A. J. GERRITSON, Publisher.t "liT M nE° Co OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL To the Senate of the United States : CONSTITUTIONAL OBLIGATIONS. I regret that the bill which has passed both Houses of Congress, entitled "An act to protect all persons in the United States in their civil rights, and furnish the means of their vindication," contains provisions which I cannot approve con sistently with my •sense of duty to the whole people, and my obligations to the Constitution of the United States. I am,. therefore, Constrained to return it to the Senate, the house in which it. originated, with my objections to its be coming a law. FEDERAL CITTZENSITIF By the first section of the bill all per sons born in the United States, and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are declared to be cit.- izons of the United States. This provis ion comprehends the Chinese of the Paci fic States, Indians subjecCto taxation, the people called Gipsies, as well as the entire race designated as blacks, people of color, negroes, mulattoes, and persons of Afri can blood. Every individual of these ra ces horn in the United States is by the bill made a citizen of the United States. It does not purpose to declare or confer any other right of citizenship than " Fed eral citizenship." It does not purport to give these classes of persons any sta tus as citizens of States, except that which may result from their status as cit izens of the United States. The power to confer the right of State citizenship is just as exclusively with the several States as the power to confer the right of Federal citizenship is with Congress. The right of Federal citizen ship thus to be conferred on several excepted races as before mentioned, is now for the first time proposed to Le giv en by law. If, as is claimed by many, all persons who arc native born are by virtue of the Constitution citizens of the United States, the passage of the pending bill cannot be necessary to make them such. If, on the other hand, such persons are not citizens as may be assumed from the proposed legislation to make them such, the grave question presents itself wheth er, when eleven of the thirty-six States are unrepresented in Congress - at this time, it is sound policy to make our entire color ed population, and all other excepted c l a .;seA, citizens of the United States.— Four million• of them have just emerged from s'a very into freedom. Can it be supposed that they possess the requisite quatifica' ions to entitle them to all the priv ileges nu l itnnineities of citizens of the United States? Have the people of the several States expressed such a convic tion ? It may also be asked whether it Is necessary that they should be declared citizens in order that they may besecured in the enjoyment of the civil rights prq posed to be conferred by the bill ? Those rights are, by Federal as well a. State laws, secured to all domiciled aliens and foreigners, even before the completion of the process of naturalization, and it, may safely be assumed tbat the same enact ment. are suffickent to give like protection and benefits to those for whom this bill provides special legislation. Besides, the policy of the Government, from its origin to the present time, seems to have been that persons who are stran gers to and unfamiliar with our institu tions and our laws, should pass through a certain probation, at the end of which, be fore attaining the coveted privilege, they must give evidence of their fitness to re ceive and to exercise the rights of citi zens, as contemplated by the Constitution of the United States. TIIE EGEO EACE The bill, in effect, proposes a discrim ination against a large number of intelli- gent, worthy and patriotic foreigners, and in favor of the negro, to whom, after long ; years of bondage, the avenues of freedom and intelligence have just now been sud denly opened. He must, of necessity, from his previous unfortunate condition of servitude, be less informed as to the nature and character of our institutions than he who, coming from abroad, has to some extent at. least, familiarized himself with the principles of a Government to which he voluntarily entrusts life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yet it is now, proposed_ by a single legislative enact ment, to confer the rights of citizens up on all persons of African descent born within the extended limits of the United States, while persons of foreign birth,who make our land their home, must undergo a probation of five years, and can only then become citizens upon proof that they are of good moral character, attached to the principles of the . Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same. The first section of the - bill oleo contains, an enumeration of the rights to be enjoyed by these classes so made citizens in every State and Territory orthe,United States. These rights are to make mid enforce con tracts, to sue, be parties and give' evi• . deuce; to inherit, lease, purchase, *elk bold and convey real and persopal.prop-, erty, and to have full and equal benefit of! all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property as is now enjoyed by white citizens. So, too, they are made subject to the same punishment, pains and penalties in common with white citi zens, and to none others. Thus a perfect equality of the white and colored races is attempted to be fixed by Federal law in every State of the Union over the vast field of State jurisdiction covered by these enumerated rights. In no one of thesp can any State ever exercise any power of discrimination between the dif ferent races. In the exercise of State pol icy exclusively affecting the people of each State. it has frequently been thought expedient to discriminate between the two races. STATE ENACTMENTS. By the statutes of some of the States, Northern as well as Southern, it is enact ed, for instance, that no white person shall intermarry with a negro or mulatto. Chancellor Kent says, speaking of the blacks, " that marriages between them and the whites are forbidden in some of the States where slavery does not exist, and they are prohibited in all the slave holding States ; and when not absolutely contrary to law, they aro revolting, and regarded as an offence against decorum." I do not say that this bill repeals State laws on the subject of marriage between tl e two .races, for as the whites are for bidden to intermarry with the blacks, the blacks can only make such contracts as the whites themselves are allowed to make, and therefore cannot, under this bill, enter into the marriage contract with the whites. I cite this discrimination% however, as an instance of the State policy as to dis crimination, and to inquire whether, if Congress can abrogate all State laws of discrimination between the two races in the matter of real estate, of suits, and of contracts generally, Congress may notal so repeal the State laws as to the contract of marriage between the races ? Hither to every subject embraced in the enumer ation of rights contained in this bill has been considered as exclusively belonging to the States; they all relate to the in ternal policy and economy of the respec tive States. They are matters which, in each State, concern the domestic condi tion of its people, varying in each accord ing to its own peculiar circumstances and the safety and well-being of its own citi zens. FEDERAL RESTRAINTS I do not mean to say that, upon all these subjects there are not Federal re straints. As for instance, in the State power of legislation over contracts, there is a Federal limitation that no State shall pass a law impairing the obligations of contracts ; and as to crimes that no State shall pass an ex putt facto law ; to mone y, that no State shall make anything but gold and silver a legal tender. But where can we find a Federal prehibition against the power of any State to discriminate as .l to most of them, between aliens and 'citi zens, between artificial persons, called corpora' ions,in the right to hold reallestate. If it, be granted that Congress can re peal all St atelaws diseriminat ing bet ween whites and blacks in the subjects covered by this bill, why, it may be asked, may not Congress repeal, in the same way, all those laws discriminating between the two races on the---subject of suffrage and office. If Congress can declare, by law, who shall hold lands, who shall testify, who shall have capacity to make a con tract in a State, then Congress can by law also declare who, without regard to race or color,. shall have the right to sit as a juror or as a judge, to hold any office,and finally to vote, in every State and territo ry of the United States. As respects the territories, they come within the power of Congress, for as to them the law-mak ing power is the ; Federal power; but as to the States, no similar provision exists, vesting in Congress the power to make rules and regulations for them. DISCRIMINATIVE PROTECTION. The object of the second section of the bill is to afford discriminative protection to colored persons in the full enjoyment of all the rights secured to them. By the preceding section it declares that " any person who, under the color of the law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or cus tom, shall subject, or cause to be subject ed, any inhabitant of any State or territo ry to the deprivation of any right secured or protected by this act, or to different punishment, pains, or penal ties,on account of such person having at any time been held in a condition of slavery, or involun tary servitude, except as A punishment for crime whereof the party shad hare been duly convicted, or by reason of his color or race than is prescribed for the punish. ment of white persons, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on convic tion shall be punished by fine not exceed ing one . thousand dollars, or imprison ment not exceeding one year, or both in the discretion of the court." , . This section seems to be designed to apply to some existing or future law of a State or Territory, winch may conflict with the provisions of the bill now under consider ation. It providesfor counteracting such forbidden legislation by imposing aa fine and, , imprisonment upon, tbe legislators who may pass such conflicting laws, or MONTROSE, PA., TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 1866. upOn the officers or agents who shall put or to put them in execution. It means an official offense, not a common crime committed ag ainst law upon the person or property o the black man.