The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-02-26

ILarItaimposes new sprohibitionsI upon th.
power Of the State to pass laws, and inter
dicts the execution Of snch. parts of th,
common law as the national Judiciary MAJ
esteem inconsistent with the vague pro
visions of the said amendment, made
Vague for the purpose Of facilitating en-
|, .cyoachments, upon the lives, liberties, ani
1 property, Of the people. :, -,
It enlarges the judicial power Of the
Il United States SO as to bring every laH
/ passed by the State, and every principle
of the common law relatingTto life, liber-
| ty, or property, within the jurisdiction of
4 the, Federal tribunals; and charges those
4 tribunals with, duties to the due perform.
.ance7 of which they, from their nature and
organization, and their distance from the
people, are unequal. roE .h,rg, - s.as
n4It makes, a new apportionment of repre-
sentation in the national councils, for NO
| other reason, than thereby to secure to o
faction O. sufficient number of the votes OF
a servile and ignorant race to outweigh
the intelligent voices of their OWN. II g..fa
4 1t ssts.up standard of suffrage depend
! ent entirely upon citizenship, majority,
/ inhabitancy, and manhood, and any inter-
\ ference whatever by the State, imposing
any other reasonable qualifications! as time
of inhabitancy, causes g reduction OF the
States representation sztlI 1.atgiE ss4.d
But the demand of the supporters of
this amendment in this. State that Congress
should compel the people of New Jersey
to adopt what is called a impartial suf-
frage" makes itapparent that this section
| was intended to transfer to Congress the
whole control of the right of suffrage in
the State, and to deprive the State of o
free representation by. destroying the
power of regulating suffrage within its own
limits-a power which they have never
been willing to surrender to the General
Government, and which was reserved to
the States as the fundamental principle on
which the Constitution itself was con-
structed-the principle Of self.government.
This section, as we'll as all others of the
amendment, is couched in ambiguous,
vague, and obscure language-the uniform
resort of those who SEEK to encroach upon
public liberty. Strictly construed, tsdis--
penses entirely with a House Of Repre-
sentatives, unless the States shall abrogate
every qualification, and especially that of
time Of inhabitancy without which the
right of suffrage is worthless.
The Legislature, feeling conscious of the
support of the largest majority of the peo-
pie that has ever given expression to the
public will, declare that the said proposed
amendment, being designed to confer, or to
compel the States to confer, the sovereign
right of the elective franchise upon race
which has never given the slightest evil
dence, at any time, or in any quarter of
the globe, of its capacity for sef-govern-
ment, and erect an impracticable standard
of, suffrage, which will render, the right
valueless to any portion of the people, was
intended to overthrow the, system OF self
government under which the people of the
United States have for eighty years en-
joyed their liberties, and is unfit, from its
origin, its object, and its matter, to be in
corporated with the fundamental law OF q
free people; therefore be it e...aa
/. ReSolued by the Senate and General as
sembly of the State of Neao Jersey, That
the joint resolution approved September
IL, Ammo Domini eighteen hundred and
sixty six, relative to amending the Constl-
tuition of the United States, be and the
same is hereby rescinded, andi the consent
on behalf of the State of New Jersey to
ratify the proposed fourteenth amendment
to the Constitution of the United States
is hereby withdrawn. .aag -
2. And be it resohed, That copies of the
foregoing preamble and resolution, certi-
fed to by the President of the Senate and
Speaker of the General Assembly, be for
warded to the President Of the United
States, the Secretary of State of the Uni
ted States, to each Of our senators and
representatives in Congress-, and to the
Governors of the respective States.
8. And be 1t enacted, That these resolu-
tions shall take effect Immediately. h