CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



179 



tliis amendment is to secure every man the 

 right to vote without the interference of these 

 officials, who are now providing for supervis- 

 ing and attending to the election. We all 

 know that, under the provisions of the act to 

 which this is a supplement, or amendment, 

 persons were appointed in different States of 

 this Union who did interfere with the citizens' 

 right to vote. Can any Senator tell me of a 

 single case where any man so interfering with 

 the rights of others to vote has been punished 

 under the act to which this is an amendment ? 

 You provide amply for the punishment of 

 every man who interferes with these parties 

 in the exercise of the powers you confer upon 

 them ; and if it is true that the act does pro- 

 vide that the officers themselves shall be pun- 

 ished, it is very singular that, after they have 

 interfered with the rights of persons, they 

 never have been punished. I want to make 

 it clear. 



"And now I say, if the object of the Senate 

 in the passage of the original act and of this 

 amendatory act is to secure fair elections, let 

 us have it fair on all sides. Let us say to these 

 men who obtrude themselves upon the electors 

 of the different States, ' Beware how you use 

 the power conferred upon you, because if you 

 exceed your power, if you deprive any man, 

 white or black, of exercising the elective fran- 

 chise who is entitled to it, by color of the 

 authority conferred upon him, you shall be 

 liable,' and say to him in what manner he 

 shall be liable." 



Mr. Casserly said: "The amendment which 

 I propose reads in this way. First of all, sec- 

 tion four begins : ' If any person by force,' etc. 

 My amendment is, or rather my substitute for 

 the amendment of the Senator from Delaware, 

 which I ask him to accept, is : " 



SEO. . That the words " any person," in section 

 four of the act of May 31, 1870, to which this is 

 amendatory, shall be held to include any officer or 

 other person having powers or duties of an official 

 character under this act or the act to which this act 

 is amendatory. 



The Presiding Officer (Mr. Boreman in the 

 chair): "Does the Senator from Delaware 

 accept this as a substitute ? " 



Mr. Saulsbury : " Yes, sir." 



The Presiding Officer: "This will be sub- 

 stituted for the original amendment of the 

 Senator from Delaware." 



The question being taken by yeas and nays, 

 resulted yeas 41, nays none. 



So the amendment was agreed to. 



Mr. Casserly^ "I have an amendment to 

 offer two additional sections. I regret that 

 the leading friends of the bill have determined 

 to have all amendments rejected merely be- 

 cause they are amendments. The Senator 

 from "Wisconsin a while ago protested against 

 an amendment of the most obvious necessity, 

 as it seemed to me, because he dfd not know 

 in what way it might interfere with the origi- 

 nal act. That amendment dealt with a mere 



excrescence on that act which had so little to 

 do with it that it not only could be cut out 

 without impairing the general scope of the 

 act, but very much to the benefit of the act. 

 I fear that the same policy is to be pursued 

 throughout in regard to the bill, that every 

 amendment is to be opposed merely because 

 it is an amendment. On the very eve of a 

 presidential election, which promises to be suf- 

 ficiently exciting of itself, it becomes us all as 

 good citizens, and it especially becomes us 

 here, who are charged with the duty of mak- 

 ing laws, to avoid with our best endeavors the 

 bringing of any new elements of trouble or 

 discord into the contest. 



" It seems to me that in such a point of view 

 as that, in which all must agree, at least ab- 

 stractly considered, it is very desirable indeed 

 that the bill with which we are now dealing, 

 and the bills to which it is amendatory, ought 

 to be pruned of all features of needless offence. 

 A considerable part of what I have sent up to 

 the desk is copied from statutes already in 

 existence. I had a special idea in offering the 

 amendment because of the recent most un- 

 justifiable transactions at the polls connected 

 with the navy-yard in California. Those trans- 

 actions were of a character to bring the blush 

 to the cheek of every man who understands 

 what free institutions are, who comprehends 

 what the freedom of elections means, and 

 who has a regard for the dignity of American 

 workmen." 



The Vice-President : " The Senator from 

 'California modifies his amendment, and the 

 amendment will be read as modified." 



The Chief Clerk : " The amendment is to 

 add as additional sections the following : " 



SEC. . That it shall not be lawful for any civil, 

 military, or naval officer of the United States, or other 

 person engaged in the civil, military, or naval ser- 

 vice of the United States, to order, bring, keep, or 

 have under his authority or control, any troops or 

 armed men at the place where any general or special 

 election is held in any State of the United States of 

 America ; and that it shall not be lawful for any 

 officer of the Army or Navy of the United States to 

 prescribe or fix, or attempt to prescribe or fix, by 

 proclamation, order, or otherwise, the qualifications 

 of voters in any State in the United States of 

 America, or in any manner to interfere with the 

 freedom of any election in any State, or with the 

 exercise of the free right of suffrage in any State of 

 the United States. Any officer of the Army or Navy 

 of the United States, or other persons engaged in the 

 civil, military, or naval service of the United States, 

 who violates this section, shall, for every such of- 

 fence, be liable to indictment as for a misdemeanor 

 in any court in the United States having jurisdiction 

 to hear, try, and determine cases of misdemeanor, 

 and, on conviction thereof, shall pay a fine not ex- 

 ceeding $5,000, and suffer imprisonment in the peni- 

 tentiary, not less than three nor more than five 

 years, at the discretion of the court trying the same ; 

 and any person convicted as aforesaid snail, more- 

 over, be disqualified from holding any office of 

 honor, profit, or trust under the Government of the 

 United States ; he shall always be liable in a civil 

 suit to the person injured in a penalty of $500, 

 which, with any damages accruing, may be recovered 

 in any circuit court having jurisdiction : Provided, 

 That nothing herein contained shall prevent any 