— Such an act may deprive the black man of his property, but not of the right to hold property. It means a deprivation of this right itself, either by the State judiciary or the State Legislature. It is, therefore, assumed that, under this sec tion, members of State Legislatures who should vote for laws conflicting with the provisions of this bill, that judges of the State - courts who should render judg ments in antagonism with its terms, and that marshals and sheriffs who should, as ministerial officers, execute processes sanctioned by State laws and issued by State judges in execution of their judg ments, could be brought before other tri bunals, and there subjected to fine and imprisonment for the performance of the duties which such State laws might im pose. The legislation thus proposed invades the judicial power of the State. It. says to every State court or judge,"lf you de cide that this act is unconstitutional; if you refuse, under the prohibition of a State, to allow a negro to testify; if you hold that, over such a subject matter, the State law is paramount, and under color of a State law refuse the exercise of the right to the negro, your error of judg ment, however conscientous, shall subject yon to fine and imprisonment." Ido not apprehend that the conflicting legislation, which the bill seems to contemplate, is likely to occur as to render it necessary at this time to adopt a measure of such doubtful constitutionality. NEEDLESS PEOVISION In the next place this provision of the bill seems to be unnecessary, as adequate judicial remedies could be adopted to se cure the derired end without involving the immunities of Legislatures always im portant to be preserved in the interest of public liberty, without assailing the inde pendence of the judiciary, always essen tial to the preservation of individual rights, and without impairing the efficien cy of ministerial officers, always necessa ry for the maintenance of public peace and order. The remedy proposed by this sec tion seems to be in this respect not only anomalous, but unconstitutional, for the Constitution guaranties nothing with cer tainty if it does not insure to the several States the right ofmaking and exeenting laws in regard to all matters arising in their jurisdiction, subject only to the re striction that in cases of conflict with the Constitution and constitutional laws of the United States, the latter should be held to be the supreme law of the land. LEGAL JURISDICITON The third section gives the Di.trict Courts of the United States exclusive "cognizances of all crimes and offenses committed against the provisions of this act," and concurrent jurisdiction with the Circuit Courts of the United States of all civil and criminal cases affecting persons who are denied or cannot enforce in the Courts or judicial tribunals of the State or locality wherever they may be, any of the rights secured to them by the first sec tion; and the construction which I have g iven to the second section is strength ened by this third section, for it, makes clear what kind of denial or deprivation of the rights secured by the first section was in contemplation. It. is a denial or depri vation of such rights " in the courts or ju dicial tribunals of the State." It stands, i therefore, clear of doubt that the offense and penalties provided in the second sec ! tion are intended for the State judge, who, in the clear exercise of his function as a judge, not acting ministerially bat judi- I cially, shall decide contrary to this Feder 1-al law. In other words, when a State judge, acting upon a question involving a con flict between a State law and a Federal law, and bound, according to . his own judgment and responsibility, to give an impartial decision between the two comes to the conclusion that the State law is valid and the Federal law is invalid, he must not follow the dictates of his own judgment, at the peril of fine and impris onment. The legislative department of the Government of theUrnited States thus takes from the judicial department of the States the sacred and exclusiue duty of judicial decision, and converts the State judge into a more ministerial officer, bound to decided according to the will of Congress. • PERSONAL RIGHTS IN THE STATES. It is clear that in the States which de ny to persons whose rights are secured by Old first section of the bill any one of these rights, all criminal and civil cases affecting them, will, by the provieion of the third section come under the exclu sive cognizance of the Federal tribunals. It follows that if in any State which denies to a colored person any one of all those rights, that person should commit a crime against the laws of the State,- murder, ar son, rape, or any other crime , _ all protec tion or punishment through the courts of the State are taken away, and he can only be tried and punished in the