CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



207 



Packard, Packer, Palmer, Isaac C. Parker, Peck, 

 Pendleton, Perce, Aaron F. Perry, Platt, Poland, 

 Porter, Prindle, Rainey, Ellis H. Roberts, Rusk, Saw- 

 yer, Scofleld, Seeley, Sessions, Shanks, Sheldon, 

 tShellabarger, Shoemaker, II. Boardman Smith, John 

 A. Smith, Worthington 0. Smith, Snyder, Sprague, 

 Stevenson, Stoughton, Stowell, St. John, Sypher, 

 Taffe, Thomas, Turner, Twichell, Tyner, Upson, 

 Wakcinan, Walden, Waldron, Wallace, Walls, Wash- 

 burn, Wheeler, Whiteley, Willard, Williams of In- 

 diana, Jeremiah M.Wilson, and John T. Wilson 118. 



NAYS Messrs. Acker, Adams, Archer, Arthur, 

 Beck, Bell, Biggs, Bird, Braxton, Bright, James 

 Brooks, Caldwell, Campbell, Carroll, Comiugo, Cox, 

 Crebs, Critcher, Crossland, Davis, Dox, DuBose, 

 Duke, Eldridge, Ely, Forker, Henry D. Foster, Gar- 

 rett, Getz, Golladay, Griffith, Haldeman, Handley, 

 Hanks, Harper, John T. Harris, Hereford, Hibbard, 

 Holman, Kerr, King, Kinsella, Lamison, Leach, 

 Lewis, Manson, Marshall, McClelland, McCormick, 

 McHenry, Mclntyre, McKinney, McNeely, Merrick, 

 Benjamin F. Meyers, Mitchell, Morgan, Niblack, 

 Hosea W. Parker. Eli Perry, Potter. Randall, Ed- 

 ward Y. Rice, John M. Rice, Ritchie, William R. 

 Roberts, Robinson, Rogers, Roosevelt, Sherwood, 

 Shober, Slater, Slocum, Sloss, R. Milton Speer, Ste- 

 vens, Storm, Sutherland, Swann, Terry, Van Trump, 

 Vaughan, Voorhces, Waddell, Warren, Wells, Whit- 

 thorne, Williams of New York, Winchester, Wood, 

 and Young 91. 



NOT VOTING Messrs. Ames, James G. Blair, 

 Roderick R. Butler, Darrall, Duell, Dunnell, Ham- 

 bleton, Hays, Kendall, Lynch, Morphis, Peters, 

 Price, Read, Thomas J. Speer, Dwight Townsend, 

 Washington Townsend, and Tuthill 18. 



In the Senate, on April llth, the above bill 

 from the House was considered, together with 

 the amendments proposed by the Committee 

 on the Judiciary. 



Mr. Edmunds, of Vermont, said : " I will 

 say a word in respect to the scope of the bill 

 as it stands, and as it will be, as to its general 

 scope, if amended. 



" The first section is one that I believe no- 

 body objects to, as defining the rights secured 

 by the Constitution of the United States when 

 they are assailed by any State law or under 

 color of any State law, and it is merely carry- 

 ing out the principles of the civil rights bill, 

 which have since become a part of the Con- 

 stitution. 



" The second section, it will be observed, 

 only provides for the punishment of a conspir- 

 acy. It does not provide for the punishment 

 of any act done in pursuance of the conspiracy, 

 but only a conspiracy to deprive citizens of the 

 United States, in the various ways named, of 

 the rights which the Constitution and the laws 

 of the United States made pursuant to it give 

 to them ; that is to say, conspiracies to over- 

 throw the Government, conspiracies to impede 

 the course of justice, conspiracies to deprive 

 people of the equal protection of the laws, 

 whatever those laws may be. It does not 

 provide, as I say, for any punishment for any 

 act which these conspirators shall do in further- 

 ance of the conspiracy. It punishes the con- 

 spiracy alone, leaving the States, if they see 

 fit, to punish the acts and crimes which may 

 be committed in pursuance of the conspiracy. 

 I confess that I thought myself it was desirable, 



to make the bill complete, to make it com- 

 pletely logical and completely effective, that a 

 section should have been added providing not 

 only for punishing the conspiracy, but provid- 

 ing also in the same way for punishing any act 

 done in pursuance of the conspiracy. This 

 section gives a civil action to anybody who 

 shall be injured by the conspiracy, but does 

 not punish an act done as a crime. 



" Then the third section is, as we think, one 

 in entire conformity to precedents and in 

 entire conformity to the principles of the Con- 

 stitution and of the laws, authorizing the Presi- 

 dent, when the lawful rights of citizens of the 

 United States shall be interfered with and 

 overthrown by unlawful conspiracies, combina- 

 tions, and insurrections, and when the State 

 shall fail to protect the people in those rights 

 and put down these insurrections, to bring to 

 bear the power of the nation for the purpose 

 of repressing such tumults and disorders, and 

 handing the violators of the law over to justice. 



" The fourth section provides that when 

 these unlawful conspiracies and combinations 

 shall have proceeded to that extreme extent 

 as really to become general in a State, cover- 

 ing more than one combination and being so 

 powerful as to be able to overthrow the State 

 authorities and to set them at defiance, then 

 it shall be treated as in the character of a local 

 rebellion, and the President, in that case, shall 

 be authorized, as the Constitution gives us the 

 power to authorize him, to bring the military 

 to bear upon it, and for the time being, within 

 the district where the power of the courts and 

 the power of the States are both set at defiance, 

 to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. But 

 even then the bill does not go so far in that 

 direction as upon a mere reading it would be 

 supposed it did, because there is attached to 

 this suspension of the habeas corpus the pro- 

 vision that the act of 1863 relating to habeas 

 corpus shall apply even to a case of this kind ; 

 and that provides that in all cases in States 

 where the habeas corpus is suspended, and the 

 Federal judiciary is still able to hold sway at 

 the places where it holds courts, any person 

 arrested and seized under the suspension of the 

 habe s corpus shall be reported to the Federal 

 judiciary within a limited time, or as soon as 

 practicable, and if the Federal judiciary shall 

 not deal with the offenders thus reported by 

 finding indictments or other prosecution, then, 

 upon the order of a judge, the persons thus 

 seized under the suspension of haleas corpus 

 shall be set at liberty. 



" In substance and fact it leaves a Federal 

 haleas corpus in effect, although not in precise 

 form, still operating for a limited time. So 

 that really the sharpest criticism, with this 

 proviso, could scarcely say that in a substan- 

 tial sense we authorize the President to sus- 

 pend the writ of habeas corpus at all. About 

 all that we do is to authorize him to proclaim 

 that he has suspended it, and then, as soon as 

 he has caught anybody, to report him and 



