802 



UNITED STATES. 



which at any other period would have awak- 

 ened the deepest interest. The last session of 

 the Forty-fourth Congress closed on the 3d of 

 March, 1877, with a failure to make any appro- 

 priation for the support of the array. On the 

 next day President Hayes was inaugurated, and 

 found himself with a small army on his hands, 

 but with no money for its support except the 

 nearly exhausted remnants of a former appro- 

 priation. It might well occasion surprise that 

 this event could happen in a country of such 

 wealth and military fame, whose foreign and 

 domestic and Indian wars have scarcely ever 

 suffered the blood on its sword to become dried, 

 and whose cities are crowded with generals 

 and veterans. An extra session of Congress 

 was called, and the money temporarily sup- 

 plied ; but, at the regular session ensuing, the 

 cause of the occurrence became a difficult ques- 

 tion which still remained to be decided, and is 

 yet before the country, and the settlement will 

 probably be made at the ballot-box. One side 

 asserts that unless an army is under due con- 

 trol civil liberty can not exist ; and the other 

 insists that unless there is an army political 

 power and civil government can not be main- 

 tained. Thus no direct issue of principle is 

 joined. One side asserts that it is proper to 

 limit the uses of the army in the bill which 

 makes the appropriation for the support of the 

 army. The other insists that one bill should 

 make the appropriations for the support of the 

 army, and in another its uses should be limited, 

 which is a question merely of form. Practi- 

 cally, the side which controls the army desires 

 the advantage of its influence if necessary at the 

 polls ; but the side which does not control the 

 array desires to remove the antagonism of its 

 influence from the polls. Under the title AKMY 

 will be found the views of the Secretary of War 

 relative to the clause in the army act respecting 

 the "posse comitatm." Under the title CON- 

 GRESS will be found the debates relative to the 

 same. In September a general order was issued 

 by the War Department calling the attention 

 of the officers of the army to the posse comi- 

 tatus section in the army act. It stated that 

 provisions of the Constitution and acts of Con- 

 gress understood to be excepted from the op- 

 eration of the section were as follows : 



Article IV. of the Constitution^ in regard to guar- 

 anteeing to every State a republican form of gov- 

 ernment and protecting them against invasion and 

 domestic violence, on application of the Legislature 

 or the Executive. 



Certain sections of the civil rights bill which au- 

 thorize the arrest of persons violating its provis- 

 tons. 



Sections of the Revised Statutes which forbid a 

 military or naval officer to order, bring, keep, or 

 have troops at a place where any general or special 

 election is held, unless necessary to repel armed 

 enemies of the United States or to keep peace at the 

 polls. 



In regard to crimes and offenses in the Indian 

 Territory, and arrest of persons who may have com- 

 mitted crime in any State or Territory and fled to 

 that Territory. 



For the preservation of timber in Florida, 



In regard to the execution of quarantine and health 

 laws. 



In regard to the transportation of persons delivered 

 under extradition. 



In regard to the enforcement of neutrality laws. 



In regard to insurrection in any State, authorizing 

 the President to call out the militia or such part of 

 the forces of the United States as may be necessary. 



In regard to combinations or unlawful assemblages 

 to obstruct the ordinary course of judicial proceed- 

 ings. 



In regard to domestic violence, unlawful combi- 

 nations or conspiracies in any State, to obstruct or 

 hinder the execution of laws thereof or of the United 

 States, or to deprive any portion of the people of 

 any rights, privileges, immunities, or protection of 

 the Constitution. 



In regard to vessels detained by customs officers. 



To protect the rights of a discoverer of a guano 

 island. 



The order closes as follows : 



Officers will not permit the use of troops to aid 

 civil authorities as posse comitatus or in the execu- 

 tion of laws, except as authorized by the foregoing 

 enactments. If the time will admit, the application 

 for the use of troops must be forwarded with a state- 

 ment of facts for the consideration of the President; 

 but in cases of sudden and unexpected invasion, in- 

 surrection, or riot, endangering the public property 

 of the United States, or in cases of attempted or 

 threatened robbery or interruption of United States 

 mails, or other equal emergency, officers may take 

 such action, before the receipt of instructions from 

 the seat of government, ns the circumstances of the 

 case, and the law under which they are acting, may 

 justify. In every such case, they will promptly 

 report to the Adjutant-General for the information 

 of the President. 



The question of fraud in connection with 

 the Presidential election of 1876 was one of the 

 most prominent in the public mind during 

 the year. The legal proceedings commenced 

 against the members of the Louisiana Return- 

 ing Board near the close of 1877 resulted in 

 the trial and conviction of one of them. This 

 was afterward set aside on an appeal, and the 

 suits against the others were discontinued. (See 

 LOUISIANA.) The subject of an investigation 

 was also brought forward in the Lower House 

 of Congress. It was advocated by the Demo- . 

 crats and opposed by the Republicans. A reso- 

 lution for that purpose passed on May 17th by 

 Democratic votes, as the Republicans abstained 

 from voting. Mr. Clarkson N. Potter, of New 

 York, was made the Chairman of the Commit- 

 tee of Investigation. The resolution and the 

 debate will be found under the title CONGRESS, 

 UNITED STATES. 



Immediately after the passage of the reso- 

 lution the Republican Congressional Com- 

 mittee issued the following address to the 

 country : 



To the Voters of the United States : 



The Democratic House of Representatives has to- 

 day, by a party vote, adopted a resolution which, 

 under the pretense of an investigation, is to lay the 

 foundation for a revolutionary expulsion of the Presi- 

 dent from his office. 



This is the culmination of a plot which has been 

 on foot from the day that Hayes and Wheeler were 

 constitutionally declared elected. It made its first 

 public appearance in the resolution of the last Dem- 

 ocratic House, adopted at the close of the session, 



