The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1866-04-06
worI.ing OF DE Cirn Right, BiIl.

The Civil Rights bill first created cit
liens out of a whole class Just emerged
/ from the ignorance of bondage; theI
1t warned all State authorities, agents
and citizens, against doing anything
which even recognizes a distinction, SO
cial or legal, between that class anC
themselves; ard, finally, it orders al
cases of complaint under the law ovel
10 the cognizance and determination o.
the Federal Courts alone, which are oil
course to be operated by the same cen
! trail power of which this monstrou!
measure was begotten.
This is its sum and substance The
spies and stipendiaries employed to
perform the necessary work of its exc
cution, furnish an additional element
of public danger, but still one which
properly belongs TO d plan of such 8
character.
Let US see how this bill would work
in single case or two. AS a newly
made citizen, the negro is at liberty to
marry whom he will, or can. But the
laws Of some of the States forbid the
intermarriage of white and blacks
The black man then would, under such
State laws, be subjected to the depriva.
lion of one of his rights, "by the rea-
son of his color or race, lin the Ian,
guage of the bill The clergyman,
therefore, who obeys the local statute
and refuses to marry black man to a
white woman, exposes himself directly
TO the penalties which are denounced
by this bill. And even the parent of a
white girl, who undertakes to prevent
such an unnatural and revolving union,
is made obnoxious to the same prescri-
bed punishment The negro may have
his own, in spite of State Courts or Gus.
toms: he has but TO carry his complaint
to the Federal District Court, and his
wish is made substantial by its prompt
interference Instead of being "equal-
ity before the law" this looks like
making the black altogether the supe-
rior
Or, in another Gaze: in many, if not
most, churches it is the custom, when
offering the seats for sale to the high
est bidder, to allow no class but an &C
ceptsble one 10 share in the privileges
which the society has at its own cost
provided. Suppose, however, a negro
who is possessed of the means, no mat
ter how, insists on buying a pew in the
very heart of the congregation. Of
course any bid from him would be re-
fused He can 90 at once to the Fed
eral authorities and enter his COM
plant, that he has been deprived of his
rights by reason of his color or race,
and the Federal Court is bound to see
that such a right as this of purchasing
the most eligible pew in a fashionable
church is not denied him. How many
churches, pray, would be erected un-
der the fostering care of such a sta
tute2 Or what would be the depth and
reality of the religion that Is nourished
in the heat of the passions and preju-
dices which such bill is devised spe.
cially to engender2
This is styled Civil Rights Bill But
if Congress may strangle the State
Courts, root out local customs, and de-
stroy interests that pertain only to the
people of the States within the States,
for the sake of endowing blacks with
civH rights,-it is but a short step, as it
is perfectly logical one, to investing
them with political rights also. The
interference of Congress in the first
case supplies ample warrant for inter-
ference in the second. The stretch of
the usurpation is not so violent as to
make its attempt hopeless one
One Of the soundest, as it is q. most
Just, of the reasons given by President
johnson for refusing his assent to the
bill, is the fact that the eleven States
which are chiefly to be affected in their
interests and welfare by its passage,
are permitted neither voice nor vote in
the Congress which would force it on
them. There is such pslpable evil
dence of tyranny here as to make all
just and generous minds revolt. New
er before was it openly held that one
part of the country might hold the
other in subsection to govern it. But
all such usurpations finally prove fatal
to those who practice them. The gov
erning power is sure to lose its own lib
erty in its attempt to force even liberty
itself upon others. If we are resolved
now to take the sword, by the sword
we may ourselves expect to falL-Bos
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