Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-03-04
No HOPE FOR KU-KLUX.
THE SUPREME COURT DENIES
WRITS OF HABEAS.

A Long Reasoning Preceding the De
cislOn-Greenman Victorious in Hi.
Famous Action with JuiIIard-Run.
dreds of Thousands of Dollars Saved
the Government in the Five Per Cent
Land Cases.
! WASHINGTON, March "A decision
was rendered by the Supreme Court to-day
in what are known as the ku klux cases
which stand on the original docket under
/ the title, Sex parte, in the matter of Jas
/ per Marlborough and others" They are
| petitions for writs of habeas corpus tC
release number of persons now impris.
oned under the judgment of the United
Staes Circuit Court for the Northern dis
trict of Georgia rendered after the trial
and conviction of the prisoners for the
Otfense of threatening, beating and other
wise intimidating celored voters at an
election in Georgia for member of Con-
gress. The principal question presented
by the cases relates to the cOnstitutionality
of the law under which the prisoners are
held.
Justice Miller, in speaking for the court,
after deciding that the offense set forth in
bAt IuuicbuneHG IS Iully covered DY SeCtlOnS
55OS and 1920 of the Revised Statutes.
says: ''That government whose essen
tial character is republican, whose eX-
ecutiye head and legislative body are both
elective, whose most numerous and pOW-
erful branch OF the legislature is elected
by the people directly has now power by
appropriate laws to secure this election
from the influence of violence, of cor
ruptiOn, and of fraud. is proposition so
a OF Ion, l.
mand the gravest consideration. If this
government is anything more than a
mere aggregation Of delegated agents of
other States and governments, each of
which is superior to the General Govern
ment, 1t must have power to protect the
elections on which its existence depends
| from violence and corruptiOns. If il has
not this power it is left helpless before
the two great natural and historical ele-
ments of all epublics-Open violence and
insidiOus corruption"
Addressing himself to the argument
made IN this case that because there is
no express power delegated to Congress
to provide tor preventing intimidation
OF voter as a means of controlling his
vote no such law can be enacted. he saws:
''It destroys at one blow in constituting
the Constitution of the United States a
doctrine universally applied to all instru-
is as much part of an instrument as
what is expressed. This principle, in its
application to the Constitution of the
United states more than to almost anY
other writing, is a necessity by reason
of the inherent inability to put into words
all derlYatlye powers, difficulty
which the instrument itself recognizes by
comforting on Congress authority to pass
all laws necessary and proper to carry
81
granted and all other powers vested in
the government, or any branch of it, by
the Constitution" lie points to the DOW
er OF Congress to pass laws to punish
theft or robbery OF the Treasury of the
United States and depredations ON the
mails, although Congress has been given
no express authority to pass such laws
AS to the argument that States can pass
necessary laws on this subject, and that
no necessity exists for such action by
Congress, he points out that the existence
OF State laws Furnishing counterfeit
ing OF the coin of the United States
has never been held to supersede acts of
Congress passed for the purpose or to JUS
tify the United States in falling to enforce
Its own laws to protect the circulation of
coin which it issues. He directs atten-
tion also to the attempts of Congress to
protect officers of the government in the
exercise of their duties in hostile COM
munities, i'll the notification troubles in
South Carolina, and in the late war dur
ing the troubles growing out of the en-
forcement of the draft. He asks if IT be
not doubted that Congress has power to
provide laws for the proper conduct of
elections for representatives in Congress.
are such powers annulled because an
election for State officers is held at the
same time and place? and replies: ssThese
questions answer themselves, and il is
only because the Congress of the United
States, through long habit and long years
of fOrbearance, have, in Difference and
respect to the States, refrained from the
exercise OF these powers that they are
now doubted" He holds that the fifteenth
amendment of the Constitution. by its
limitation on the power of the States in
the exercise of their rights to prescribe
the qualifications of voters in their own
elections, and by its limitation Of the
power of the United States over that
subject, clearly shows that the right of
suffrage was considered to be Of supreme
Importance to the National Government.
and was not intended to be left within the
exclusive control of the States, He closes
with this language: SIN a republican
government like ours, where political
power is reposed exclusively in represen-
tatlVes OF the entire body of the DeOple
chosen at short intervals by popular elcc-
tlons, the temptations to control these
elections by violence and by corruption is
constant source of danger. Such
has been the history of all re-
publics, and though ours has
been comparatively free from both these
evils in the past, no lover of his country
can shut his eyes to the fear of future
danger from both sources. The recur-
renee of such acts as these prisoners
stand convicted of are too common in one
quarter of the country, and give an omen
OF danger from lawless violence. The
free use of money in elections, arising
from the vast growth of recent wealth in
other quarters, presents equal cause for
anxiety. The rule to show cause in this
case is discharged and writs of habeas
are denied"
GREENMAN WINS HIS SUIT WITH JUL
LARD.
A decision was rendered by the
Supreme Court of the United States
to-day in the long-pending legal
tender case of Augusta d. Juillard
VS.. Thomas 5. Greenman, brought here
by writ of error to the Circuit Court of
the United States for the Southern Dis
trict of New York. The question pre-
sented by this case, as it is stated by the
court, is whether notes of the United
States issued in the time of war under
acts of Congress declaring them to be
legal tender in payment of private debts
and afterward in time of peace redeemed
and paid in gold coin at the Treasury and
then reissued under the act of 1878. can.
under tue Constitution of the United
States, he legal tender in payment of such
debtsT The court is unanimously Of the
opinion that the present case cannot
be distinguished in principle from
cases heretofore decided and report
ed under the names of illegal
tender cases.' 'sDOoley VS.. Smith. >
RAILROAD Company VS.. Johnson and
Maryland VS.. Railroad Company and
all the Justices except Justice Field, who
adheres to the views expressed in his
dissenting opinions in those cases. are
of the opinion that they were rightly
decided. The court holds, therefore,
that Congress has power to issue OBJ