Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1874-08-29
States doth cling to them. reduced to

Z 70 pluHuef tue people anu latten ulOl
r the spoils taxes so enormously higl
as to amount to eonfscatiOn of thei
: estates, and all for the benefit of them
9 selves, of theirallies, into whose pock
0 cts every dollar went, thus wrencheS
9 from the people, taxes levied withou
$ any authority of law, and when col
, lected not one dollar went into The
2 State Treasury. Nor did persecution
| end with the plumber Of their estates.
} They were deprived of every political
I right, disfranchised of suffrage, ana
+ reduced to a condition below that OF
t their former slaves. The career OF des-
} potism, corruption and anarchy in
these States has been unbroken BY a
single mitigation of charity or human
ity, to the fallen, nor has its darkness
, been illumined by a singlera of hope.
. Thousands of the most gallant and
cultivated people 10 whom ''dishonor' s
shadow is a more terrible substance
than death, here or hereafter" have
been humiliated to point where they
have felt the iron heel of domestic mis-
rule enter so deeply into their souls that
some, indeed many, weary of protracted
wretchedness, have died of despair
1t is new phase Of human suffering
in America that men have died of des-
4 pair, and that awful sickening Of the
soul which tyrants know so we'll how
to infict upon a sufferer, Against
whom hecannot strive, durstnot mur-
MUIR If the President and his party
would stHIy the history of Ireland. if
they have any regard for the place they
will occupy in history, they would feel
! they had pushed their despotic rule
and cruel persecution too far already.
Malice itself ought TO be satisfied, but
no, it is nettnough, they have robbed
| those people of their estates, and har-
rassed them beyond all endurance, dis
| franchised them and driven them from
all participation in the government Of
their States tits not enough they have
reduced them below their former
slaves, they must humiliate the whole
South still farther, and for that pur-
pose they have passed in the Senate
the civil rights bill, and will pass it in
the House next winter, unless the
gathered thunders of the peoples in
dignation shall break upon their ears
in November next, and startle them
from their dream Of power. They say
they must pass the civil rights bill as
a tribute to the memory of Charles
Sumner, who left it as legacy to his
countrymen. When we look around
and see the mischiefit Is producing, it
may more properly be called Pando-
ras-box, If it is notofensive to the ge-
MAS of classic lore to say so, with this
difference only, that after every evil |
that can affiiet mankind has flown out !
of 1t, hope is not found at the bottom,
Washington left the legacy of his fare
well address to his countrymen, and |
Madison the Constitution of the |
United States; legacies, indeed, richer |
than the mines of California; but !
Sumner legacy coniers no good upon |
anyone, but evil, and that continually, |
upon the whole people, white and /
black upon the whites, whom he de- |
lighted to punish aud harrass, and
upon the blacks he professed to love. !
In vain may you search the history of I
the world for a precedent to this ar
rogant and vindictive attempt TO reyo- /
lutionize the habits of great civilized |
community, and to force upon them |
social equality with an inferior and ig- !
norant race "in the full and equal en- |
joyment of accommodation, advantage,
facility and privilege In inns, public |
conveyances by land and water. in
theaters and other places of public |
amusements, in common schools and |
other Institutions of learning or be-
nevolence supported in whole or in
part by equal taxation, in all cemeter- |
ries and institutions known as agricul- |
tural colleges endowed By the United |
States" Not content with forcing the /
negro race into social equality with the
living, they invade the sanctuary ofthe
grave, and insult the memory of the
dead. Where do they find the consti-
tutioual power and authority for this
pestiferous interference with the habits
and customs of the people? They
claim the fourteenth amendment of /
the Constitution confeTs this power.
The fourteenth amendment provides
that no State shall make or enforce |
any laws which shall abridge the priv
ileges or immInities of citizens of the
United States. It will be observed !
this does not give Congress the power
to legislate on the subject and to en-
force these privileges and immunities
by law, and by original proceedings in
the United States courts. The only
constitutional guarantee under the
fourteenth amendment of these priv
ileges and immunities is that no State
shall make any law to abridge them.
In the Circuit Court of the United
States in Louisiana, Justice Bradley
of the Supreme Court, has decided in
the case of the United States VS..
Crookshank and others, "thatwhen any
of those rights and immunities named
in the civil. rights bill secured to
any class of persons in the COnstitu-
ton only by the declaration that the
United States, or the States, shall not
violate or abridge them, it is at once
understood they are not created or
conferred by the Constitution, but that
the Constitution only guarantees that
they shall not be impaired by the
United States, or the States, and that
the fulfllment of this guarantee is the
only duty with which the Government
of the United States is charged. The
affirmative enforcement of these rights
and privileges belongs to the States, as
part of their residuary sovereignty.
The fourteenth amendment does not
give Congress any power to enforce,
affirmatively. these rights, but only
prohibits the States and United
States from violating or abridg-
ing their. He says there can be no
constitutional legislation OF Congress
for directly enforcing these privileges
and immunities, by original proceed /
ings in the courts of the United States,
where the only constitutional guaran-
tee Of such privileges and immunlties
is that no State shall pass any law to.
abridge them" The civil rights bill,
therefore. to say nothing again Of its IN |
famous attempts TO force social equality 4
between the whites and the blacks,
and i'm so far is the sum ofvllllanies
is clearly unconstitutional, and never /
can be enforced so long as the supreme |
Court remains the bulwark against the |
exercise of unauthorized and uDcOn-
stitutional power on the part of Con
gress. The fourteenth amendment
prohibits the United States and the
States fran violating those rights aud !
immunities, but eoniers 20 power on I
Congress to enforce them, an the at
tempt is an usurpation of power,
which, if not checked aud rebuked,
will result in the overthrow of liberty
in America.
Gantlnmen of the convention. pro-