The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-04-16
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.
Editorial Opinions Of the Leading Journals
upon Current Topics Complied Every
Day for the Evening Telegraph.
po11r1oA1 RIGHTS OF NEGROES.


POLITICAL RIGHTS OF NEGROES.
From the NJ 7. Ti1ncs
The broad assertion of citizenship and its
attendant franchises which was made in be-
half of the negroes by the recent amend
ments to the Constitution is simply basis
for practical legislation, by means of which
those franchises can be realized. Constitu-
tional provisions cannot enforce themselves
in the absence of statutory provisions, and
courts cannot assume jurisdiction or deal
with infractions of them except under affirma-
tive law. The declarations that slavery shall
not exist within the United States, that all
persons born under Federal jurisdiction are
citizens, and that no citizen shall be denied
the right of voting on account of race, color,
or previous condition, necessarily require
supplementary legislation to give them
vitality and practical effect. Moreover, being
new concessions by the States to the Federal
Government, Congress had no right, ex-
pressed in the Constitution to legislate with
regard to them, and hence the necessity of
the clause appended to each of the new
amendments, reciting that Congress shall
have power to enforce this article by appro-
pirate legislation.
The resistance to the fifteenth amendment,
by refusing to register negro voters in Ohio
and California, and the spirit of intimidatio n
which has been exhibited in various localities
at the South, demonstrate the immediate
necessity for action upon the part of Con-
gress. Weare glad tosee that action has already
been had, and that the Judiciary Commit
tee of the House have agreed upon strin-
gent bill which will soon be brought forward,
and we hope passed 1t is substitute to the
bill previously introduced, and which was
thought to be Objectionable, 1t provides, in
substance, that any officer who shall officially
deny the right of any citizen to vote, on ac-
count of race, color or previous condition,
at any election, shall be adjudged guilty of a
misdemeanor, and be punished by imprison-
ment not less than one, nor more than three
years, or by fine of not less than $500, nor
more than $4,000, or by both fine and i'm
rrisonment.
The bill also declares colored citizens enti-
tied to vote upon precisely the same terms
and conditions as whites, and that any per-
son who shall prevent them by force fraud,
or intimidation, or who shall refuse to assess
or levy or collect a tax of colored citizens in
States where the payment of taxes is a quail
fcation of electors, or shall refuse or neglect
to register colored voters, or to receive his
vote when legally offered shall also be ad-
judged guilty of misdemeanor and punished
by fine or imprisonment, or both. A penalty
of $500 is also imposed for refusing to assess
or register any negro entitled to vote, which
shall be paid to any person who shall bring
suit therefor; and similar penalty for re-
fusing to receive the vote of any such voter,
to be sued for and recovered by the elector so
refused. Jurisdiction is conferred upon the
United States Circuit Courts in suits for for
FIXTURES ard penalties, and concurrently upon
Circuit and District Courts in prosecutions
for the punishment of misdemeanors specified
in the act.
The bill is very carefully drawn, and is evil
IDENTIFY intended to cover every phase of re-
sistance to the principle involved in the re-
cent constitutional amendments. When it
shall become law, which we trust will
speedily be the case, we shall cease to hear
of faotional opposition, and partisan preju-
dice against negro suffrage will speedily die
ont both North and South.