The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1866-05-02
The Civil Rights Bill passed BY the
Senate over the Presidents veto.

Senate has passed the demonstrations
measure falsely called "the Civil Right
Bill : over the veto of the President, an,
the Radicals are everywhere iuhihnt.s s,
far as they have the power they have man
Tested determination to level every de
Tense raised by the Constitution about tn,
liberty of the people. Solemn compacts
legal guarantees, State rights, all are set a
naught, and the traitorous purposeis openl,
avowed todeprive nine or ten millions Q
Americans Of the rights of citizenship
The hope was entertained that after til,
clear and able exposition of the bill by til,
President, it would as in the case of tn,
other infamous Radical production nov
defunct, never be resnscitated; but til,
Congressional traitors have, it seems deter
mined to court their fate, and itmay be Xix,
that of the French Jacobins, to whom the,
bear o remarkable resemblance. II was a
one time feared that they would avoid
conflict with the President, but all appre
tensions on that score have been set a!
rest, and the line of demarkation is tot
distinctly marked, TOO sharply drawn, tt
permit of coalition hereafter. In tn,
meantime it is wellsto consider, now thai
the law has been passed, how it is to b,
carried into operation. p
L. The law must be sustained by til,
State Courts before it n,be carried int
effect. 80. ''''-> . 's-'' z =
2. The Presidents proclamation restor
ing civil law throughout the country, anf
re-establishing the Constitution as the SUI
preme law Of the land, renders tllis bill nu
gatory and void, and it cannot now be ap
piled to the South any more than to the
North, East or West.
8. As the Presiaent9has in his veto mes
sage declared the law unconstitutional. ht
himself would be acting in violation of tht
Constitution we're lie to execute the pro
visions Of the bill.
4. Congress being simply the Legislative
Department of the Government cannot ex.
ecute it's own laws, and must depend ex
clusively upon the Executive, sustained By
the Judiciary. RH
D. 1T was admitted by Senator Trumbul
that the bill authorized the arrest Of .
State judge who should pronounce "a iuag.
ment in conflict with its provisions, and a
ministerial, officer who should execute pro.
cesses based upon such IL judgment. We
have no idea that arrests made under such
circumstances would be tolerated by the
judges Of the Uuited States Courts. And
now that the writ of Habeas Corpus has
been restored, suppose that.a State Judge
should discharge from the costody Of the
officers and agents of the FreedneD's l5u.
reau persons believed by him to have beer,
unlawfully arrested and to be illegally re.
strained of their liberty, where would be
the remedy?
6. Again, suppose civil suit is institu-
ted against . negro by acitizen ola State
which does not place a negro on an equal
position with a white man in all respects.
The bill provides that tlenegro shall have
"the right to remove such cause for trial.
to the United States Court. Who will en-.
force his assumed right? Under the Con
stitution Of the United States, the iuris-
dietion of the State Courts in such q case
would be unquestionable, and the State
Courts would certainly not relinquish it,
The Court would disregard the provisions
of this bill and proceed with the case, and
there is 20 power to prevent it. The judy
ment might be appealed, but the highest
Court of this State would be the last re-
sort, The same would take place in case
of the Indictment Of a negro for an offence
against State, or prosecution instituted
by a State against one of its own officers
for refusing to execute one Of its own off
GERS for refusing to execute one of its own
laws. The jurisdiction Of the State Courts
would be maintained by them, and could
not legally be interfercd with. The days
of arbitrary resistance to the Judiciary of
the country have passed. At any rate,
the President will not resort to extraordi-
nary means to enforce measures which he
has declared to be unconstitutional, unjust
and impolitic.
All things considered, it is likely that
the Radicals will have very little cause for
rejoicing. It is said they will impeach the
President. Let them; but it is fair to pre-
sumo that the legally constituted executive
will not remain idle, and that he will not
permit our liberties to be further imperill-
ed by the conspirators who are now plot
ting their overthrow. Mr.. johnson has
been to tolerant; he has allowed men to re-
main in Office who are in direct antagonism
with the policy of his administration, and
to make use Of their official position and
infnenceiu favor ofhis political opponents.
He owes it not only to himself, but to the
people Of whose rights he is now the cham
pion, to make q clear sweep of his enemies
and theirs, and to put good and trust
worthy men in their places. Let him do
this, and there need be no fears of the fu-
lure, but there is no time to lose.- Me-
tropolitan Record.
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