Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1866-04-05
V virtues G. he latter, and depreciates the


tins Of British tyranny, who flock hither
from the bogs and fens of Ireland, who
have never slept on any other bed than that
made exclusively of straw, never saw a
common knife and fork, a chair a house
floor made of boards, or any other common
necessary of civilized life, know more than
the negro who was lately in bondage in
America. The President may believe this,
but no man who is fami lar with the power
ty, degradation, ignorance and oppression
Of the Irish people, does and, in our ,iudg
ment, man who is not familiar with these
facts, is not fit to be President
Further, the author of this veto message
is much exercised because the Civil Rights
bill attempts to make the black-mall, the
soldier and all, the equal before the law, of
included, and assumes, that because the
federal government passes law to inter
tere with the State laws which discriminate
against the black man, it may make laws
to interfere with another, or all the civil
regulations of the States. This is far
fetched inference, and the argument drawn
therefrom, is unfair. Now, what are the
facts of the case? By the Proclamation Of
the President, and by the Amended Consti-
tuition, the slaves were made free men, and
the government positively promised to
protect them in their freedom 1t is, there
fore, bound to secure to secure to these
freedmen their liberty But, if the federal
government cannot pass law interfering
with the State laws which enslave them,
her promised protection is Of no avail. 1t
is known to the President, that in the
States where slavery obtained, laws have
been passed virtually re-enslaving the
blacks, and by what authority is this to be
prevented, if the federal government can
not interfere He asserts by inference,
that if Congress passes law interfering
with State laws which discriminate be-
| tween the races, it may pass Il law to in
terfere with other State laws, and there
! fore, Congress can do no such thing. Queer
| logic for a President to chop out by whose
act the right of habeas corpus is suspended
in these very States where the freedom of
the blacks is interfered with, because Of the
lawless character of the people The priv
/ ilege Of the writ of hobeas corpus is the
most sacred Of the frecdmen's rights, and
! Is part Of the States organic laws, and it
can only be suspended in time of rebellion
or invasion None of these conditions eX-
ist, yet it is suspended, and by the Presi-
dents authority. Then according to his
own logic, he can suspend all other State
laws, and his act suspending the habeas
corpus is therefore Illegal Yet, we believe
. the suspension Of this writ in the more re-
fractory rebel districts is really called for,
but his particular arguments against the
Civil Rights bill, stultifies his act in the
premises. Besides, it ignores the whole
power Of the general Government over the
States, the worst States rights doctrine
that was ever preached.
Aside from all this, the rebels in a great
many of the districts of their respective
States, are treating the freedmen most vii
lianousl y,defrauding them out of their wages
for work, whipping and killing them, and
the white perpetrators OF these outrages
go unpunished in some cases because nc
laws have been enacted to protect the
freedmen, and in others, because the Judges
juries, and all the whites, make common
cause Ill screening the criminals. Just as
ii was i'll Utah after the rebellion was
quelled there. The government officers un
dertOok to punish offenders But all were
Mormons, and Norman .jurymcn would not
convict Mormon criminals. So now in tn,
rebel States, onl y more SO and for every
case Of criminal violence in Utah, hundreds
occur in the South against the poor blacks
and hence the necessity for the provisions
OF the Civil Rights bill The President
however, is alarmed for the safety of the
country, because the graceless scoundrels
who commit these outrages upon the freed
men, and the traitorous jurymen, Judges
and lawmakers, who connive at and screer
the criminals from punishment, are all tC
summarily dealt with by the law lie vetoes
1t is not the nigger that is in the fence
now, but Thaddeus Stevens. What a mis-
serable perversion Of justice is here exhb
tied The poor black man is at the mere,
of his hateful, revengeful, criminal master
who has earned the gallows dozen times
and is intlicting on his helpless victim cru
elites which double died traitor alone car
conceive and execute, and when Congress-
in conformity with the promise of the Gov
ernment to protect the freedmen, passes a
law to this end by IA vote Of two to one
and among its supporters many of the
ablest constitutional lawyers of the land
this sage President Of the United States
whose antecedents on the goose question
peculiarly fit him for legal dsquisitons
raises constitutional objections to meas
ure called for by every consideration OF
duty and right He is afraid that bad
men may peryert and abuse this law, a