Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1866-04-12
SENATOR TRUMBELL'S REPLY To VETO
NUMBER TWO,

Ine TeSluenIS 5 veto message OF reed
mems Bureau bill The mastery argument
which he then made in favor that measure
against the veto of the Executive, remains
to this day unanswered and unanswerable.
1t went before the country, side by side
with the veto message itself, like the anti
dote with the insidious poison, and as re-
suit the earnest loyal people through the
public press, in their legislatures and con
ventions, as we'll as at the ballot-box, have
set the unmistakabe seal of their disap-
probation upon the veto. The speech Of
Senator Trumbull, delivered in the Senate
yesterday, in reply to the Presidents veto
message of the civil rights bill-or, to use
Andrew Johnson's own language when a
member of the Senate, the second attempt
of the Executive ''to dictate to the Ameri
can people and to the two houses Of Con-
gress in violation of the spirit, if not OF the
letter of the constitution"-was, if pos
siblc, even more able and complete in point
of argument than his effort of the Goth of
February Senator Trumbull, it will be re-
membered, is the author of both the vetoed
measures, and he was, therefore, the man
Of all others eminently qualified to disscct
and scatter to the winds the miserable soph-
isms Of the President. If the people were
amazed at the glaring Inconsistencies, the
grossly perverted not to say false state
ments, the perniciOus doctrines and the I'M
pardonable ignorance of the Executive un-
masked by Senator Trumbull in his great
speech on the Freedmen's Bureau bill veto,
what will be their verdict when they com
pare the same Senator's effort of yesterday
with Presidents veto message sent into
the Senate week ago? Upon this, as on
the previous occasion already referred to,
Senator Trumbull took up and replied to
the Presidents objections seriatim. His ar
gument, in our judgment, establishes the
following points conclusively against the
veto message, and in favor of the bill, as it
passed both houses of Congress by more
than a two-thirds vote
|. That all persons born in the United
States are citizens of the same, and that
since the abolition of slavery, by amend
ment of the Constitution, the negroes parti-
cpate in this citizenship This is proved
not only by the official opinion of Mr.. Bates,
the Attorney General during Mr. Lincoln's
administration, and the actionof the present
Secretary of State, but it was also the opin-
of the late Hon. w L. Marcy, Secretary
of State during President Pierce's admin
istraton.
H. That citizen of the United States is
also citizen Of every State where he may
happen to be, which is settled by the decis-
ion of the Supreme Court of the United
than Chief Justice Marshall, in the case of
Classics VS.. Ballou, wherein the Chief Jus.
tice affirmed that "a citizen of the United
States, residing in any State of the Union,
is citizen of that State"
III. That it is not the first time, as the
President alleges. 'the right of Federal
citizenship is proposed to be given by law"
as will be seen by reference to I4awrencc's
"WheatOn on international Law" Under
various treaties, resolutions, and acts of
Congress, Spaniards, Mexicans, Indians,
and some of the class mentioned in the bill
have been made citizens of the United
States
" That the fact that certain States are
unrepresented in Congress is their own
fault and not that Of the Loyal States and
that the Presidents argument with regard
to passing laws without these States being
represented would, if sanctioned, be utterly
destructive of the Government.
V. That the bill does not discriminate
against foreigners and in favor of the ne
gro, but simply declares that there should
be no distinction in civil rights on account
OF color. The best argument on this point
as Senator Trumbull said, is furnished in
Andrew JOhnson's speech on President Bu-
chanan's veto of the homestead bill, where
in he said
''But this idea abopt poor foreigners,
somehow or other, bewiIders and haunts
the imagination of great many = *
81 am constrained to say that look up
on this objection to the bill as mere quib-
bic on the part Of the President, and as be-
ing hard pressed for some excuse in with
holding his approval of the measure and
his allusion to foreigners in this connection
looks to me more like the ad captoadum of
the mere politician or demagogue, than
grave and sound reason to be offered by
the President Of the United States in We
to message upon SO important a measure
as the homestead bill"
VI. That the granting of civil rights does
not carry with it political privileges, but
every citizen of the United States as such,
enjoys the right of personal security, the
right of personal liberty, and the right to
acquire and enjoy property These are in
alienable rights belonging to every citizen
of the United States wherever he may be
and that Government which is all power
full enough to afford him protection in his
rights.
VII. That the bill does not afford dis
eliminating protection to colored people,
but simply provides that no one shall sub
ject colored person to different punish
ment than that inflicted on a white person
for the same offence. The object Of the bill
is to prevent discrimination against any
class, not to encourage it.
VIII. That those persons whom the bill
proposes to punish, on account of dsobey-
ing its provisions, are such as commit the
act under color of law, and not those who
make the law that officers who under col
or Of State law, violate the laws of the
United States are subject to fine and i'm
prlsonment, as is seen from the following
section OF an act oi Congress passed in
1890 "That IN c.ae any person or per-
sons shall sue tor,h OF prosecute any such
writ or process, such person or persons, and
al! attorneys or solicitors prosecuting or
soliciting In such case, and all officers ex-
ecuting any such writ or process, being
thereof convicted, shall be deemed violators