CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



239 



ii.'ii. not by its express letter. The power 

 liy tin- tenor i the Constitution and by 

 itiircainl theory of onr Government ; and 

 I u i-li 1 had time to enlarge upon this idea. I 

 ', in tin- contingency I have mentioned, 

 : ess i-.niM pass a law authorizing the peo- 

 : a State thus deprived of State officers to 

 In ilil an election in pursuance of their own con- 

 stitution and laws, under the auspices of their 

 i-\\ n local authorities, to supply officers to the 

 government until the next regular elec- 

 tion. 



"This bill, however, provides that an elec- 

 tion shall be held under the auspices of the 

 I nit.'l States, and provides in all respects an 

 election law without reference to the laws of 

 the State. It proposes to send a military Gov- 

 ernor into the State of Louisiana, and virtually 

 t<> reconstruct the State of Louisiana after the 

 manner of the reconstruction acts. I cannot 

 su I 'scribe to that doctrine, and I have many 

 reasons why I cannot, upon which time will 

 not allow me to enlarge now. 



u I can support the proposition of the honor- 

 able Senator from Delaware (Mr. Bayard). I 

 do not like that proposition as well as I might 

 some others. In my judgment the proper 

 course for Congress to take in this case is to 

 pass a joint resolution declaring that according 

 to the constitution and laws of the State of 

 Louisiana McEnery and his associates are the 

 properly ascertained officers of the State of 

 Louisiana and recognizing them as such, and 

 that it is the duty of all the authorities of the 

 United States to uphold and sustain them ac- 

 cording to the Constitution and laws of the 

 United States. If Congress should pass such 

 a resolution as that, I have no doubt the Presi- 

 dent would approve it and be governed by it. 

 I do not suppose that he has any motive to 

 keep Kellogg there longer than be can ascer- 

 tain the will of Congress. If he withdraws the 

 troops and McEnery is acknowledged to be 

 Governor, it will be easy for him to make a 

 requisition on the President to prevent domes- 

 tic violence, if need be, and the destruction of 

 that State and the whole machinery of its gov- 

 ernment. If such a resolution were passed the 

 Louisiana troubles would be settled in twenty- 

 four hours, constitutional government would be 

 restored, and law and right would triumph over 

 faction and usurpation." 



The bill was discussed at considerable length 

 without any final action upon it in the Senate. 



In the House, on May 27tn, Mr. Poland, of 

 Vermont, from the Committee on the Judici- 

 ary, reported a bill, conferring jurisdiction upon 

 the Criminal Court of the District of Columbia, 

 and for other purposes, which was read a first 

 and second time. 



The bill provides that the Criminal Court of 

 the District of Columbia shall have concurrent 

 jurisdiction with the police court of the Dis- 

 trict, of all crimes and misdemeanors commit- 

 ted iu the District. 



The second section provides that the pro- 

 visions of the thirty-third section of the judi- 

 ciary act of 1789 shall apply to courts created 

 by act of Congress in the District. 



M i . l'< 'land : " I will take no time in explain- 

 ing this bill unless some gentleman <le-ir-H it." 



Mr. Speer, of Pennsylvania, said : " Does the 

 bill apply to pending cases ? It should not do 



80." 



Mr. Poland : " It has no effect upon pending 

 cases in any way. I will state in a word the 

 necessity for this bill. Three or four years 

 ago Congress established a police court in this 

 District, giving it exclusive jurisdiction over 

 certain classes of crimes and misdemeanors. 

 Very grave doubts are entertained as to the 

 constitutionality of that law ; and it is under- 

 stood that the Supreme Court of the District 

 has made a decision which squints in the di- 

 rection of deciding that the police court has 

 constitutionally no such jurisdiction. If that 

 should be so held, there would be no criminal 

 court in this District having jurisdiction over 

 those offenses. Therefore we provide in this 

 bill that the Criminal Court of the District of 

 Columbia shall also have jurisdiction over the 

 same cases." 



Mr. Speer : " Does this bill affect the Buell 

 libel case in any way ? " 



Mr. Poland : u Not in the slightest degree." 



The bill was ordered to be engrossed and 

 read a third time ; and, being engrossed, it was 

 accordingly read the third time, and passed. 



Mr. Poland moved to reconsider the vote by 

 which the bill was passed ; and also moved that 

 the motion to reconsider be laid on the table. 



The latter motion was agreed to. 



In the Senate, on June 16th, Mr. Freling- 

 huysen, of New Jersey, said : " I will ask the 

 Senate to pass a bill providing for a criminal 

 court in this District. It has been examined 

 carefully by the Committee of the Judiciary, 

 and it is very necessary that it should pass." 



There being no objection, the bill conferring 

 jurisdiction upon the Criminal Court of the 

 District of Columbia, and for other purposes, 

 was considered as in Committee of the Whole. 



An amendment was reported by the Com- 

 mittee on the Judiciary to strike out in line 

 four of section 1 the word " concurrent " be- 

 fore the word "jurisdiction," and, after the 

 word "jurisdiction " in the same line, to strike 

 out the words " with the police court of said 

 District," and, at the end of the section, to in- 

 sert " not lawfully triable in any other court, 

 and which are required by law to be prose- 

 cuted by indictment or information." 



The amendment was agreed to. 



The bill was reported to the Senate as amend- 

 ed, and the amendment was concurred in. 



The amendment was ordered to be engrossed, 

 and the bill to be read a third time. The bill 

 was read the third time, and passed. 



In the House on June 20th, the amendments 



