The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1866-03-01

gu very laIe III GlS useJ Pi0SOo'"S WV 80
journment, it was not finally disposed Of
blythe Senate:a
STATE OF South CAROLINA,
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT..
COLUMBIA, December 10, 1865.
Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Senate ::
Icannot approve the bill which origina-
ted in the Senate, entitled can Act to
amend the Patrol Laws" and the Con-
stitution of this State makes it obligatory
on me to return it, with my objections,
,ssto thai House from which it shall have
originated"
An Ordinance was ratified by the State
Convention on the 9th of September
last, entitled can Ordinance to declare in
force the laws heretofore in force in this
State, and the Acts. official, public and
private, done, and appointments and cleo
tions made, under authority of the same"
The second section declares all laws, &c,
ofthis State in force which were of force
on the 10Th of December, 1863 Th,
third section declares that all laws passed
since that date are of force until repealed,
&c: Provided, ho,rerer, That all laws,
resolutions, orders or rules embraced
within terms of this and the preceding
section, which recognize the existence OF
slavery, and regulate the relations OF
master and slave, and define and enforce
the rights and duties growing thcreout
or create and punish offences against such
rights, or against the public policy of the
State inrcfcrence to slavery, have become
of no further or future force or effect by
reason of the extinction of slavery"
* The Acts of 1889 is entitled can Act to
reduce all Acts and clauses of Acts in re-
Iationr to the patrol of this State into one
Act, and to alter and amend the same"
and was intended solely to secure objec-
tion and subordinatien of the negro race
Every section in the bill was intended to
sustain athc public policy of the State in
reference to slavery" and the Convcn-
ton by solemn Ordinance, has declared
that laws for that purpose "have become
of no further or future force" 1t is not,
therefore, alrthesprovisions of the Act OF
1889, and amendments thereto, as cffectu-
ally repealed as the Act of 'l74O, or any
other law recognizing orregulating slave
ry? 1t an Ordinance of Convention
can repeal a law, there would seem to be
little doubt that every enactment in this
State as to a patrol had been effectualiy
swept from the statute book. The first
section of the bill under consideration, in
repealing the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth
and fifteenth sections of the Act of 1889,
assumes that all the other sections of the
Act are still in force.
The Constitution of the State recog-
nizes the universal freedom of the African
race, and prohibits their reinstatement.
The Ordinance of the Convention ex-
pressly repeals all laws regulating the in
stitution, and this assumption of the bill
is entirely inconsistent with both. Is not
the provision in the fifth section of the
Act, which authorizes the patrol to take
ND all slaves found without the limits Of
their owners plantation, and give them
moderate whipping, and in the sixth sec
ton authorizing and requiring the patrol
to enter into any disordcrly house, vessel
or boat, suspected of harboring, traficking
or dealing with negroes, whether the
same be occupied by white persons, free
negroes, mulattoes, mcstizocs or slaves;
and to correct all slaves found there, and
to report the free negroes to magistrate
and to retain the products of traffic till
inquired into, just as inconsistent with the
freedom of the negro as the sections pro
posed to be repealed by this bill
lam entirely satisfied that the whole
Act. for the reasons stated, is no longer
law in South Carolina, and [ am willing
to raise a question by now repeating
some sections and allowing others to re-
main.
I object to the second section of the
bill because it undertakes, amongst othcr