Federal courts. How is the criminal to be tried if the offense is provided for and punish-- ed by Federal law, that law and not, the• State law is to govern. FICDER.AL TRIBUNALS It is only when the offense does not hap pen to be within the purview of Federal law that the Federal Courts are to try and punish him. Under any other law, then resort is to be had to the common law as modified and changed by State leg islation,so far as the same is not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the Uni ted States. So that over this vast domain of criminal jurisprudence, provided by each State for the protection of its own citizens, and for the punishment of all per sons who violate its criminal laws, Feder al law, wherever it can be made to apply, displaces State law. The question here naturally arises, from what sonrse Congress derives the power to transfer to Federal tribunals certain classes of cases embraced in this section I" The Constitution expressly declares that the judicial power of the United States shall extend to all cases in law and equity arising under this Constitution, that laws of the United States, and treaties made or which shall be made under authority; to all cases .affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to which the United States shall be a party; to controversies between two or more States; between a State and citizens of another State; between citizens of the same State claiming land under grants of different States; aird between a State, or the citizens thereof, and foreign St4tas, citizens or subjects. Here the judicial power of the United States is expressly set forth and defined, and the act of September 24th, 1789, es tablishing the judicial courts of the ITCI - St.ves, in conferring upon the Federal courts jiirisdiction over cases originatiag in State tribunals, is careful to confine them to the classes enumerated in the aboVe recited clause of the Constitution. This section of the bil undtnbtedly com prehends cases and authorizes the exer cise of powers .that are not, by the Con stitution, within the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States. To transfer them to those courts would be an exer cise of aqthority well calculated to excite distrustitind alarm on the part of all the States, eor the bill applies alike to all of them, as well to those that have as to those that have not been engaged in re bellion. It may be assumed that this au thority is incident to the power granted to Congfess by the Constitution, as re cently amended, to-enforce,' by appropri ate legislation, the article declaring that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, where of the party shall have been duly convic ted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. It cannot, however, be justly claimed. that, with a view to the enforcement of this arCcla of the Constitution, there is at present any necessity for the exercise of all the powers which this bill confers. Slavery has been abolished, and at pres ent nowhere exists within the jurisdiction of the United States, nor has there been, nor is it likely there will 'be, any attempt to renew it by the people of the States. If, however, any such attempt shall be made, it will become the duty of the Gen eral Government to exercise .any and all incidental powers necessary and proper to maintain inviolate the great. law of free dom. OFFICERS. The fourth section of the bill provides that officers and agents of the Freedmen's Bureau shall be empowered to make ar rests, and also that other officers may be specially commissioned for that purpose by the President of the United States. It also authorizes circuit courts of the United States and the superior courts of the Territories, to appoint, without limi tation' commissioners, who are to be charg ed with the performance of quasi judicial duties. The fifth section empowers the commis sioners, so to be selected by the Courts, to appoint in writing under their hands, one or more suitable persons, from time to time, to execute - warrants and other prosecutions desired by the bill. These numerous official agents aro made to con stitute a sort of police in addition to the military, and are authorized to summons a poste eomitatuß, and even to call to their aid such portions of the land and naval forces of the United States, or of the mi litia, as may be necessary to the perform ance of the duty with which they aro charged. This extraordinary power is to be conferred upon agents irresponsi ble to the Government, and to the peo ple to whose number the discretion of the commissioners is the only limit, and in whose hands such authority might be made a terrible engine of wrong, oppres sion and fraud. OUB LAND AND NAVAL FORCES. The general statutes regulating the land and naval forces of the United:states, the militia, and the execution of the laws, are believ ed to be adequate: , for every emergency which can occur in time of peace. lilt should prove otherwise Con gress can at' any time amend those laws, in such a manner as, while subserving the public welfare, not to jeopardize the rights, interests and liberties of the peo ple. rXQUITANT