Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1866-03-03

that the negro really has no protection
afforded him either by the civil authori-
ties or judicial tribunals of the State. I
have letters showing the same thing in
the State of Maryland from persons
whose character 10 vouched for as reiia-
BILE. Under this state OF things, the
President tells us that the freedmen
should be protected "by the exercise
of all the constitutional powers of the
courts of the United States and of the
States" In Kentucky, Major General
Palmer, in response to request that be
should recommend the restoration of
the hdbeds corpus, declined to do 90
For the reason that returned rebels,
of whom there are twenty thousand in
that State, are openly regarded and
treated as patriots, whereas loyal citizens
and soldiers are objects of prejudice,
dislike, and often of persecution be-
cause courts in many instances are per-
mitted to become the instruments of the
vengeance of those who are hostile to
loyal men because laws are enforced
ttnling to embsrrass the citizens form.
erly slaves, but now freedmen, and that
the government is bound to protect them
until they shall have the same privileges
as other citizens before the law; because
outrages have been com mitted upon Pc
groes which have been allowed to go un-
punished F.; in fact, no single instsnee has
existed in which punishment has reached
the aggressors, because negroes have
been murdered, and their murderers
have escaped, because of the legal in
competency Of negroes to testify against
them !; and finally, because there are IL
legal combinations of men in the State,
rot up to drive colored men out of it to
prevent them finding employment, and
such men are allowed to act with impu-
nity."a
Then, sir, is there no necessity for
some supervising care of these people?
Are they to be coldly told that they have
a perfect right to change their place Of
abode, when, il they are caught in a
strange neighborhood without q pass,
they are liable to be whipped; when COM
binations exist against them that
they shall not be permitted to hire
unless to their former masters2 Are
these people, knowing nothing of geogra-
ply, knowing not where to 90, having
never In their lives been ten miles from
the place where they were born, these
old women and yolng children, these
feeble persons, who are turned off, be.
cause they are no longer able to work,
to be told to go and seek elsewhere, and
is the Government of the United States,
which has made them free, to stand by
and do nothing to save and protect
them7 Are they to be left to the mercy
of su h legislation as that OF Mississippi,
to such as exists in Texas, to such prac-
tees as are tolerated in Maryland and
in Kentucky2 Sir, / think some kind
of protection is necessary for them, and
that was the object of this Bureau, Ii
was not intended, and such is not its ef-
feet, to interfere with the ordinary ad-
ministration of justice in any State, not
even during the rebellion. The moment
that any State does justice and abolishes
all discrimination between blacks and
whites in civil rights, then the Judicial
functions of the Freedmen's Bureau
cease s& - : - 80
But, sir, the President, most strangely
of all, dwells upon the unconstitutional
ity of this act, without ever having al,
luded to that provision of the Constitu-
ton which its advocates claim gives the
authority to pass it. Is it not most ex-
traordinary that the President of the
United States returns a bill which has
passed Congress, with his objections to it,
alleging it to be unconstitutional, and
makes no allusion whatever in his whole
message TO that provision of the Consti-
tuition which, in the opinion of its sup
porters, clearly gives the authority to
pass'it2 And what is that? The second
clause of the Constitutional Amendment,
which declares that Congress shall have
authority, by appropriate legislation,
to enforce the article which declares
that there shall be neither slavery Nor
involuntary servitude throughout the
United States. If legislation be neces-
sary. to protect the. former slaves against
State laws, which allow them to be whip.
pedif found away from home without
a pass, has not Congress, under the Sec
ond clause of the amendment, authority
to provide IT'D What kind of freedom is
that which the Constitution of the United
States guarantees to a. man that does not
protect him from the Iashif be is caught
away from home without a pass2 And
how can we sit here and discharge the
constitutional obligation that is upon US
to pass the appropriate legislation to
protect every man IN the land in his
freedom, when we know such laws are
being passed in the South, if we do no.
thing to prevent their enforcement2 Sir,
so far from the bill being unconstitution-
al, should feel that had failed in nv
constitutional duty if / did not propose
some measure that would protect these
people in their freedom. And vet this
clause of the Constitution seems to have
escaped entirely the observation of the
President. a
1 come now to the last of the obiee-
tons to this bill, and Irejoice that it is
the last, both because.I am exhausted,
and because it has been an unpleasant
duty to dwell upon this veto message.
The last objection which the President
takes is this:
i can but add another very grave
objection to this bill The Constitution
imperatively declares, in connection
with taxation, that each State shall have
at least one representative, and fixes
the rule for the number to which. in fu-
ture times each State shall be entitled
It also provides that the Senate of the
United States shall be composed of two
senators from each State, and adds with
peculiar force, that no State, without
its consent, shall be deprived of equal
suffrage in the Senate The original
act was necessarily passed in the ab.
sence of the States chiefly to be effected.
because their people were then contu.
maciously engaged in the rebellion.
Now, the case is changed, and some at
least, of those States, are attending
Congress by loyal Representatives, 40.
liciting tho allowance of the Constitu
tional right of representation"
At present, all the people of eleven
States are excluded-thoss who were
most faithful during the war not less
than others
: The President objects to this bill be-
cause it was, passed in the absence Of
representation from the rebelIious
States. If that objection be valid. ali
our legislation affecting those States is
wrong, and has been wrong from the be.
ginning. When the rebellion broke out.
in the first wear of the wa wa vaasaj