Mr. SAULSBURY. I move to strike out the 12th section of the bill. That section is in these words: SEC. 12.Abife:, That the Bureau of Military Justice shall hereafter consist of one iudge advocate general, with the rank, pay and emolumentsof a brigadier general, and one asst judge advocate general, With the rank, pay, and emolumentsof n colonel of cavalry; and the said udge advocate general shall receive, revise, o ud avorecorded.the proceedingsof all courts martial courtsof in any andmilitury commissions and shall perform sue 0t or duties as have heretofore been performed by the judge advocate generalof the army. And of the Judge advocatesnow in ofllcethere may be retained a nuniber not exceedingten, to beselected by the SecyWar. who shall perform their duties under the direction of the judge advocategen eral, until otherwise pronded by law, or until the SecyWar shall decidethat theirservwescan be dispensed With. Mr. President, we went through the revolutionary war, we went through the war of 1812, we went through the war with Mexico, and we did not find it necessary even in time of war to have any Bureau of Military Justice. something like a Bureau of Military Justice, I believe, was claimed to have been established during the late civilWar. But we are now at peace; this bill has reference to a time of peace, and not to a time of war; and the prop position is now made in this section to recognize “military commissions.” Sir, I do not believe Congress has the power under any circumstances to establish military commissions, and certainly not for the purpose of trying civilians. There are now languishing at the penitentiary in Albany some men who, for a disturbance occasioned in Alexandria about Christmas, civilians never connected with the Arm of the U.S or any other army thatI ever heard of, were tried, not according to the municipal law, not according to the law of Virginia for violating the law of that State, but tried by a military commission, authorized, I suppose, by the SecyWar. Those young men, unfortunately being white, while those engaged in conflict with them were negroes, were sentenced to the penitentiary in Albany, and there languish today away from their friends. I have no hesitation in sayin that every person who acted as a member 0 that military commission is liable to a civil suit by every man who has been sent to that penitentiary; and they would be unjust to themselves, and their kindred would be unjust to those young men, if they do not vin dicate their rights before a civil tribunal. If that military commission had gone further and sentenced those young men to be executed, and they had been executed, every man who sat as a member of that military commission would have been guilty of murder, according to the law of the land. There is no authority in this Government to try any civilian by military commission either in time of peace or time of war; and he who does it, he who authorizes it, whether he be President, whether he be SecyWar, Whether he be a member of a board of commission, is guilt of an offense against the law of the land; in the instance I have given, liable to damages; in a case where life is taken, guilty of murder. Now, Mr. President, I object to this section because in the 1st place it recognizes as an established institution (if I may so speak) in times of peace a Bureau of Military Justice. Sir, it never occurred to the framers of this Govarnment, it never occurred to the able men under whose guidance it grew and expanded until it became one of the greatest nations of the earth, that there was any necessity for the establishment of a Bureau of Military Justice What is this Bureau of Military Justice as practically operated? It is a receptacle for the information of spies and informers against peace able and quiet citizens. Could its doors be opened to the light of day and could the public see what is there recorded and piled away it would “make each particular hair to stand on end.” I have no doubt that if we could get a look into the records of that bureau we should be amazed. 5p. But now, sir, in time of peace, because your bill expressly contemplates a time of peace, you propose to recogii’iize as valid trial by military commission. on do not even confine it to trials of persons engaged in the Army and Navy, in the military service of the country; but we all know that these military commission have heretofore exercised jurisdiction over civilians, people in nowise connected with your Army or Nav; and having dope so in the past, if you recognize these commissions by a solemn act of legislatiOn, it will be resumed that they are to be continued in the uture. The volumes of English State Trials are very large and if you do not wish to have the volumes of American State Trials equally large keep out of your acts of Congress, out of your public law, provisions which must necessarily lead to state trials, criminal trials; and you ought also to keep out such provisions as will necessarily lead to litigation in the courts f j “lice.rmm. The section provides that the bureau “ shall rform such other duties as have heretofore 'hteaenperformed by the Judge Advocate general ot the Arm.” The Judge Advocate general has decide it to be his duty to try civil ians by military commission; and it will be claimed, if this section is adopted, that congress having conferred upon this Bureau of.Iilitnry Justice power to perform the duties which the Jud c Advocate Generalhas hereto fore performe, he as its head will, in his om of power, sanctioned by legislative enactment, have a right to try civilians by military commission. L Mr. President, it is useless to say that the public liberty is in danger. There is very little public liberty in this country. With such enactments as this, grossly violative of the fundamental law, authorizing the establishment of tribunals to try men in civil life never contemplated by the Constitution of the country, in avor of which no voice among the sages of the past was ever uttered, it is useless to say that there is such a thing as civil liberty existing. You may say that the hand of power is not actually applied to the citizen at the present moment; but that country is not free, liberty does not exist in that country where the citizen is subject at any time to be called before an illegal tribunal and to be visited with the severest punishment. In the name of liberty I protest against it. In the name of the Constitution of my country I protest