The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1870-06-17

cliHlcII is, Ill llSell, one vast evil.
What a foresight had this philosopher
He looked into the heart of this latter day
Wherever, by the evils of government
greater evil is excluded, the balance take
the nature and name of good. In othe
cases which he examines, the punishment
is notifications and improbable, becaus
to the undiminished evil of the offense j
added the evil of punishment. The evi
excluded is not so great as that introduced
Thus reasoning, this Congress might per
ceive why wise judgment would denounc
such atrocious remedies as this bill pro
vides for wrongs not so great as its execu
ton would induce.
pass from this abstract phraseology
speak plainly when denounce the inter
minable, general, excessive and incompre
hensible penalties against the alleged reg
istration and voting frauds, North or South
as an intolerable statutory nuisance. Their
is no compensation for its existence BY
any possible good 1t will become dead
putrescent letter on the statute. Courts
jurors and witnesses will laugh the law
down. Public opinion will despise it
The penalties may now and then go to thu
spy and informer; but the bread they buy
will choke those who eat it,
cations and prosecutions. The bill begins
where it is the interest of all there should
be an end, to wit, with litigation. The bill
is provision for fees, counsel, spies, in
formers, suits, etc, to the end of this gen
Grafton. Hence am opposed to it because
it is a bill of spite. 1t has no spirit of am
nesty. 1t is reprehensible because it does
nothing to heal wounds. 1t pours into
them no balm. 1t is fruitful source Of
litigation. At the end of civil war there
ought to be tranquility. You are five years
after its end beginning a system ofproscrip-
ton which will have retaliation, and again
There is no end of the inces-
SAINT system of provocation but civil war
again.
B. If any lawyer will examine the clauses
OF the bill he will perceive how very gen
cral it is in its terms. 1t is so general that
| might apply to it the old Latin maxim,
DoJus 1atet in generali6us-fraud lies in gen
eralties. Read the bill through and you
will find that there are penalties for omis-
sion and commission. The legal certain
ty on which to frame an Indictment is not
Some of the sections punish a
man if he does not comply with the bill"
The accused has no exact definition of his
otfcnse. If an officer "refuse or knowingly
omit to give effect to this section'- such
are the words, forsooth, on which to draw
an indictment! How can the astute lawyer
from Ohio, who was one of this conference
or the gentleman Mr.. Davis
who distinguished himself so much in
practice the other day in New
York and who is now looking me in the
face, laughter how could they or either
Of them with all their skill draw an indict-
ment under such general clauses?
4. This bill destroys the right of trial by
jury. This is another point to show the
lawyer craft, Or unlawyer-like craft of this
bill. In the third section, where a person
offers and fails to perform an act, he is al
lowed to vote; and the officer who fails to
give effect to his vote, on presentation of
an En- palte affidavit of the facts, is liable to
$500 to the aggrieved party! This sum, no
less, is to be recovered in the old common
law action on the case. Costs and counsel
fee also, and fine and Imprisonment Now,
as to the civil action one familiar with the
Constitution might infer that Gin suits at
common law" like actions in case, "where
the value in controversy shall exceed TWEEN
ty dollars, the right of trial by jury" should
be preserved according to the seventh ar
ticlc of the Constitution ! But the preten-
tious wiseacres who framed this bill wish
to preserve the Constitution by breaking
it! They upset jury trial to punish vo-
ters--not of their party! BY the third Sec
ton they consider, first, an offer to do as
the act done; second, give effect to the
deed; and third, then provide civil rene
dy, based on an er Parte affidavit of the
plaintiff, and command judge and jury to
find at least $500 damages. The jury can
find no less. Was there ever such blind
ness and idiocy? Is this preserving jury
trial ? Is this preserving public liberty, or
its great safeguard I?
5. This bill discriminates in favor of the
black and against the white
The fifteenth amendment is understood
by the House. The power to "enforce" it
is also understood. What is appropriate
for its enforcement is not so
well understood.
will see that it allows hindrance, control
and intimidation of white voter, but it
makes it crime to hinder, control or in
timidate black citizen. Aside from the
general and loose words of this penal stat
ute, is it not strange that again in the
twenty third section there is a similar pro-
vision In spite of the fifteenth amend
ment to the Constitution against discrimi
nation this bill does discriminate, and in
favor of the black and against the white.
This alone is enough to condemn this bill.
But as this has been elaborated 10y my
friend (Mr Beck pass to the
Sixth point on the bill. | refer to the
clause which compels State officers to en-
force Federal laws.
6. In the second section these State Off
GERS are compelled to act as Federal agents,
and penalty fixed for their non-perform-
ance. This is section coming from the
old fugitive slave laws, and in defiance of
the decisions of the courts.
7. pass to the other points, rs cannot
go over all of the enormities of this bill in
the short time allotted to me. Iwould call
to the fact referred to by the gen
tleman from Indiana Mr.. Kerr that this
bill provides all through for lawyers shys-
tiers, he designated pettifoggers, who
get counsel fees at pleasure out of the Treas
ury for hunting up these cases. 1t taxes
our people for this despicable business, at
the pleasure of the ruling powers. But
this is not its worst feature The browning
odium of the bill is that it provides for
spies and informers; and this is the odium
of history. Informers are the meanest class