Wilmington daily commercial., 1873-01-08
STATE AFFAIRS.
concIuolo. af the ooVernor's Mes
sage

Under this - tire members of the Levy
Court, and some of the Colleotors of New Castle
county, have been indicted in a Federal court,
| and one of the collectors tried and convicted.
These officers are necessary parts Of our system
| Of government and essential TO the proper ad-
ministration of public affairs in this State but
il may be well imagined with what reluctance
persons qualified to fill them will consent to
enter upon the duties they impose If they are to
be held liable under Federal as well as State law
| for the manner in which they discharge them.
It is not stating the case too strongly TO say
| that persons actuated by partisan feeling, may,
| under this law, procure the indictment and
conviction, upon Testimony Of doubtful oharac-
ter, of every officer connected with the ASSESS
ment and collection of taxes in any county in
the State. It may thus be the means Of inter-
rupting for time at least, our local institutions
to the serious detriment Of public affairs in the
State. That have overestimated the possible
consequences that may result, need only refer
to what has already transpired in New Castle
county. II is not my purpose to criticise the
proceedings referred to In the Federal Court,
| or to question the motives Of those connected
Herewith. My object is simply to call attention
to their possible effect upon our local
institutions, that proper remedy may be pro-
vided against their repetition in the future.
cannot, however, as the executive of the
State, withhold the expression of regret at the
| unwarranted assumption OF power by Congress
in the enactment of the law under which these
proceedings were had. From the formation of
the Union until the enactment of this law, no
such claim of power for Congress was ever
practically asserted. The right OF the States to
select their own officials, and to regulate their
| actions without any Federal supervision, had
never been donied, and for more than three
quarters of a century that right had been exer-
cised by this State without Federal interference.
This assumed power Of Congress to interfere in
| such local affairs is predicated upon the recent
amendments to the Constitution but 1t would
| be forced construction Of these amendments,
land certainly far more than was claimed by their
! ady of thav wa anpraftad the
fundamental law, that wolld warrant a power 30
adverse to the theory of the government, as
well as to all the rights Of the States over their
own domestic affairs. III the Fourteenth Amend
ment confers upon Congress the fearful
power assumed in the enactment OF the law
under which these indictments were found, it is
difficult to find limit to its authority. There
is but one step between the exercise of Federal
supei visory power over the officers of the State
and the power to appoint them, and at no dis
tant day it may be found that the exercise OF the
one suggests, il 1t does not Decesstate the other
| 1t is to be regretted that one by one the SAFE
guards of liberty are disappearing in rapid sue
cession, and the limitations upon Federal au-
thority so weakened or disregarded as to form
but feeble defense against consolidated des-
potism. But regrets are vain, and protests are
unavAilng. The strides Of Federal power are
unstayed, aud its portentious shadow casts q
gloomy pail over the future history of the coun-
tiy.
State from prosecution in the Federal courts,
under the act of Congress referred to,
for the manner in which they discharge the du-
ties imposed upon them by the laws Of the
: State an act should be passed by the General
Assembly limiting and defining their duties, and
. prescribing the mode in which they should be
discharged. Such a law should direct the as
} SCISSORS Of each hundred to place upon the as
sessment list the name of every person liable to
] pay tax, that he knows to have fixed place
{ | of abode in the hundred, or who is the
owner of taxable property therein, and should
prohibit him from placing the name OF any other
, person on his assessment lists unless upon the
! | personal application OF persons desiring to be
! assessed, and satisfactory proof OF his or her
| identity and residence in the hundred where he
or she desires to be assessed, and he should be
required to give notice, as at present, that he
| will attend, at the place and time prescribed by
law to correct errors in and add to his lists the
| names OF persons omitted, upon proof as afore-
| said of their right to be assessed. The list thus
| corrected, after being returned to the Levy
Courts of the counties, should not be by them
| altered by the addition Of any name thereto, ex-
oept upon the personal application Of any per-
J son who may have been left Of and satisfactory
proof that the person 30 applying is entitled to
be assessed.
The duties of Collectors should likewise be
clearly defined. They should be required, after
the expiration of certain time, to give notice
| OF the times and places when and where they
| will attend for the purpose of receiving and re-
ceipting for taxes upon their duplicates remain
= | ing unpaid II after such notice given and op-
oPPOeA
and pay his or her tax the collector should not
: | be required to collect the same, but should be
at liberty to return such person delinquent, and
the name Of such delinquent should thereupon
: be stricken from the assessment for the hun
8 dred and should not be again placed thereon fol
period to be fixed by law To guard
q against TIE possibility of frauds, the
i Collector should not be required to deliver the
: receipt for any tax to any person other than the
. party assessed. This would, to considerable
. extent, prevent personating and voting under
assumed names.
r all persons equally the means of qualifying az
| electors by becoming assessed and paying theil
n taxes. II any person should be omitted from
the assessment, fail to pay his tax jwithn the
time prescribed for snch payment, the fault
+ would he 40 clearly bis own that he could moi
complain. While such laws would thus secure
y to every one theiright to qualify as an elector
. | they would at the same time protect the officers
y of the State having duties to perform in connec
tion with the assessment and collection of taxes
from prosecution in the Federal courts, by
: defining and limiting the duties thus to be per
formed.
RESIDENCE.
@ also recommend to the Legislature the en-
e actment of law defining clearly what shall con
y stitute legal residence emitting any one to
Q right to vote, and the evidence by which resi-
dence shall be established. In my Judgment the
existing provisions of law on this subject ART
too vague and uncertain, and leave too much Il
. pass on questions of this kind, arising under the
!. provision of the fourth article of the Constitu
" ton of the State.
l. The acts Of person, and not his intention
furnishes the true rule by which to determine
his residence the former are facts susceptible
of proof the latter can only be established b,
" inference from facts or the declaration of thu
party himself. 1t is certain that man,
persons' now vote in this State wht
n have no actual residence in the county and hun
/ dred where they claim the right to vote, if, in
deed, they have any actual residence in tn,
8 State. Having no fixed abode in the hundred
Y or county, and trsnsacting no business, and per
forming no labor therein, they claim the righ
and are permitted to vote on no other grount
Q than having once resided there. Such person.
r say that they have determined, in their owl
Q mind, to regard it as their residence, notwith
Q standing their absence therefrom for MONTH
at a time, and their actual engagement
r. | in business or service in another county or an
ii other State. Thus an act Of the mind is madt
the test of their right to vote. 1t is doubtful al
10 least whether proper Interpretation OF existing
law would sustain the right OF such persons I,
vote but it is clear that no such question:
ought to be left in doubt, and no rule which b,
l. any construction wonld sustain such right ough
'0 to remain upon our statute book. The Law
n should be plain and unambiguous, and ought t.
" require actual, and not merely constructive