willing to uphold him and to applaud him so long as he keeps within the lines of the^ Constitution. But I am not willing to uphold him when, in my opinion, he breaks down the barriers erected by the people for their protection, nor am I willing to accord to the Constitution elastic properties for the purpose of sustaining him, nor to join in the establishment of a precedent which will not apply to other classes or other conditions, when another Governor undertakes to exercise the same arbitrary power. I am not willing to concede the power claimed by the Governor and exercised by him, because, in my opinion, such power is not vested in him by the Constitution. The people could never have intended to erect such an engine of oppression. It follows, of course, that if the present executive is the sole judge of the conditions which can call into action the military power of the government, and can exercise all means necessary to effectually^ abate the conditions, and the judicial department cannot inquire into the legality of his acts, that the next Governor may by his edict exercise the same arbitrary power. If the military authority may deport the miners this year, it can deport the farmers next year. If a strike which is not a rebellion must be so regarded because the Governor says it is, any condition must be regarded as a rebellion which the Governor declares to be such; and if any condition must be regarded as a re-
ij8 The Pinkerton Labor Spy.
belHon because the Governor says so, then any county in the State may be declared to be in a state of rebellion, whether a rebellion exists or not^ and every citizen subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention at the will and pleasure of the head of the executive department,*'
Judge Steele then quotes the following from an opinion of Judge Davis of the United States Supreme Court:
"The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace, and covers with the shield of its protection