748 



UNITED STATES. 



cially upon public officers, to be zealous in the en- 

 forcement thereof; and warning all persona to ab- 

 stain from committing any of the acts thereby pro- 

 hibited. The law of Congress applies to all parts of 

 the United States, and will be enforced everywhere 

 to the extent of the powers vested in the Executive. 

 But, inasmuch as the necessity therefor is well 

 known to have been caused chiefly by persistent vio- 

 lations of the rights of citizens of the United States 

 by combinations of lawless and disaffected persons 

 Ai certain localities lately the theatre of insurrection 

 and military conflict, I do particularly exhort the 

 people of those parts of the country to suppress all 

 such combinations by their own voluntary efforts 

 through the agency of local laws, and to maintain 

 the rights of all citizens of the United States, and to 

 secure to all such citizens the equal protection of the 

 laws. Fully sensible of the responsibility imposed 

 upon the Executive by the act of Congress to which 

 public opinion is now called, and reluctant to call 

 into exercise any of the extraordinary powers there- 

 by conferred upon me except in cases of imperative 

 necessity, I do nevertheless deem it my duty to make 

 known that I will not hesitate to exhaust the power 

 thus vested in the Executive whenever and wherever 

 it shall become necessary to do so for the purpose of 

 securing to all citizens of the United States the peace- 

 ful enjoyment of the rights guaranteed to them by 

 the Constitution and laws. It is my earnest wish 

 that peace and cheerful obedience to the law may 

 prevail throughout the land, and that all traces of our 

 late unhappy civil strife may be speedily removed. 

 These ends can be easily reached by acquiescence in 

 the results of the conflict now written in our Consti- 

 tution^ and by the due and proper enforcement of 

 equal, just, and impartial laws in every part of our 

 country. The failure of local communities to furnish 

 such means for the attainment of results so earnestly 

 desired, imposes upon the national Government the 

 duty of putting forth all its energies for the protec- 

 tion of its citizens of every race and color, and for 

 the restoration of peace and order throughout the 

 entire country. 



In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand 

 and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

 Done at the city of Washington, this third day of 

 May, in the year of our Lord one thousand 

 [L. s.] eight hundred and seventy-one ; and of the 

 independence of the United States the ninety- 

 fifth. U. S. GKANT. 

 By the President : 



HAMILTON FISH, Secretary of State. 



Again, on October 17th, the President is- 

 sued his proclamation under the authority of 

 the above-mentioned act, and concluded as fol- 

 lows : 



I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States 

 of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me 

 by the Constitution of the United States, and the act 

 of Congress aforesaid, do hereby declare that, in my 

 judgment, the public safety especially requires that 

 the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus be sus- 

 pended, to the end that such rebellion may be over- 

 thrown, and do hereby suspend the privileges of the 

 writ of habeas corpus within the counties of Spartan- 

 burg, York, Marion, Chester, Laurens, Newberry, 

 Fail-field, Lancaster, and Chesterfield, in said State 

 of South Carolina, in respect to all persons arrested 

 by the marshal of the United States for the said Dis- 

 trict of South Carolina, or by any of his deputies, or 

 by any military officer of the United States, or by 

 any soldier or citizen acting under the orders of said 

 marshal, deputy, or such military officer within any 

 one of said counties charged with violation of the act 

 of Congress aforesaid, during the continuance of such 

 rebellion. 



In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, 

 and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 



Done at the city of Washington, this 17th day of 



October, in the year of our Lord 1871, and 



[SEAL.] of the independence of the United States of 



America the ninety-sixth. 

 (Signed) U. S. GPvANT. 



By the President : 

 J. C. BANCROFT DAVIS, Acting Secretary of State. 



On November llth another proclamation 

 to the same effect was issued relative to Union 

 County, South Carolina. 



Another act of Congress, March 3d, making 

 appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the 

 Government for the year ending June 30, 3872, 

 etc., contained this provision : 



That the President of the United States be, and he 

 is hereby, authorized to prescribe such rules and reg- 

 ulations for the admission of persons into the civil 

 service of the United States as will best promote the 

 efficiency thereof; and to ascertain the fitness of 

 each candidate in respect to age, health, character, 

 knowledge, and ability for the branch of service into 

 which he seeks to enter ; and for this purpose the 

 President is authorized to employ suitable persons 

 to conduct said inquiries, to prescribe their duties, 

 and to establish regulations for the conduct of persons 

 who may receive appointments in the civil service. 



Under this provision the President appointed 

 as Civil Service Commissioners George William 

 Curtis, Alexander G. Cattell, Joseph Medill, 

 Davidson A. Walker, E. B. Ellicott, Joseph H. 

 Blackfan, and David C. Cox. On December 19tli 

 the President sent a message to Congress, and 

 transmitted therewith the report of the com- 

 missioners. That document closes with this 

 passage : 



We propose also that in this country the places in 

 the public service shall be restored to those who are 

 found to be fitted for them, and, if any one is disposed 

 to think that an abuse of forty years is a law of the 

 republican system, a little reflection will show him 

 his error. If he believes a reform to be impossible, 

 he merely shows that he is the victim of the abuse, 

 and forgets that in America every reform is possible. 

 The enforcement of the rules that we submit for ap- 

 proval depends, of course, upon the pleasure of the 

 President ; yet, should they receive the sanction of . 

 Congress in the form of law, their enforcement would 

 become, until repealed, not only the pleasure but 

 the duty of the President. That sanction, whether 

 to the rules now submitted, or to any scheme, will 

 more surely promote that purity and efficiency of the 

 civil service which the country most earnestly de- 

 sires. If that sanction should be delayed, the rules 

 adopted for his action by the President could not 

 bind his successor ; but, unless we are wholly mis- 

 taken, the reform would so vindicate itself to the 

 good sense of the country that the people themselves 

 would reject any party and any candidate that pro- 

 posed to relapse into the present practice. The im- 

 provement of the civil service is emphatically tho 

 people's cause, the people's reform, and the Ad- 

 ministration which vigorously begins it will acquire 

 a glory only less than that of the salvation of a free 

 Union. 



The following are the rules submitted by the 

 commissioners : 



1. No person shall be admitted to any position in 

 the civil service within the appointment of the Pres- 

 ident or the heads of departments who is not a 

 citizen of the United States, who shall not have fur- 

 nished satisfactory evidence in regard to character, 

 health, and age, and who shall not have passed a 

 satisfactory examination in speaking, reading, and 

 writing the English language. 



