Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1866-09-12
GOVERNORS MESSAGE.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
COLUMBIA, September 4, 1866.
ZEN of the Senate and

/
House Of Representatives
have convened the General Assembly i
extraordinary session, for the purpose of II
commencing such notifications of existin
laws with reference to persons of color a
will entitle the tribunals of this State to exel
else Jurisdiction over them in all cases sue
reorganization of these tribunals as ma,
be best adapted to this end such enactment
as will effect greater certainty, as we'll a
ECONOMY, in the punishment of crime amongs
all classes; and lastly, such measures of re
lief as, in my judgment, are necessary, il
view of the present condition of the people
1t is striking anomaly, that more thar
one-half of oil the inhabitants of the Stat,
are not amenable to trial before the State
tribunals, and are exempt from all liability
to punishment under State lava. In a ma
jority Of the Districts, neither Provost mol
freedmen's Courts are in existence, and per
sons of color perpetrate crime with impunity
Some of their gravest offences against socie
ty are tried before Military Commissions, but
the long delay in bringing the criminal tc
Justice, the necessity oftentimes of removing
him to remote place, where Il Commission
is organized for trial, the difficulty Of secur
ing the attendance of witnesses, and the ex-
pense devolved upon the prosecutor, conspire
to render such tribunals wholly inefficient in
Furnishing the guilty, ordeterring others from
perpetrating crime.
Where Provost Courts are organized, the
punishments imposed on freedmen for crime
are lot in conformity to our laws, and are
much lighter than punishments imposed by
State Courts upon white men for the same
| offences. The laws of every well.regulated
State should operate equally upon all the
inhabitants, and if white man is punishable
by death for arson or burglary, there is no
Justice or propriety in permitting "a freed.
man to escape for like offence with fine
Tor light Imprisonment. When our laws are
so modified that all persons may be tried be-
fore the same tribunal, and, upon conviction,
subjected to the same punishment for the
same class of offences, all reason for the in.
reference of Federal authority with the ad-
ministratien of justice will have ceased, and
no impcdiment will exist to the jurisdiction
of the State Courts over all cases, civil and
criminal.
In the series Of Acts, passed in December
last, known as the Code, there are various
determinations against freedmen, which should
be repealed, and civil rights and liabilities
as to crime should be accorded to all inhab-
tants alike.
The last section of the Act to establish
District Courts provides that the Judges
elected under this Act shall not be com
mssioned until the Governor shall be salts
lied that they will be permitted to exercise
the jurisdiction committed to them"
The Judges have not been commissioned,
having satisfied myself that they would not
be permitted by the military authorities to
exercise jurisdiction over persons Of color,
which was the main purpose in establishing
the Courts. The District Court may, how
ever, be made invaluable, by increasing its
jurisdiction in civil and restricting it in Grim.
ina cases to offences punishable with less
than death, thereby relieving the superior
Courts of many cases which retard the des.
patch of more important business.
therefore recommend that the sittings Of
the Court be quarterly, or oftener, if recessa-
ry; tha. all misdemeanorS and felonies now
punishable by fine, imprisonment or whip.
ping, by whomsoever committed, be tried in
that Court; that all feonies punishable by
death, including the different degrees of HON.
icide. be tried by the Court Of General Ses-
sions that the Offices Of grand jury be dis
pensed within the District Court and delen"
dants tried on indictment without present
ment or true bill 4; that, with the consent of
the parties in civil cases, OR Of the defendant
in criminal cases, the presiding Judge may
l Jofor tpIt
without the intervention of petit jury that
the petit jury shall consist of twelve, and the
venire of eighteen that in case Of the ac.
quittal of the defendant, the Judge be author.
lied to certify, if in his opinion the facts JUS
tify it, that the prosecution was frivolous or
groundless, and when such certificate is Civ
en-, that the prosecutor be liable for all the
costs incurred that no other security to pros
ecute be required by Magistrate from q
complainant than his own recognizance /;
that the jurisdiction of the Court in civil
cases be extended to 5000 and that the jury
be paid for their services by fee taxed on
each, h,ease they may try.
By the thirtieth section of the Act to es.
tablish District Courts" it is provided "that
in every case, civil and criminal, in which a
person Of color is party, or which affects
the person or property of person of color.
persons of color shall be competent wit
nesses." The accused in such criminal
case, and the parties in every such civil
case, may be witnesses, and so may every
other person who is competent witness,
etc."
The first paragraph of this section, admit
ting parsons Of color to testify in all cases
where themselves or the race are directly
concerned, and excluding them by implica.
ton in all cases where they are not interest
ed, cannot be reconciled with sound policy
or just discrimination. Trey are admitted
in that class of cases where their interest,
sympathy, association and feelings would be
most likely to pervert their consciences and
invite to false swearing, and are excluded
from testifying in all cases where no motive
could exist to swear falsely, except that of a
depraved heart. The distinction is illogical
and indefensibe, and it cannot be denied
that it has its foundation in. prejudice
against the caste of the negro. If the rules
of evidence in all the Courts were so modi-
fed as to make all persons and parties COM
petent witnesses in their own and all other
cases, no possible danger could result from
it. Many of the States of the Union, and
several of the civilized countries Of the old
world, have tried the experiment, and the
result proves that the cause Of truth and JUS
tce has been thereby promoted. The oh,
ject OF every judicial investigation is to as
certain the truth, and when found, to dis
pense Justice in conformity thereto. With
intelligent Judges and discriminating juries
correct conclusions will be more certaiuly at
tanned by hearing every fact, whatever may
be the character or color of the witness.
In the second paragraph of the section al
.a.d., n.atad tLn Gnnnrnl Asrnmhlu have