Year: 1874

AlarLl;ll INV Is uO li", olit e1!ilplt
the will of the commanler-in- chief.
All other law fades away before his


glance; and part of the time that
this officer was in Caroline, in a


large part of that State he WAS the
military commandant, and his will
was the supreme law. for the Pres
ident of the United States lad sus-
pended the writ of hodeas corpus.


What was the power Of such man
over that country? What was his
influence over the body of ignorant
and degraded people collected un-
der the name of a Legislature in
that State to plumber those who
had no power to control their selec-
ton? It was omnipotcnt. How
could they resist his demands?
They could not; and therefore, as a
matter of course, when his influence
was thrown in the scale, his demands
took the shape of law, and this large
sum of money, thirty-fve thousand
dollars. was taken out of that treas
ury for the purpose of paying these
rewards in the criminal cases.





The senator finds fault with GER
tain well-known highly honored cit
liens of the Southern States for
having publicly called for pecuniary
aid to defray the expense of de-
tending the men who were indicted
under the enforcement act. Whom
did they employ? They sought
men eminent in the North and, sir,
there is a world of meaning when
the Southern men have to come to
the North to get & voice to be heard
in their behalf. It was not that
there were not able lawyers in the
South; it was not that there were
not men of eminence in the South g:
it was full of them; tits full of them !;
but they would speak to Northern
ears, and Northern ears that were
deaf to the appeal Of the..Southe1n
people for justice; and so they came
to the North, and they selected
Reverdy Johnson and Henry Stan
berry, both of whom had been at
ey-gsnerals Of the United States:
men of the highest grade of profes,


sional ability aud standing. Is there


to bereproach in that? Did they con,


duct this case in an unprofessional,
unworthy, underhand way? Did


they seek to defeat justice by the


sly tricks of the lower grades of the
profession? No, sir, they sought
only to see whether the constitution
could not extend it's shield over the


Southern man in the Federal courts
of the South as we'll as in the Fed,
eral courts of the North. They
went there to urge an honest Piles !;
not to shelter crime, but to insist
upon the protection of innocence.
They lent their abilities to vindi,
cate that which is your protection,
sir, and mine, which is your heri


tage and mine, and of which the
Southern people have been deprived
by the legislation OF Congress for
the last eight years. The guaran-
tees of liberty intended to be Sc
cured by the constitution of the
United States-this was all that it
was sought to intervene between the
parties charged and their prosecu,
tors in the Federal courts. They
simply wished test made of the
constitutionality of the enforcement
acts. Does not the senator know
that when one of that class Of cases


came before the Supreme Court ot
TIE United States the writ was re-
fused only by a tie vote Of the court,


and that as yet the question, ~emains
undecided whether Congress has the
right to enter State and try man
for crimes which are cognizable by
the State laws, and which they arc
fully disposed and amply able tc
punish?


But, Mr.. President, has it come
| to be a crime. are men to be held
up in the Senate of the United States
as being guilty of a crime, when
they seek the courts of law to vindi'
cate their rights? This enforce
ment act was passed under the pre-,
tence of enforcing law, of prevent
ing lawlessness, and this chamber
resounded with the voice Of my
friend from Pennsylvania, and his
colleagues on the other side, in ia
vor of the enactment of the law TO
prevent lawlessness. They said the
Southern men had appealed to law
iessness, to violence, instead of ap-
pealing to law; 10, when the law is
passed and they appeal to the law,
the senator rises in his place in the
senate and, by inference at least,
denounces the men who raised the
money to enable their poorer coun-
trymen to test the constitutionality
Of the act; for such is the position to
which he comes.