Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1871-12-15

universal prevalence of law and order
when the Federal Administration, two-thirds
Of both branches of Congress, and three
fourths Of all the State Governments. were
in the hands Of one political party, did the
Congress Of the United States attempt to in.
terfere or regulate the mode or manner Of
| the election Of its own representatives In
that clause of the Federal Constitution
| which prescribes that s.each House shall he
| the judge OF the election returns and quail
hcatlons OF Its own members" it had there
tofore found an ample safeguard for the pro-
lection OF the rights and interests of its oN n
members and their constituents. The Forty
First Congress, however, undertook direct
| ~ to control tue election not only of its own
representatives, but also the election Of
State officers held at the same time. By an
act approved May 81. 1870, entitled can
act to enforce the light Of citizens of the
United States to vote in the several States
OF this Union, and for other purposes and
an amendment thereof, approved February
~, 1871, the Federal Government. under
the pretence Of protecting the freedom Of
the ballot, strikes down the freedom of the
citizen and under the guise of regulating
the election of congressman is sought the
regulation and control of the affairs of the
| States
In towns Of over 10000 inhabitants the
polls may be surrounded by a horde of petty
and irresponsible officials designated as su.
pervisors of elections and special deputy
United States marshals, including, at the
discretion of the marshals, every voter in
the ranks Of his party, all appointed by
Federal officials and paid out of the Federal
Treasury, who, upon any fancied OR pre-.
arranged pretext, may not only arrest any
citizen and prevent his exercise of the right
to vote, but they may also arrest the elec~
ton officers themselves, and thus break up
and destroy the election altogether. Heavy
! penalties are denounced against these off.
Gals for neglect of duty, but no redress or
protection is afforded the citizen for the un.
lawful deprivation of his inalienable rights.
| Acts which in themselves were lawful under
the common as well as the statute laws Of
the land are branded as criminal, and heavy
punishments pronounced against them, while
to the long catalogue Of crimes enumerated
IN our laws are added many others unknown
to our Or any other criminal jurisprudence.
Already have some of our most worthy citi-
zens been dragged from their homes and
subjected to great annoyance and expense
in defending themselves against unfounded
charges instituted under these laws. The
qualification Of partisan Or personal maievo-
lence has usually been the actuating motive
for these prosecutions. But extraordinary
and unprecedented as this legislation was,
and unconstitutional as I believe it TO be,
so far as it inteleres with State elections, it
was but the precursor Of another statute en-
acted by the Forty Second Congress, which
more completely compasses the real purpose
for which they were enacted. This act was
approved on the 10th of April, 1871, and is
entitled "an act to enforce the provisions of
the fourteenth amendment to the Constitu-
ton of the United States, land for other a,asr-
poses" Now, the fourteenth amendment
engrafted upon the National Constitution
but four new ideas or principles-viz first,
definition of citizenship and its rights !;
second, the basis of representation in Con-
gress; third, disfranchisement of all promi-
nent men in the Southern States fourth,
the inviolability Of the national debt It
clothes neither Congress nor any Of its CO.
ordlnates with any power or function except
what may be necessary to the appropriate
execution of these four ideas or princi pies
Can there be found in these provisions any
authority for the suspension Of that great
writ of right, the habeas corpus ? or for the
delegatson Of that authority, with which
Congress alone was clothed by the original
Constitution Certainly not. And yet that
authority is attempted to be vested in the
President of the United States by the terms
OF this act under the specious pretext Of en-
forcing the provisions of the fourteenth
amendment. "The privilege of the writ of
Aabeas corpus shall not be suspended unless
when, in cases Of rebellion or invasion the
public safety may require it," is the Ian
guage Of the Federal Constitution.
The origin, nature, and history of this
great writ, and the bulwark it interposes
between the freedom of the citizen and the
open or stealthy encroachments of tyranny,
were thoroughly understood and profoundly
appreciated by the trainers of the Constitu-
ton. Hence the absolute prohibition of
its suspension except in the two extreme
emergencies of foreign invasion or when re-
bellion raises itself to such formidable pro-
portions as to threaten the public safety
equally with foreign invasion But the
Congress, without even the pretence that
either of these exigences had arisen, proceed
ed in the act under consideration not only to
resign to the Executive this carefully. guard
ed power, with which it alone was invested
by the Constitution, but to clothe him with
discretionary authority to exercise it at will.
Although the Constitution authorizes Fed
eral Intervention in the local affairs of
State only upon the call of the State, yet
this law authorizes such Intervention even
against the will Of the State, and to the ex-
tent Of the overthrow Of State government
and the obliteration of State lines and the
substitution in their stead of military dis
tricts and martial law. TO the arbitrary
keeping of one man are committed the lives,
liberties, and the property Of a whole poo-
pie. Is not this the essenoe Of despotism ?
What monarch possesses more absolute pow.
err? What tyrant was ever less untrammel-
led This act is the fitting climax to the
legislation which preceded it. Running
through all is the same underlying purpose
the destruction of State Governments and
the Capitalization of all power in the FEEDER
al Government. Under the former the Cit
zen, without any fault Of his own, may be
deprived Of his right to the exercise of the
elective franchise. and the election of State
officers prevented, while under the latter
the innocent citizen may be deprived Of all
rinhta and of liberty itself and the Gnuern