against it. In the name of the 1000s of aching hearts who have suffered from the arbitrary action of these military commissions I protest against it. Sir, there come up weeping and wailin today from the loathsome penitentiaries of your land from persons there immured illegally, unlawfully, unconstitutionally, a protest against the recognition by congress of such a tribunal as this. And could all the tears that have been caused to flow by the action of this Military Justice Bureau be gathered into one great reservoir every member of that bureau might swim in it. It is nothing but an engine of oppression. The man who is now at the head of it has shown great alacrity in doing the work of vengeance, I appeal to the American Senate not to recognize in a solemn enactment of Congress the validity of such a tribunal as this. Your fathers never recognized it. No statesman from the foundation of the Government until the late civilWar ever dreamed of putting into practical operation any militar commission wrthin the limits of the U.S. It was never dreamed that persons not connected with the Army or the avy were subject to be drawn, violently, unlawfully drawn before a few men, selected in many instances no doubt with aview to their known proclivity to a conviction. What chance, Iask you, sir, has a.civilian that is brought before one of these military commissions for a fair and impartial trial. The constitution of your country provides that every man not connected with your military or naval forces shall be entitled to the right of trial by jury; and yet, notwithstanding that provision, notwithstanding that a jury of the country acting under the instructions of a court is much more competent to administer justice fairly than a military commission, the spectacle is presented to the American people of persons not connected with the land or naval forces being denied this constitutional privilege and being called before these military commissions; and of whom are they composed in the main? Men learned in the law? on qualified by long habits of stu? of the principles of law to decide properly? 0, sir, but generally composed of military men Without legal education, men who undertake to decide upon the great questions of evidence which frequently arise upon crim inal trials, and to determine those great principles of criminal law which have been laid down by the master mindsof the profession. There certainly can be no necessity for the continuance of any such bureau as this in time of peace. You never had it before in time of peace or time of war; and is there more necessity now when you are at peace at home and at peace with all the nations of the earth ‘? Is there any more necessity now in time of peace that you shall have such an anomaly in your history as a Bureau of Military Justice establilshed as a firm, continued institution of the ecuntry. Why, sir, it is placing in the hands of those who administer the Government absolute, despotic power. Some spy may give information that some crime, some offense against the authority of the U.S. has been committed, and immediately if so disposed those who administer the Government may select out (because there is no limitation upon the choice of those selected as commissioners) any complacent tools in the Army that they see proper and arraign the purest and most exalted citizen in the land before such an illegal tribunal as this; and tell me, in view of the past action of this bureau, what chance has the citizen for justice or for safety before such a commission? Sir, after on have done this go at once, get the guillotine, incorporate it as one of the institutions of the country. The one is no more offensive to the genius and spirit of American liberty than the other; the one is no more foreign to the past history of the country than the other; and the one is no more danger ous to the liberty of the citizen than the other. I had hoped', Mr. President, that when the civilWar was over, when peace had returned to bless the land, the spirit of cruelty which had characterized the legislation of Congress and the action of those intrusted with the ox ccution of the law would have been satisfied, that fraternal feelin might be restored, and that that priceless Iiberty which we formerly enjoyed under a written Constitution might again be our portion. If you recognize the validity of sue a bureau as this, with such powers as it has exercised heretofore, with such powers as we are warranted in believing it w'il continue to exercise in the future, your boasted liberty is but a name; it does not exist in reality. While this act shall stand upon your statute book with this section in it, talk not to me of liberty, talk not of constitutional liberty anywhere, talk not about giving republican institutions to a neighboring nation, boast not our su criority over the despotisms of the Ol Worl; but go, sir, abandon that liberty, falsely socalled, which you en‘oy, and seek safety and repose in law well understood and faithfully administered. With such a provision as thisincorpor‘ated into the acts of on grass, and practically carried into effect by those empowered so to carry it, England is a paradise to the U.S.A., and there is not a civilized Government that (if the thing is practically carried out in the future as it has been in the past) will not be's. comparative paradise to the U.S.A. It is no answer to say that the powers here conferred will not be abused. have confidence more than most of the Senators upon this floor in the present Chief Executive Magistrate of the U.S. I do not believe that he himself, had he the time to investigate these matters and determine in reference to them, would abuse any power; but he has not had the time to look into these matters. The head of your Bureau of Military Justice is the all powerful instrument that is to work this engine of oppression., Private mal ice may be gratified an innocent man may suffer, suffer wron fully, suffer even unto deat by the action of the head of this bureau, and there is no redress. I invoke the Senate to strike out this section of the bill. Let us be rid of this instrument of oppression in the future. If the time should ever again come when it shall be necessary to invoke such extraordinary powers for the sal?vation of the country, and a future Congress should deem it expedient and wise they will have the power to restore this mac inery and can do so; but now, sir, in time of peace, I beseech you, abandon it.