The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1870-06-02


strange it would seem, how low and
debased the States would have be-
come, when the Congress of the Uni
ted States, without waiting to see
whether any State viii be derelict in
its duty, without waiting to see
whether any State officers will refuse
to obey the Constitution of the Uni
ted States, introduces bill of pains
and penalties like this, that bristles in
every section with fine and imprison-
ment and rewards to be given TO in
formers.
Allow me to call the attention of
the lawyers of the Senate to another
thing. What is the corpus delicti in
this section? What is the offense in
this section? What are the substan-
tive words that create it, and that
must be used in an Indictment under
this section, for here is an indictable
offense? That if "any officer shall
refuse or knowingly omit to give full
effect to this section; : these are the
words which define the crime. Now,
| pray the learned gentleman of the
Judiciary Committee who has charge
of this bill Mr.. Stewart to tell us
what is failing or emitting or refus-
ing to give full effect to this section.
l hope he will enlighten us, so that
when we get up al Indictment we
may refer to his speech in the Senate
that the court may understand what
is the offense of failing to give full eff
feet 10 the provisions of this section.
l confess do not know. | am an
older lawyer than he is; have tried
a great many cases; | have studied
statutes very carefully; but 1 confess
my entire ignorance of what is meant
by this phrase: eff any such person
or officer shall refuse or knowingly
omit to give full effect to this section"
pass from that and come to Sec
tion three:
That whenever, by or under the authority of
the constitution laws of any State the
laws of any Territory, any act is or shall be
qulred to be done by any citizen as a prerequi-
site to qualify entitle him to vote, the offer of
any such citizen to perform the act required to
be done, as aforesaid, shall. If it tailed to be
carried into execution by reason of the wrong
full act or omission aforesaid of the person Of
ficer charged with the duty of receiving or per-
mitting snch performance, or offer to perform
or acting thereon, be deemed and held as q per-
formancc in law of such act
That is to say, if the offer of a citi-
zen to perform the act to be done
shall tall to be carried into execution
by reason of the wrongful act or omis-
sion, it shall be deemed to be per-
formance. And then what? Then
the judges of election are re-
quired to allow that man to vote up
on his presenting his affidavit of the
fact stated i'll the previous part of this
section, without any contradiction
whatsoever. There is no door open
to contradiction. He may be swear
| ing to the basest falsehood that ever
| fell from the lips of man; he may
not have offered to do the thing; or If
he did offer, he may not have been
prevented by any wrongful act or
omission Of the registering officers or
other functionaries; and yet, although
they might be able to prove by hun
dred witnesses that the man was COM
mitting perjury, his affidavit is to be
taken as conclusive evidence of the
fact, and he is to be allowed to vote.
But let us go little further. Not
only is he to be allowed to vote !. but
/ the judge of election or the person
| who is to count the vote, if he do not
receive and count that persons vote
upon his mere affidavit, which he is
not permitted to contradict, forfeits
the sum of $500 "to the person ag-
grieved thereby" :" that is, to the man
who makes the affidavit. In other
words, you hold out plain, clear in
| You give him $500 if he will swear
falsely. There may or may not be
one word Of truth in what he says
1t may be said you can convict him
of perjury If he sweara falsely. How
can you do it ? Let me put a case
Here is registrar, man whose busi-
ness it is to register votes. A 3 says
he came and offered to register and to
show that he was qualified before that
man. In truth it may be that he new
or did any such thing but he says SO,
and he goes to the election and makes
an affidavit of that fact. The regis
trar may swear that he meyer did any
such thing. That would be oath
rgainst oath ; and yet he must be al
lowed to vote, and if the officer re-
fuses to receive his vote here is fine
of $500 to the man himself who has
taken this false oath. How are you
to convict him of perjury? You can
not do it. There may be the oath of
the registrar against his oath; but ev-
cry lawyer knows you must have
more than the oath of one man to con-
.vict another man of perjury. You
must have two witnesses, or one wit
ness and strong cofr9borating oircum-
stances.
BY this bill-and this is only one of
the instances, as I shall show before l
get through-you put it absolutely in
the power Of an INSCRIPTIONS man to
put $500 i'll his pocket every time he
is willing to tell falsehood in the
shape OF an affidavit. Not only do
you put it in the power of an unscrup-
glous man, but you put it in the pow
er OF wicked men, or men who are
Ignorant and those who use ignorant
men for their purposes. Take a ne
gro who cannot read or write. How
easy it is to persuade that man that
he has appeared before the registrar
and offered to do all that was neeessa-
ry to entitle him to vote, when in
point of fact he would have no clear
distinct knowledge Of anything he
was to do at all in the premises, aud
yet you allow the man who has really
offered to do nothing that the register
is required to exact of him, who is
} acting honestly but ignorantly, the
: t4S III ~ ~ t1AIi lt4dhO llIS dItttlf ~ 1itu
! get his vote without complying with
the State law; and not only do you
give him that right, but you give him
the right to have $500 put in his pock.
ct if he can convict any one of these
officials upon that oath,
Let me go little further with this
bill. That is not all. Not only arc
the $500 to be given to this common
: informer, and to be given. upon suof
, testimony as l have stated, but the of
ficer is also to be subject to indict
) mept and o further fine, and also to bt
, imprisonedl
: And shall, on conviction thereof, be fined no
| less than $500, and be imprisoned not less thar
2 one month and not more than one year.
Now, sir, let us come to the fourtl
section:
: That If any person by force, bribery, threats
Intimidation br otherwise shall hinder, delay
prevent, on obs ruct, or attempt to hinder, delay
o prevent, or obstruct any citizen from doing an,
act authorized by this act to be done to qnalif
1 him to vote or from voting at any election a
q aforesaid, such person shall for every such of