CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



181 





'-C l '';' rights of tho United States, of 



ami i>t' tlio people! That is legisla- 



.idi-od, to propose such a thing us tlii- ut 



iliis hour, and to ask the Senate to vote upon 



Snmner, of Massachusetts, said : " Sena- 

 -;.i-:ik very lightly about voting this amend- 

 ment down. 1 hope it will not be voted down. 

 m important proposition, as important as 

 any tiling in tho bill, and, in my judgment, 

 .me to tho bill; nor have I any question 

 t hut it is entirely within the powers of Congress. 

 I submit myself to the judgment of tho Sena- 

 tor from Ohio I know, who says that no lawyer, 

 n. politic-ian, no statesman, will affirm it. I 

 iiliirm it. I do not doubt that it is completely 

 within tho powers of Congress; and if the 

 Senator will go back to the language of James 

 Ma.lison, unless I am much mistaken, he will 

 find that Madison specifically declares the ple- 

 nary powers of Congress over this whole sub- 

 ject. I cannot be mistaken. But I do not 

 need the authority of James Madison on this 

 occasion. I take the text of the Constitution 

 and the reason of the case. Those two are 

 enough. Tho proposed amendment is consti- 

 tutional. I cannot doubt it. I hope therefore 

 that we shall not abandon it. We have it now 

 v, ithin our power, and let us put it on the bill." 



The Presiding Officer: "The Chair will 

 state the question. The Senator from Ohio 

 moved to amend the amendment of the Sen- 

 ator from Nevada, which was an amendment 

 to the House bill. No further amendment can 

 be entertained until the amendment moved by 

 the Senator from Ohio is disposed of." 



The amendment to the amendment was re- 

 jected yeas 14, nays 26. 



Mr. Hamlin, of Maine, said: "I now offer 

 that same amendment, with the section omitted 

 that I objected to the third section." 



The Presiding Officer: "The amendment 

 will bo reported." 



The Secretary read tho section omitted by 

 Mr. Ilamlin from the amendment, as follows : 



And be it further enacted, That if any person shall, 

 by force, threat, menace 2 intimidation, or otherwise, 

 unlawfully prevent any citizen or citizens from assem- 

 bling in public meeting, to freely discuss or hear die- 

 cussed the claims or merits of any candidate for the 

 office of Representative or Delegate in Congress, or 

 of any officer of the Government of the United States ; 

 or the laws or measures of Congress, or any measure 

 existing, pending, or proposed, affecting the Govern- 

 ment of the United States, or any Department or offi- 

 cer thereof, or if any person shall by any such means 

 break up, disperse, or molest any such assemblage, 

 or molest any citizen in or of such assemblage, 

 every person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a 

 crime, and shall be liable to indictment and punish- 

 ment therefor, as provided in the first section of this 

 act for persons guilty of any of the crimes therein 

 specified. 



Mr. Ilamlin : " Tho Secretary has read the 

 section which I have omitted ; and then I offer 

 tho identical amendment of the Senator from 

 Ohio, omitting the section which has been 

 read." 



Tho Presiding Officer : " Tho question be- 

 foro the Senate is on the adoption of the 

 amendment moved by the Senator from Maine, 

 which contains the first two sections of the 

 amendment moved by the Senator from Ohio." 



Mr. Thurman : " Mr. President, I appeal to 

 my friend from Maine, a man of cool, good 

 judgment, as I know from an acquaintance 

 of twenty-five years, to think for one moment 

 what would be tho condition of this bill if these 

 two sections were added to it and the bill were 

 passed. What do these sections propose, what 

 do they cover ? They cover the cases of elec- 

 tions for Representatives in Congress, as well 

 as the election for electors of President and Vice- 

 President. Now, what is the effect in regard 

 to the election ? In almost every State in the 

 Union members of Congress are elected at the 

 same time that the officers of tho State are 

 elected ; I believe it is so in every State. I do not 

 know a State in the Union in which there is a 

 separate election for members of Congress. 

 Very well, then now mark it, and I pray 

 Senators to listen to me these two sections 

 cover precisely the same elections that are cov- 

 ered by the bill under consideration. The bill 

 covers elections for members of Congress and 

 covers all State elections. These two sections 

 cover all elections at which members of Con- 

 gress are elected. Then if you put these two 

 sections on the bill and pass the bill you have 

 this beautiful thing to exhibit as to the wisdom 

 of the Senate of the United States, that in tho 

 bill as it passed the House of Repsesentatives, 

 or in the substitute offered by the Senator from 

 Nevada, there is one set of penalties for these 

 identical offences mentioned in the amend- 

 ment offered by the Senator from Maine, and 

 in the amendment offered by the Senator from 

 Maine there is a wholly different set of penal- 

 ties." 



The question being taken by yeas and nays, 

 resulted as follows : 



YEAS Messrs. Abbott, Carpenter, Chandler, Cole, 

 Corbett, Cragin, Flanagan, Ilamlin, Harlan, Harris, 

 Ilowell, McDonald, Morrill of Maine, Morton, Nye, 

 Osborn, Patterson, Pomeroy, Pratt, Ramsey, Revels, 

 Rice, Sawyer, Scott, Spencer, Sprague, Stewart, Sum- 

 ner, Thayer, Warner, and Yates 81. 



NATS Messrs. Casserlv, Davis, Fowler, Hamilton 

 of Maryland, Johnston, McCreery, Pool, Ross, Stock- 

 ton, Thurman, Vickcrs, and Willey 12. 



ABSENT Messrs. Ames, Anthony, Bayard, Bore- 

 man, Brownlow, Buckingham, Cameron, Cattell, 

 Conkling, Drake, Edmunds, Fenton, Ferry, Gilbert, 

 Hamilton of Texas, Howard, Howe, Kellogg, Lewis, 

 Morrill of Vermont, Norton, Robertson, Sauls- 

 bury, Schurz, Sherman, Tipton, Trumbull, Williams, 

 and" Wilson 29. 



The amendment to the amendment was 

 agreed to. 



Mr. Stewart: "I desire to make a verbal 

 correction. After consulting several members 

 of the Judiciary Committee, I move to amend 

 the twelfth section of my amendment, in lino 

 two, by striking out the words 4 or such per- 

 son as he may empower for that purpose ; so 

 that the section will read: 



