The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-03-16
The Civil Rights Bill.

From the W0Ttd.
The Republican party in Congress seem deter
mined to provoke another veto, and they will no
doubt succeed. The sO-called Civil Rights bill,
which has passed the House with some modid-
cations of its original form, transcends, In spite
Of those notifications, the constitutional
authority of Congress- The things II proposes
to do are reasonable and proper enough in them
selves; but they are things which belong to the
Jurisdiction of the State Governments. The bill
provides that "there shall be no discrimination
in civil rights or lmmunitles amSng citizens of
the United States, in any State or Territory OF
the United States, on account of race or color,
or previous condition OF slavery And it goes
on to give specific guarantees OF civil rights as
tOllOws:-
'Ihe same right to make and enforce con-
tracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to
inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey
real and personal property, and to full and
equal benefit of all laws and proceedings tor the
security OF person and property as is enjoyed by
white citizens, and shall DO subject TO like pun
ishment, pans and penalties, and to none other,
sny law, statute, or ordinance, regulation or
custom to the contrary Notwithstanding"
Ii Congress has authority to enact such a law
as this, whence is il derived? 1t was never pre-
tended that the Constitution conferred such
authority previous to the antislayery amend
ment The first section OF that amendment
merely abolishes slavery, and the second en-
powers Congress to pass all laws necessary to
make It's abolition etiectual. The slave acquires
no Ollcf rgAIS unuCf tpls aInenuInGnb IMAM ne
would have acquired by voluntary manumission
by his master. Slavery is completely abolished
whtn the ownership OF the master is completely
anhulled; and that guarantee OF freedom is COM
plete which prevents the resumption of owner
ship. This Ia all the constitutional amendment
aiBed at any other Interpretation OF 1t is
strained and absurd.
The rights which this bill aims, by an unwar-
ranted assumption of authority, to confer, are
likely to be given by voluntary concession in
the several States. In Georgia, the two most
| influential men in the State, Alexander III.
| Stephens and Ex-Governor Brown, are publicly
using their influence to procure these rights for
The negro population'of that State; and when
any Southern State takes the lead, the others
will be constrained to follow. The wealth OF the
South hes almost entirely in its lands, valuelsss
| without labor TO cultivate them. The negroes,
Gs tree mon, will 60 where they are best treated.
Georgia will acquire, by her Justice and ltber
ahty, a monopoly of cheap labor, unless the
| other States follow her example
There is no business in the world so remune
ratiye, at present and prospective prices, as the
cultivation OF cotton on Southern lands. Labor
is the greatest want in every part OF the South
and the States are more likely TO bid against
each other with brisk competition, than TO deny
the negro his Just rights. The same motives viii
pTeyaiI in our Western States, where in the
competition for immigrant labor, the elective
franchise was conferred on unnaturalized alieni