The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-02-14
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA,
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,


I cannot approve the bill, which
originated in the Senate, entitled
"An Act to amend the Patrol Laws"
and the Constitution of this State
makes it obligatory on me to return
it, with my objections, 'sto that
House in which it shall have origi-
mated.
An Ordinance was ratified by the
State Convention on the 9th of Sep
tember last, entitled can Ordinance
to declare in force the Constitution
and laws heretofore in force in this
State, and the Acts, official, public
and private, done, and appointments
and elections made, under authority
of the same The second section
declares all laws, &C., of this State in
force which were of force on the 10Th
of December, 1860. The third Sec
ton declares that all laws passed since
that date are of force until repealed,
&C.: Prooided, hoaceoey, That all laws,
resolutions, orders or rules embraced
within the terms of this and the pre-
ceding section, which recognize the
existence of slavery, and regulate the
relations of master and slave, and
define and enforce the rights and
duties growing thereout, or create
and punish offences against such
rights, or against the public policy of
the State in reference to slavery, have
become of no further or future force
or effect by reason of the extinction
of slavery"
The Act of 1889 is entitled can
Act to reduce all Acts and clauses of
Acts in relation to the patrol of this
State into one Act, and to alter and
amend the same," and was intended
solely to secure subsection and subor-
dination of the negro race. Every
section in the bill was intended to
sustain "the public policy of the
State in reference to slavery" and
the Convention, by solemn Ordi-
nance, has declared that laws for that
purpose ''have become of no further
or future force" Is not, therefore,
all the provisions of the Act of 1889,
and amendments thereto, as efectu-
ally repealed as the Act of 174O, or
any other law recognizing or regulat-
ing slavery? If an Ordinance of a
Convention can repeal a law, there
would seem to be little donbt that
every enactment in this State as to q
patrol had been effectually swept from
the statute book The first section
of the bill under consideration, in
repeating the eleventh, twelfth, thir-
tecnth and fifteenth sections Of the
Act of 1889, assumes that all the
other sections of the Act are still of
force. The Constitution of the State
recognizes the universal freedom of
the African race, and prohibits their
re-enslavement. The Ordinance of
the Convention expressly repeals all
laws regulating the institution, 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 up all slaves found without the
limits of their owners plantation,
and give them moderate whipping,
and in the sixth section authorizing
and requiring the patrol to enter into
any disorderly house, vessel or boat,
suspected of harboring, traficking or
dealing with negroes, whether the
same be occupied by white persons,
free negroes, mulattoes, mestizoes or
slaves, and to correct all slaves found
there, and to report the free negroes
to a magistrate, and to retain the
products of traffic till inquired into,
just as inconsistent with the freedom
Of the negro as the sections proposed
to be repealed by this bill?
I am entirely satisfied that the
whole Act, for the reasons stated, is
no longer law in South Carolina. and
L am unwilling to raise question by
now repeating some sections and al
lowing Others to remain.
object to the second section of the
bill, because it undertakes, amongst
other things, to interfere with the
private rights and business of the
citizen, when the public safety does
not require such interposition.
The citizen, resident or sojourner,
who hires fifteen or more laborers,
whether white or colored, is most
competent to determine what super
vision his laborers may require. If
his laborers become troublesome to
his neighbors by tumultuous or dis
orderly conduct, they may be indicted
and punished. If they rob and plum
der, the law will avenge the outrage
on the individual and on society.
Now that freedom has been accord
ed to the African race In our midst,
duty and policy alike admonish us to
give him all the concomitants of-what
he regards so great boon. Eman-