Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1866-04-06

to the Government and to the people, to
whose number the discretion of the commits
sioners is the only limit and in whose hands
such authority might be made a terrible en-
CINE Of wrong, oppression and fraud. The
general statutes regulating the land and ma
val forces of the United States, the militia,
and the execution of the laws, are believed
to be adequate for every emergency which
can occur in time of peace. lift should prove
otherwise, Congress can at any time amend
those laws in such manner as, while subserv-
ing the public welfare, not to leopard the
rights, interests and liberties of the people.
The seventh section provides that fee of
ten dollars shall be paid to each commission
er 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 Commissioner, with such
other fees as may be deemed reasonable by
such Commissioner sin general for perform
ing such other duties as may be required in
the premises" All these fees are to be ''paid
out Of the Treasury of the United States, y
whether there is a conviction or not but in
case of conviction, they are to be recoverable
from the defendant. It seems to me that
under the influence of such temptations bad
men might convert any law, however bene-
fcient, into an instrument of prosecution and
fraud
BY the eighth section of the bill the Uni
ted States courts, which sit only in one place
for white citizens, must migrate, with the
Marshal and District Attorney, (and neces-
sarily with the Clerk. "'' h he is not
mentioned } to any p ''l'noYe District, upon
the order Of the Presissse.st and there hold a
court, for the purposSyf the more speedy
arrest and trial Of persons charged with vi
olation of this act )" and there the Judge and
the officers of the court must remain, upon
the order of the President, sfor the time
therein designated -
The ninth section authorizes the President,
or such person as he may empower for that
purpose, ''to employ such part Of the land
and 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
permanent military force. that is to be al
ways at hand, and whose only business is to
be the enforcement of this measure over the
vast region where it is intended to operate
do not propose to consider the policy of
this BILL 10 me the details of the bill seem
fraught with evil The white race and the
black race of the South have hitherto lived
together under the relation Of master and
slave-capital owing labor. Now, suddenly,
that relation is changed, and as to ownership.
capital and labor are divorced They stand
now each master of itself. In this new rela-
ton. one being necessary to the other, there
will be new adjustment, which both are
deeply interested in making harmonious
Each has equal power in settling the terms,
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 but
labor is never so ignorant as not to Under
stand its own interests, not to know it's own
value. and not to see that capital must pay
that value. This bill illustrates this adjust
mcnt. 1t intervenes between capital and
labor, and attempts to settle questions of po-
litical economy through the agency of nu-
merous officials whose interest it will be to
foment discord between the two races for,
as the breach widens, their employment will
continue, and when it is closed their occupa-
ton will terminate.
In all our history, in all our experience
as people living under Federal and State
law, no such system as that contemplated
by the details of this bill has ever before been
proposed or adopted. They establish for the
security of the colored race safeguards which
60 infinitely beyond any that the General
Government has ever established for the
white race. In fact, the distinction of race
and color is, by the bill, made to operate in
favor of the colored, and against the white
race. They interfere with the municipal
legislation of the States, with the relations
existing exclusively between State and its
citizens, or between the inhabitants of the
same State in the absorption and assumption
of power by the general government which,
if acquiesced in, must sap and destroy our
fcderative system of limited powers, and
break down the barriers which preserve the
rights of the States. 1t is another step, Or
rather stride, towards Capitalization, and the
concentration Of all Legislative powers in tie
National Government. The tendency of the
bill must be to resuscitate the spirit Of rebel
lion, and to arrest the progress Of those in
fuences which are more closely drawing
around the States the bonds of union and
peace.
My lamented predecessor in his proclama-
ton Of the list Of January 1868, ordered
and declared that all persons held as slaves
within certain States and parts of States
therein designated, were and thenceforward
should be free, and further, that the Execu-
tive Government Of the United States, inclu-
ding the military and naval authorities there
Of, would recognize and maintain the freedom
of such persons. This guarantee has been
rendered especially obligatory and sacred by
the amendment of the Constitution abolishing
slavery throughout the United States. l
therefore fully recognize the obligation to
protect and defend that class Of our people
whenever and wherever it shall become nee
essary, and to the full extent compatible with
the Courts of the United States.
II