C. Corastock, 19,383; 

 E. Wells, 19,426. Average Republican ma- 

 jority. 32,184. 



MILITARY COMMISSIONS. Trials for 

 offences by military commissions greatly in- 

 creased during the year. These tribunals took 

 jurisdiction of such offences as were submitted 

 to their decision, including murder, the passing 

 of counterfeit money, and election frauds. 



The most important trials were those of the 

 conspirators for the murder of President Lin- 

 coln, and that of Capt. Wirz for cruelty to the 

 Union prisoners at Andersonville. Before or- 

 dering the trials of any persons charged with 

 the murder of Mr. Lincoln, President Johnson 

 applied to the Attorney-General of the United 

 States, Mr. Speed, for his opinion as to whether 

 such persons were subject to the jurisdiction 

 and legally liable before a military commission. 

 Mr. Speed gave his opinion that they were so 

 liable, and in July the reasons of that opinion 

 are given in a letter to the President. This 

 opinion contains all that has been advanced in 

 favor of the jurisdiction and legality of such 

 tribunals. It is as follows : 



ATI'S -GENERAL'S OFFICE, "WASHINGTON, July , 1S65. 



SIR : You ask me whether the persons charged 

 with the offence of having assassinated the Presi- 

 dent can be tried before a military tribunal, or must 

 they be tried before a civil court. 



The President was assassinated at a theatre in the 

 city of Washington. At the time of the assassina- 

 tion a civil war was flagrant, the city of Washington 

 was defended by fortifications regularly and con- 

 stantly manned, the principal police of the city was 

 by Federal soldiers, the public offices and property 

 in the city were all guarded by soldiers, and the 

 President's house ana person were, or should have 

 been, under the_ guard of soldiers. Martial law had 

 been declared in the District of Columbia ; but the 

 civil courts were open and transacted business as in 

 times of peace. 



Such being the facts, the question is one of great 

 importance important, because it involves the con- 

 stitutional guaranties thrown about the rights of the 

 citizen, and because the security of the army and 

 the Government in time of war is involved import- 

 ant, as it involves a seeming conflict betwixt the laws 

 of peace and of war. 



Having given the question propounded the pa- 

 tient and earnest consideration its magnitude and 

 importance require, I will proceed to give the reasons 

 why I am of the opinion that the conspirators not 

 only may be, but ought to be, tried by a military tri- 

 bunal. 



A civil court of the United States is created by a 

 law of Congress under and according to the Consti- 

 tution. To the Constitution and the law we must 

 look to ascertain how the court is constituted, the 

 limits of its jurisdiction, and what its mode of pro- 

 cedure. 



A military tribunal exists under and according to 

 the Constitution in time of war. Congress may 

 prescribe how all such tribunals are to be consti- 

 tuted, what shall be their jurisdiction and mode of 

 Erocedure. Should Congress fail to create such tri- 

 unals, then, under the Constitution, they must be 

 constituted according to The laws and usages of civil- 

 ized warfare. They may take cognizance of such 

 offences as the laws" of war permit ; they must pro- 

 ceed according to the customary usages of such tri- 

 bunals in time of war, and inflict such punishments 

 as are sanctioned by the practice of civilized nations 

 in time of war. In time of peace neither Congress 

 nor the military can create any military tribunals, 

 except such as are made in pursuance of that clause 

 of the Constitution which gives to Congress the 

 power "to make rules for the Government of the 

 land and naval forces." I do not think that Con- 

 gress can, in time of war or peace, under this clause 

 of the Constitution, create military tribunals for the 

 adjudication of offences committed by persons not 

 engaged in or belonging to such forces. This is a 

 proposition too plain for argument. But it does 

 not follow because such military tribunals cannot 

 be created by Congress under this clause, that they 

 cannot be created at all. Is there no other power 

 conferred by the Constitution upon Congress or the 

 military under which such tribunals may be created 

 in time of war? 



That the law of nations constitutes a part of the 

 laws of the land must be admitted. The laws of na- 

 tions are expressly made laws of the land by the 

 Constitution, when it says that " Congress shall have 

 power to define and punish piracies and felonies 

 committed on the high seas and offences against the 

 laws of nations." To define, is to ^ivc the limits or 

 precise meaning of a word or a thing in being ; to 

 make, is to call into being. Congress has power to 

 define, not to make, the laws of nations; but Con- 

 gress has power to make rules for the government 

 of the army and navy. From the very face of the 

 Constitution, then, it is evident that the laws of na- 

 tions do constitute a part of the laws of the land. 

 But very soon after the organization of the Federal 



