Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-04-19
THURSDAY. ........APRIL 10. 1888
Snahilitv of a State.

fame is not confined TO TINS country. AS
a preacher. as a lecturer, as a letter
writer, as an author, he is known both
in England, where he resided for many
years, and in this his native land. We
take it as a compliment that he wrote the
letter which We shall presently lay be-
fore the reader.
And yet we are constrained to say that
Mr.. CONWAY seems to be destitute OF
what is called the legal mind. The argu-
. ment from consequences is not a forclble
one when the real question at issue is
constitutional point or other law point.
1t would be sufficient reply TO say that
as the United States Government cannot
be sued except with its own consent all
OF Mr. CoNwAY's arguments might as well
he used to show that that Government
has the power TO ehslave the people as
10 show that the Government of Virginia
has that power The Constitution for
bids Virginia TO be sued by her own citl-
zens, or 10y citizens of another State, or
by aliens and there is an end of 1t. The
exceptions to this general statement are
specified in the Constitution. 1t is a
question of fact. The cases supposed
by Mr.. CONWAY cannot "arise under
the Constitution for the unanswerable
reason that the Constitution itself pro-
hibits them from arising. 1t would
not in the least matter, however, if it
were true, as Mr. CONWAY says, that
there was no other way in which a citizen
could be secured in his rights for
though the Federal Government some
times has the right to step IN between
q State and her citizens, this fact does
not change the other fact that q State
cannot be sued by her own citizens, nor
by aliens, nor by citizens of another
State. There are many wrongs now
being undergone by people in foreign
countries, and these wrongs ought to be
righted, but the United States Govern
ment has no power to remedy them.
But Mr.. CONWAY IS mistaken. The Fede-
raj courts acting upon persons have full
power to enforce all the requirements of
the fourteenth amendment and those OF
all other parts of the Constitution.
Mr.. JEFFEBsoN's letter quoted by MIR.
CONWAY was written years before the
fourteenth amendment was added to the
Constitution-indeed, before the Con-
stitution itself had been ratified by MIR.
JEFFERsON's own State. We need not
comment upon that ; nor upon Mr.. Cox
WAYS dissertation upon abstract rights.
of" says Mr.. CONWAY, ga man be
not grand enough to sue he is not grand
enough TO be sued" But here again
Mr.. CONWAY is mistaken. The Supreme
Court of the United States very recently
decided in the Virginia contempt cases
not only that Virginia could sue her citi-
zens, who cannot sue her, but that the
Federal courts could not enjoin her from
30 doing.
What Mr. CONWAY says as TO States
CONTRACTS with her citizens, and as to
her sovereignty" and as to constitu-
tional governments in Europe, may be
answered by saying that every Govern
ment in Europe, or in the world, not
only claims but can at will forbid any Of
its citizens to sue it. 1t is one of the
rights of sovereignty. States allow
themselves to be sued-that is, provide
for it by their own laws-just as a man
allows his wife or daughter to run him
in debt. That's all.
AS to the case of negro indirectly
deprived of his vote because and only
because he was negro, the courts have
full power by mandsmus to compel the
registrar to register him as voter.
The following is Mr.. CoNwAY's letter:
STABILITY of state.
To the Editor Of the Dispatch:
Dear Sir,-In reply to your articles OF
the 18th and 18th Of April, commenting
on my paper in the New York tribune,
April 9th, beg TO submit the following
remarks:
The right OF a citizen TO sue his State
rests on the constitutional provision that
he shall not be deprived Of life, liberty,
or property without due process Of law
that his State shall not impair the obi
cation OF contracts, and that "the judi
cial power shall extend to all cases in
law and equity arising under this Con-
stitution." There is no way IN which
citizen can be secured in these rights,
where they are denied by his State, ex-
ceptby the legal smenability of that State.
The extension Of such protection to aliens
required special constitutional enact
ments, and they were given, though
taken away by the eleventh amendment
No such special provision was needed in
the case of citizens relation TO his own
State, his rights as citizen of the United
States being amply shielded from oppres-
sion. The shield could only be removed
by q special clause including him among
those outside the national jurisdiction,
as In the case OF aliens The eleventh
amendment would simply have excluded
from jurisdiction all suits OF individuals
against States But the amendment
might never have passed had itrelegated
every citizen 10 the absolute power of
his State.
have before me an unpublished letter
from Thomas Jefferson 10 Edmund Ran
dolph, dated at Paris Sd August, 1887,
in which he says: 81 am anxious 10
hear what you have done in your Fede-
raj convention. am in hopes at least
you will persuade the States TO commit
their commercial arrangements to Con.
grsss and to enable them TO pay their
debts. interest and capital. The coer-
Give power supposed TO be wanting in the
Federal head ! ana Of opinion they pos
sess by the law OF nature, which author
ICES one party TO al agreement 10 com
pei the other TO it's performance. A de-
iinquent State makes itself a party
against the rest OF the Confederacy."
ia citizen Of State is denied the right
to secure the justice from it which an