Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1866-12-18


the announcement of the result was not
accompanied by demonstrations Of any I
kind. "a
It will 60 to the President lO-morrOr.
Every one, of course, expects a veto, bnt
the bill is snre 70 become Law, whsther
the President objects or NOT.
"Col Stokes attracted attention BY the
hearty manner in which he voted aye"
says the correspondent 1t is a singular
fact that this same Col Stokes beatJames
r. Hood for Congress upon the issue
which he made himself, that he was Op-
posed to negro suffrage, while Hood IA
vored the measure. B
. The FIRST section ofthe bin as It passed
both houses provides as follows:
That, from and after the passage of this
act, each and every male person, excepting
paupers and persons under guardianship, Of
the age Of twenty-one years and upwards,
who has not been convicted Of any Infamous
crime or oHense, and excepting persons who
NAV have voluntarily given aid and COM
fort TO the Rebels in the late rebellion, and
who was born in the United States, or naiu-
rallied, and who shall have resided in the
said District for the period of one year, and
in the precinct where he shall offer to vote
three months previous 10 any election
therein, shall be entitled 10 the elective
franchise, and shall be deemed an eleetor
and entitled 70 vote at any election in said
District, without any distinction on ac-
count of color or race.
This is a sweeping Acknowledgement,
and was intended to give the control of
the municipal affairs of the national cap
itOl to the Radicals, through the votes of
the negroes cOngregated in that city. OF
course the Presidents veto, should it lie
interPosed, will not prevent the eonsum-
nation Of this outrage upon the people of
the District Of Columbia, who protested
during the last session of Congress by a
vote amounting almost TO unanimity,
against the passage Of similar bill. The
only hope Of the people of the District of
Columbia is in the Supreme Court, and
it must be confessed that that body, as at
present constituted, affords but a slender
hope, for the Chief Justice is committed
to the policy of negro suffrage This
thing Of DISTINGUISHING whole classes of
citizens, without trial and conviction, for
crime denounced in our constitution,
must strike Europeans, and especially
Englishmen, as the boidest usurpation
ever committed in the name of law and
justice The constitution of the United
States provides that no person shall be
held to answer for a capital or otherwise
infamouse crime, unless on a presentment
or indictment of grand jury" but here
is the Congress declaring sympathy
with Rebels infamous, and depriying
those who sc sympathised of the right of
suffrage without any action of grand
jury whatever But the constitution fur
Their provides that no person shall be de-
prived of life, liberty, or property, with
out due process of law" The courts Of
England declared more than hundred
years 20, in the case of Asby VS.. White,
that the right of suffrage is a property
right, and that a man can no more be de-
prived Of this right than he can of his
right to any property he may have &C
quired, without due process Of law, and
the Parliament of Great Britain would no
more attempt to deprive a voter of this
right than any other property right Our
own courts have decided that due pro
cess of law " means regular trial before |
a properly constituted judicial tribunal |
and the judgment of such body. All this
is set at naught by the Congress which
assumes to be Judge and jury as well as
laW-maker This viii strike Engiishmen !
as a step far in advance of any Parlia-
ment dare take. If we had such SUI
prsme Court as that presided over by
any of the predecessors of the present
Chief Justice, this usurpation of Congress
would not be permitted to stand
The men who have thus placed the ne
gro upon a political equality with large
class Of white men, and above, perhaps.
4 still larger class, who profess great rev
erenee for the memory Of President Lin
.oln, and yet they do violence to his
memory by this very act In speech
which Mr. Lincoln delivered at Column
)us, Ohio, in September, 1859, he defined
lis position upon this very question as
ollows
will say, then, that lam not, nor ever
ave been, in favor of bringing about in
my way the social and political equality of
he white and black races-that am not,
Tor ever have been in favor of making
-Oters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualify
ng them to hold Office, or intermarry with
7hite people; and will say in addition to [
his, that there is physical difference be-
ween the white and black races, which |
elieye will forever forbid the two races
wing together upon terms Of social and !
olitical equality.
The Radicals have departed as far I
rom the teachings ofMr Lincoln as they
ave from those of his predecessor. ,