PEEL The seventh section provides that a fee of ten dollars shall be paid to each commis sioner in every case brought before him, and a fee of five dollars to his deputy or deputies for each person he or they may arrest and take before any such commis sioner, with such other fees as may be deemed reasonable by such commisainer in general for performing such other duties as may be required in the premises. All these fees are to be paid out of the Treas ury of the United States, whether there is a conviction or not; but in case of convic tion they are to be recoverable from the defendant. It seems to me that under the influence of such temptation bad men might convert any law, however benefi cent, into an instrument of persecution and fraud. MIGRATION OF OFFICERS By the eighth section of the bill, the T.T. States Courts, which sit only in one place for white citizens, must migrate, the mar shal and district attorney, and necessarily the clerk, although he is not mentioned, to any part of the district, upon the order of the President, and there hold a• court, for the purpose of the more speedy arrest and trial of persons charged with a viola tion of this act; and there the judge and the officers of the Court must remain, on the order of the President, for the time designated. The ninth section authorizes the President; or such person as he may empower for that purpose, to employ such part of the land or naval forces of the United States, or of the militia, as shall be necessary to prevent the violation and enforce the due execution of this act. This language seems to imply an import ant. military force, that is always to be at hand, and whose only business is to be the the enforcement of this measure over the vast region where it is intended to-oper ,ate. ITS EVIL EFFECTS. I do not propose to consider the policy of this bill. To me the details of the bill are fraught with evil. The white race and the black race of the South have hitherto lived together under the relation of mas ter and slave—capital owning labor. Now suddenly, that relation is changed; and as to ownership, capital . and labor lire di vorced. They stand now each master of itself, in this new relation one being necessary to the other. NEW ADJUSTDIMM There will be a new adjustment, which both are deeply interested in making har monious. Each ,hasequal power in ises tling the forms, and if left to the laws that regulate capital and labor,it is confidently believed that they will satisfactorily work out the problem. Capital, it is true, has more intelligence, bat labor is never so ignorant as not to know its • own value, and not to see that capital must pay that value. This bill frustrates this adjustment ; it intervenes betwen capital and labor, and attempts to settle questions of political e conomy through the agency of numerous officials, whose interest it will be to fer ment discord between the two races.So far as the breach widens their employment will continue • and when it, is closed their occupation will terminate. In all our his tory, in all our experience, as a people living under Federal and State law, no such system as that contemplated by the details of this bill bas ever before been proposed or adopted to establish for the security of the colored race safeguards which go infinitely beyond any that the General Government has ever provided for the white race. In fact, the distinction of race and color is by the bill made to oper ate in favor of the colored and against the white race. MUNICIPAL LEGISLATION They interfere with the municipal legis lation of the States, with the relations ex isting exclusively between a State and its citizens, or between inhabitants of the same State,—an absorption and assump tion of power by the-General Government which, if ac9uiesced in, must sap or destroy our federative system Cf . limited powers, and break down the barriers which pre serve the rights of the States. It is ano ther step or rather stride towarde central ization, and the concentration of all legis lative power in the National Government. The tendency of the bill must be to resus citate the spirit of rebellion, and to arrest, the progress of those influences which are more closelydrawing around the ,States the bands of union and peace. SLAVERY ABOLISHED My-lamented predecessor, in his procla mation of the Ist of January, 1863, Ord ered and declared that all persons held as slaves within certain States ,and parts of States, therein designated were and thence forward should be free ; and furthe r, that the Executive Government of the United States,. including the military and naval authorities thereof, would recognize and maintain the freedom °fetich persons. The guaranty has been rendered especially ob ligatory and sacred by the amendment of the Constitution hbolishing slavery throt out the United States. I 'therefore fully recognize the obligation. to protect and defend that class of our people' whetieVee and wherever It shall become necessary,' and to thefull extent coin patible, with the Constitution of.the U nitedd . States. .1441 Mi. ritERWEN. ;Entertaining these sentiments, it. oply, remains for me to