196 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



and any person who shall be arrested tinder the pro- 

 visions of this and the preceding section shall be 

 delivered to the marshal of the proper district to be 

 dealt with according to law. 



" Observe the monstrous powers that are by 

 this section proposed to be conferred on the 

 Federal Government and its chief officer ! "Who 

 is to determine when the combinations are so 

 great as to obstruct or hinder the execution 

 of the laws, or to deprive any persons of any 

 of these rights, privileges, or immunities, or 

 when the State authorities fail, or are unable 

 to give protection, or what shall constitute a 

 denial of equal protection? The President of 

 the United States! What king, queen, or po- 

 tentate, in any great nation on earth, possesses 

 such power to-day? I know of none. Is it 

 safe to commit such vital issues to any one hu- 

 man head or heart? 



" But the President is not only invested with 

 these unparalleled powers of determination 

 and construction. He may enforce his conclu- 

 sions by the use of every physical arm of the 

 Government. He may use these agencies in 

 any manner that pleases him. He may subvert 

 civil law and State jurisdiction at his pleasure. 

 Not content with these extraordinary powers, 

 the bill further empowers him to use any other 

 means Tie may deem necessary. Is not that the 

 climax of liberality to a ruler ? Are not such 

 powers imperial? No. I say they are des- 

 potic and revolutionary. They go far to es- 

 tablish republican absolutism. There is no 

 occasion for such reckless confidence in any 

 man. No facts exist in testimony or in the 

 country that justify or excuse -its bestowal 

 upon the President. It has no precedent or 

 parallel. No such powers can be safely^ in- 

 trusted by a free people to any human being. 

 I verily believe no patriot would care to possess 

 them. I know full well that no tyrant could 

 desire more. Human selfishness or ambition 

 could ask no ampler opportunities for personal 

 aggrandizement. 



" Mr. Speaker, I must not take my seat with- 

 out referring briefly to the fourth section. It 

 is that section which attempts to give the 

 President of the United States, on these frivo- 

 lous grounds of assumption, power to sus- 

 pend the writ of hvbeas corpus, establish mar- 

 tial law, and to declare war. It provides 

 that 



Whenever in any State or part of a State the un- 

 lawful combinations named in the preceding section 

 of this act shall be organized and armed, and so nu- 

 merous and powerful as to be able, by violence, to 

 either overthrow or set at defiance the constituted 

 authorities of such State, or when the constituted 

 authorities are in complicity with, or shall connive 

 at the unlawful purposes of, such powerful and armed 

 combinations ; and whenever, by reason of either or 

 all of the causes aforesaid, the conviction ^of such 

 offenders and the preservation of the public safety 

 shall become in such district impracticable, in every 

 such case, such combinations shall be deemed a rebel- 

 lion against the Government of the United States, and 

 during the continuance of such rebellion, and within 

 the limits of the district which shall be so under the 

 sway thereof, such limits to be prescribed by procla- 



mation, it shall be lawful for the President _of the 

 United States, when in his judgment the public safe- 

 ty shall require it, to suspend the privileges of the 

 writ of habeas corpus, and to declare and enforce, 

 subject to the Rules and Articles of War and other 

 laws of the United States now in force applicable in 

 case of rebellion, martial law, to the end that such 

 rebellion may be overthrown : Provided^ That the 

 President shall first have made proclamation, as now 

 provided by law, commanding such insurgents to dis- 

 perse : And provided also, That the provisions of 

 this section shall not be in force after the 1st day of 

 June, A. D. 1872. 



" Mr. Speaker, what I have said concerning 

 the President's power of decision as to the 

 existence or non-existence of the conditions 

 indicated in the bill is as applicable to this as 

 to the third section. He alone, and without 

 appeal, review, or question, or responsibility 

 of any kind, except at the hands of Congress, 

 may determine when such unlawful combina- 

 tions exist, and where and when the States 

 are in complicity with them, and what organ- 

 ized resistance against the laws of any State 

 shall constitute rebellion against the United 

 States, the territorial extent of that rebellion, 

 and when the citizens of the State may be de- 

 nied the safeguard of the habeas corpus, and 

 be subjected to the arbitrary and merciless, if 

 not mercenary, hand of martial power and 

 rule. Was such power ever intrusted to Wash- 

 ington, or any other Chief Magistrate, in peace 

 or war, in our history ? Is there any thing in 

 the capacity or conduct of the present Execu- 

 tive to invite such unbounded trust in his wis- 

 dom and patriotism ? " 



Mr. Morgan, of Ohio, said : " Now, sir, before 

 proceeding to discuss the bill under consider- 

 ation, I desire to consider the action of the 

 House prior to the date of the President's late 

 message. Before the opening of the present 

 Congress it was rumored that the President 

 would send a message to Congress recommend- 

 ing legislation in reference to what are charged 

 as Ku-klux outrages. At the very moment 

 that this House was being organized, a whisper 

 ran through the House, from seat to seat, ' We 

 are to have a message from the President.' 

 Why? 'General Butler, his confidential ad- 

 viser, is closeted with the President, and under 

 his dictation the message will come.' Sir, the 

 message at that time did not come. The senti- 

 ment of the House was against any legislative 

 action on the subject without information. 

 The sentiment of the majority of the Repub- 

 lican members on the floor was against any 

 such action, as was proved by their votes.^ A 

 resolution was adopted to appoint a committee 

 of investigation, a committee of thirteen. When 

 it was announced, the member from Massachu- 

 setts (Mr. Butler), appointed chairman of the 

 committee, rose in his place and refused to 

 serve, and six out of eight of the Republican 

 members of the committee asked to be and 

 were excused. 



"I propose to recur for a single moment to 

 the calumny, to the reason given by the mem- 

 ber from Massachusetts why he was not will- 



