The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1866-04-06

and liberties of the people.
The seventh section provides that
fee of ten dollars shall be paid to each
commissioner in every case brought be-
fore him; and a fee Of five dollars TO
his deputy or deputies for each person
he or they may arrest and take before
any such commissioner, with such 9TH
er fees as may be deemed reasonableby
such commissioner in general for per-
forming such other duties as may he
required i'm the premises. All these
fees are to be paid out of the Treasury
of the United States, whether there is
a conviction or not; but in case Of con-
viction they are to be recoverable from
the defendant. Itseems to me that un-
der the influence Of such temptation
bad men might convert any law, how
ever benefcent, into an instrument of
persecution and fraud.
BY the eighth section Of the bill, the
United States Courts, which sit only in
one place for white citizens, must mi
CRATE, the marshal and district att0rn-
ey, and necessarily the clerk, although
/ he is not mentioned, to any part Of the
district, upon the order Of the Presi-
dent, and there hold a court, for the
purpose Of the more speedy arrest and
( trial of persons charged with viola
/ ton of this act; and there the judge
and the officers of the court must re-
/ main, on the order of the President, for
/ the time designated. The ninth section
/ authorizes the President, or such per-
son as he may empower for that pur-
pose, to employ such part of the land
or naval force of the United States, or
of the militia, as shall be necessary to
prevent the violation and enfoTe the
/ due execution of this act. This lam
guage seems to imply an important mil
itary force, that is to be always at hand,
and whose only business is to be the
/ enforcement Of this measure over the
vast region where it is intended to op-
crate.
/ do not propose to consider the pol
lev of this bill. To me the details of
the biil are fraught with evil. The
white race and the black race Of the
. South have hitherto lived together un-
der the relation of master and slave
capital owning labor. Now, suddenly,
that relation is changed; and, as to
. ownership, capital and labor are di-
v0rced. They stand now each master
of itself; in this new relation one being
. necessary to the other.
There will be a new adjustment which
both are deeply interested in making
harmonious. Each has equal power in
settling the forms, and if left to the
laws that regulate capital and labor, it
is confidently believed that they will
satisfactorily work out the problem
/ Capital, tits true, has more reintelligence,
| but labor is never so ignorant as not to
( understand its own interests, not to
/ know its own value, and not to see that
capital must pay that value. This bill
illustrates this adjustment, it tintervenes
between capital and labor, and attempts
to settle questions Of political economy
through the agency Of numerous Off
ciaIs, whose interest twill be to fer
ment discord between the two races
So far as the breach Widens, their en-
ployment will continue; and when it
is closed, their occupation will termi-
nate. In all our history, in all our eX-
perience, as people living under Fed
eral and State law, no such system as
that contemplated by the details ofthis
bill has ever before been proposed or a.
d0pted to establish for the security of
the colOred race safeguards which go
infinitely beyond any that the General
Government has ever provided for the
white race. In fact, the distinction of
race and color is by the bill made to oop-
crate in favor of the colored and against
the white race.
They interfere with the municipal
legislation Of the States, with the rela-
tions exclusively between a State and
its citizens, or between inhabitants of
the same State-an absorption and as
sumption of powerby the General Gov
ernment, which, if acqui seed in must
sap or destroy our federative system Of
limited powers and break down the
barriers which preserve the rights of
the States. 1t is another step or rather
stride, toward Capitalization, and the
concentration Of all legislative powers
in the national government. The ten
dency Of the bill must be to resuscitate
the spirit Of rebellion and to arrest the
progress of those influences which are
more closely drawingarOund the States
the bonds Of Union and peace.
My lamented predecessor, in his proc
lamation of the lst of January, 1868,
ordered and declared that all persons
held as slaves within certain States, and
parts of States therein designated, were
land thenceforward should be free: and
further, that the EXecutivegovernment
of the United States, including the
military and naval authorities thereof,
would recognize and maintain the free
dom of such persons. This guarantee
has been rendered especially obligatory
1 l.-+ 4 IL, 1. IL