Year: 1870

ing and Dedssns OF tho Repentcrs.
The President yesterdi ~ approved the bdl


recently passed by Congress entitled San act


10 enforce the right of citizens Of the United


States to vote in the several States of this
Union, and tor other purposes. II Eliminates


the fifteenth amendment in some of its sections,


and In others 1t lays down certain rules, the


general aim of which is to secure the purity of


the ballot box in elections Of representatives,
to provide that the fabric of national govern


ment shall not be undermined by fraudulent


practices at the polls. Certainly this is good


and honest aim. Laws to prevent dishonesty


or to punish 1t are harmless and Ineffective


pieces OF paper II the dishonesty described in
them has no existence; but if that dishonesty


Is found to be serious and growing evil such


laws must be satisfactory to all lovers of fair


play, to the millions who are honest, and can


be oppressive only to the rogues.


But it is argued against the present law that


1t is an encroachment upon the rights of the
people, because to legisate TO this effect
transcends the power of Congress- This say
ing that Congress is constantly exercising
doubtful power is the poll parrot
utterance Of sore-headed opposition
that wastes itself in drivel One of the con-
stitution doctors Of that opposition prates thus
of the law:-'sThe bill which has passed both


houses Of Congress by strictly party
vote purports to have been passed under the


fifteenth amendment Of the constitution
There is, of course, no other authority that
ho 1od g. - -


in its original purity, and down to the time of


the alleged adoption of the fifteenth amend


ment, took no notice of the qualifications of
electors even for any federal office, excepting
to provide that in choosing Representatives in
Congress the same persons should have the
right to vote who have it under the laws of
the respective States in choosing the members


OF the most numerous branch of the State
Legislature. Now this is the ignorance of a
man who expounds constitution he never
read. There is no point clearer, and there
are few points SO clear in our constitutional
law, as that Congress has supreme and un-
qualified power, whenever it may choose to
assert it, over the whole subject Of the cleo
ton Of Representatives in Congress. That
power 1t asserts in this bill, and it distinctly,
specifically and expressly declares that it
asserts no more. II is even gratutous
assumption to treat this bill as ''purport-
ing to have been passed under the if
teenth amendment" since it does not
necessarily rest upon that part of the |
constitution. In the first article of the consti-
tuition, section four, are the following words -


'The times, places and manner of holding |
elections for Senators and Representatives shall !
be prescribed in each State by the Legislature |
thereof but the Congress may at any time by |
law make or alter such regulations, except as |
to the place of choosing Senator's" If this is |
not an authority how can authority be given? |
Here is only one limitation upon the power of /
Congress to sweep away every liue of State
law on the subject of the election of members
and to put in place of that law the will OF the |
nation as expressed through Congress. Any |
arrangements as to the election Of Congress-
men hitherto made in the States Congress may
modify, or it may completely substitute others
only it shall not legislate as to the place Of
choosing Senator'S. All, therefore, that is in |
this so-called fifteenth amendment bill is as !!
clearly within the authority of the national
under the constitution as it was"
as is the power to pass a naturalization law.


Not only, therefore, are the objectors to
the bill-the rogues who feel the halter
wrong in their constitu-
tional point, but they are pitfully maladroit
in the squirm they make to the effect that
if Congress thus asserts power over the elec- !
tion Of members the State may put all other !
elections on some other day. This poor dodge
might avail if Congress did not see ct there
upon to declare that members should be
chosen upon the day of the general State elec-
tion but it is clear acknowledgment of what
the repeaters fear. Congress puts the election


in the hands of United States marshals, and
empowers these officers to call upon the mass
of the people, or the militia, or the land and
naval forces Of the United States, to guarantee


a fair vote. If the election is overlooked by


soldiers, oficered by resolute men, who have


and can have no stake in the civil contest,
gang Of repeaters will not walk up to a poll


in this city and deposit votes by the handful in


defiance of the authorities, or with the assent


of the authorities. We will fairly get at the
real political complexion Of places like this


city-and upon the election of Congressman


we shall at least have point of comparison


to judge of other elections--even if enforced


honesty on one ticket shall not secure like


benefit on all the rest


ANOTHER FooLHARDY ADVENTURE. "A little
steamer, twenty-one feet long, called the City
of Ragusa, we are informed, was advertised to