The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1866-06-28
G. H a r l. E S TO n
THURSDAY MORNING, JUNE %. 1866.
A SOCIAL ANOMALY.

lne pecullar position In Whlcn the negroes
of the Southern States stand to the laws of
the country is n matter for serious reflec tion.
The evils resulting from this anomalous po-
sition have become so palpnble and onerous
that universal public attention has been drawn
thereto, and tho demand for redress is urgent.
Let us see then in what the popularity of
this position consists, what are the evils re-
sulting therefrom, and from what quarter it
is reasonable to expect redress.
In the first place, the ordinary criminal
courts have no power to punish violations of
the law committed by colored persons. A
negro may commit not only an assault, lar
ceny, and other petty offences, but also bur-
| glary, rape, and even murder, without being
in any manner responsible to the constitu-
tionally established courts of the land. In
the second place, the courts to which the
negroes are responsible, and in which is in
vested exclusive jurisdiction of all offences
committed by colored persons, are in no way
bound by oath or otherwise to support, ad
minister, or enforce the laws of the several
States, or of the United States The decisions
of these courts, therefore, are only controlled
by the general ideas of right and wrong, Of
justice and equity, as understood by the in
dividual judges And to make the contrast
in this respect still stronger, while the judges
of the constitutional courts are chosen es-
pecially for their skill in legal lore, there
are no grounds to suppose that the Provost
Judges are selected for any such reason.
From these two propositions it necessarily
results that, in all that portion of the ooun-
try where Provost Courts are in opera
ton, the negro is not amenable to the laws
of the land, but only to sort of unwritten
moral law, the commentaries of which have
not yet been published. The freedman of the
Southern States stands In the anomalous DO
sition of q citizen Of a great republic, enjoying
all the benefits of its government, and yet
irresponsible of all written law, municipal,
State or Federal.
1t is useless to argue that Provost Cour ts
are Established not only to protect the negro
in his rights, and to administer justice be-
tween him and the white man, but also to
enforce obedience to the laws in the name of
the United States. Such may be the theory, but
it is not the practice; it is not true, in
fact. In reality, cases are brought up daily
in the name of the Government, but are
treated purely as cases between the prose-
cutting witnesses and the defendants. The
only object of the Provost Judges seems to
be to decide the measure of redress to which
the party injured by the violation of law is
entitled, and to afford that redress; while the
real question of what is the punishment affixed
by the law for its violation is entirely lost
sight Of
To illustrate An individual, either black
or white, may be stabbed by negro. If this
occurs under the eye of the police, they will
arrest the negro, and he will be carried
before the Provost Court. The party injured
will, on proper application to the Provost
Marshal, receive every assistance to procure
witnesses, and bring the offender to trial; and
if he is convicted, he will receive what the
court considers commensurate punishment.
But all this is merely as justice to the party
injured. If he does not see fit to prosecute
the case, the prisoner is discharged, and might
stab fifty other persons for all the Govern.
| ihChb VI tuO ouitou CItblcS WOulu 40 TO pre-
vent it, if the parties stabbed did not inter-
fere themselves. The insult to the laws of
the nation is not regarded at all. Let q
white man commit like offence and the
hounds of the law are at once upon his track,
and it becomes the duty of an officer of State
specially employed for that purpose, to see
that the criminal is brought to justice.
Here, then, is the peculiar social position
of the negro. He is not amenable to the
laws. The natural consequence is, that he is
defiant of the law and is guilty of continual
violations thereof, to the great detriment of
the public safety. The officers of the law
are regarded with contempt, are continually
resisted in the performance of their duty,
and ore exposed to great rick and Danger
and that, too, with tho extremely disagree.
able knowledge that the power which has
assigned them to this duty is unable to pro-
tect them in its performance. These evils
are particularly manifest in the large cities,
in which the negroes are congregated from
all parts Of the country. Of this deplorable
foot Hhorl ond p;ob,ooad o,o