bay that! will cheerfully i VOLUME XXIII, NUMBER 14. co-operate's/Ith Congress in any measure that may be necessary for the promotion of the civil rights of the freedmen, as well as those of all other classes oPpersons throughout the United States by judicial process, under equal and impartial laws, in conformity with the provisions of the Federal Constitution. I now return the bill to the Senate, and regret that in con sidering the bills and joint resolutions, forty-two in number, which have been thus far submitted for my approval, I am compelled to withhold my assent from a second measure that has • received the sanction of both Houses of Congress. ANDREW JOHNSON. Washington, D. C., Marchl7, 1866. Owing to its great length we are una ble to lay before our readers the lengthy and able speech of Senator Backalew, which was delivered in the Senate on the 21st ult., upon the representation amend ment to the Constitution. Mr. B. covers the whole ground upon the questions of representation, reconstruction, and amend ments to the Constitution, in the most lu cid, exhaustive statesmanlike manner. The speech will prove a most valuable contri bution to Democratic literature. We may allude to one feature of it, not here tofoie touched upon in Congress, which will be found both novel and startling, viz—the preponderance of political power wielded by the New England States. According to the census of 1860 the six New England States, represented in the Senate by twelve members, had a popula tion of 3,135,283—the ratio being 261,273 i inhabitants for one Senator. The eigh teen Central and Western States, (inclu ding West Virginia,) with thirty six Sen ators, had a population of 19,259,129 liatio 534,976. The eleven Southern States, with twenty two Senators, had 8,753,634 inhabitants—the ratio being 397,892. The total population of the i country was 31,148,064—making the corn , mon ratio 444,972. Thus the ratio for a Senator stands as follows: For the New England States 261,273 For Central and Western States 534,976 For Southern States 34892 Common ratio Deducting the New England ratio from the common ratio, a deficiency of 183,699 inhabitants upon each Senator, is shown in the case of that section; and, upon ;her twelve Senators, the deficiency amounts to 2,209,388 ! In other words, New England has a representation in the Sen atefor nearly two and a quarter million persons who are actually located in the Cectiral and Western States ! The inequality of representation is fur ther shown by comparing the population of several States, as follows : Population of .the sit New Eog- land States 3,135,283 Population of Pennsylvania, 2;906,215 Population of New York, 3,880,735 And yet New York, with a population greater than the whole six Yankee States, has but two Senators to New England's twelve! Pennsylvania, with nearly an equal population, bears the same inequal ity ! We have not space to follow Mr. Buck alew in his argument and deductions from these facts, but we hope our readers will not fail to peruse that portion of his speech carefully. It furnishes much food for thought, and shows how, with that great inequality prevailing, New England has ruled the Senate branch of legislation for years—monopolizing „ not only the chairmanship of the body but the chair manships and power of the standing com mittees. The other portions of this great speech are equally interesting, lucid and effective; and, taken as a whole, our Sen• ator has in it made ample amends for his previous reticence. One such speech is worth a session of"cross fire." Let it be read and circulated. Some thirty five years ago, St., Peter's Church in Bainbridge needing'a bell, the members of that church' and others raised a portiOn of the amount required for the purpose, and sent: Hon. John C. Clark and Capt. John Newton, then of their village, and active men of the society, to Troy to make the purchase. While on . the way they came across Hon.', John G. MoDow ' ell, of Chemung county, and then a State Senator, and casually made known ,to him their errand, and that they had not funds enough to make payment in fall. With characteristic 'liberality, Judge McDow ell tendered:them the amount needed, ex acting only, the promise 'that the bell should be tolled when be should pass away. , The bell was bought, elevated into its 'place in the tower of St... Peter's, and hung there for all. of these years, calling wor shippers to church, and communicants to -the sacrament, and ringing, merry peals for merry weddings ; it his tolled for the dead, and 'tolled again 'at their burial. And so •years ' , have passed, until a few weelth;ago, when Judge McDowell him self-pussed ,away v and the old bell which had, told, or many deaths of those who baa' gither'ed . atits bidding; and'*b6 lire laid to rest within sound of its own echo ings, tolled out mournfully and slow, as it spoke ,nl_his death, who bad ,aided in as.e its parob, 04 who p 97 Pleepithislatft, s l eep Agem pg, the , vallcys and bills,nthis. ,distant home.--ChMOP'rek-37444. Senator Bnckalew's Speech. A RighteonaDebt Paid in Full. 444,972
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