The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-25

iivered up to-. him. No special power was given Congress "to enforce" that | provision of the Constitution. as Is the case under both the thirteenth and | fourteenth amendments. Yet the court I was unanimously of the opinion that the Constitution conferred the right l upon the owner of a slave, which 1t was the duty of the Federal govern ment to enforce. and the majority Of the court held that the States could 1 not pass even auxiliary legislation to aid this right of the master. jurisdic- ton of Congress was exclusive. The simplest mind cap opprehend | that a commercial traveller going from | one State into another to take orders l for his goods cannot be taxed by the | local authority because. as citizen of | the United States he has the right to l engage in interstate commerce and the State has no right to letter the privi- lege, except to the extent that the acts of Congress may permit.
 A Home1y Comparison. The commonest understanding can realize for instance. if a man sells liquor in front of the Huntsville Hotel. that he may by that act violate the laws of three governments, the corpo- ration of Huntsville. the State of Ala bama and the United States Yet no one has been found so unreasoning or foolish as to say that because the gov ernment of the United States punishes such an act, so far as 1t is a violation of its laws. that 1t usurps any power or fnvades any just right of the State. So, too, the offense of murder, may constitute violation of. the laws of the United States under certain cir ciimstances, as in the case or the acts of the Huntsville mob, when done with the particular intent which you have found. EE
 Many men, some of whom unthink- ingly. others ignorantly. and others be- cause they approve mob law. claiming that the American people can under no circumstances be concerned in the sup precision of the evil of mob law ad- ministered on race lines. have bitterly less. assail you for daring to do your duty.
 Critics of the Court.
 They seek to teach the good people of this State that 1t is an invasion of their rights for the Federal Court to declare that the laws of the United States as they now exist, can punish men who overpower the, officers of the State and take a person accused of crime from them when they are endeav- bring to protect him, and put him to death because of his race to prevent his having a trial which the Constitu- tion and laws aloke of the State and the United States guarantee.
 They argue. in effect. though uncon- scious of the logic of their complaint, that a Southern man particularly who believes that his country has power to prevent these things. is an enemy of his section and of his race. God pity the human being who can seriously urge against a law of the United States the effect of which Is to declare that when the State plants its banner upon a jail in order to afford protection to one of it's citizens. that he may have the due process of the law which the Constitution of the United States com mands the State to afford him, that the flag of our country Is also there and that whosoever assails the flag of the State also assails the flag of the United States.
 Strengthen Hapds of the State.
 Such laws trench upon no right of the State, nor invade any of its pow CTS. but, it only gives State officers greater strength and power to success fully accomplish the mission for which the State Government was formed, to
  liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness.
 Some indeed, who do not differ in the application of the law as given you. denounce us because the law is declared at an inopportune season. All sea- sons are meet for Justice. Neither you nor I fixed the date for the Huntsville mob nor of the sittings of this court, nor of the general election in Novem- Der. Far better that court houses should crumble in ruins crushing in those who administer justice here. than that officers of justice should fail to declare the law as 1t is. because some may think the time inopportune for enforcing if. or because passion, un- reason, or anarchy. may assail their motives.
 The masses of our people are with you. l believe long after you are dead and gone people will remember you as men who. iu the face of mis- understanding. malice and the savagery of mob spirit. and under circumstances of peculiar difficulty, had the courage to do their full duty and declare their convictions before the world
 Tribute to the Jurors.
 T see before me some members of the grand jury who have shed their blood in times past in defense of our State. and all of you are men who love 1t and its welfare. As sure as the sun rises and sets. the malignity, which when restraned from open violence. seeks safer channels to fnjure or de- fame those who put the laws in motion against mob violence. will sooner or later be scattered to the winds, and the men who indulge in it will be for gotten while you will be remembered
 You have done great service for tbe government, you have done a great ser- vice to the State. you have done a great service to the South. You are now discharged with the earnest thnn1. ar