UNITED STATES. 



701 



States, on tho 10th inst., passed the following pre- 

 amble and resolutions: 



H <v<w. The right of suffrage prescribed by the constitu- 

 HMU of the MTtntl States Is ut>><i to tin- BraMOth imi.-iM- 

 ui.ni t.i tin- c institution of tho United State*, which la u 

 follows: 



.TION 1. The right of citizens of the 



to vole -lull not bo denied or abridged by the 

 ('nit. .1 M.U. .-. <>r i.y any State, on account of race, color, or 

 pr. \ inns condition of servitude. 



I 1 in- Congress shall have power to enforce this ar- 

 ticle by appropriate legislation." 



Ami . ,.,m. The right of suffrage, so prescribed and regu- 

 ..uiiil In- I'.iiilitullv maintained and observed by the 

 United Mates and tho several States and citizens thereof; 

 and 



W'A<-;v</i, It Is asserted that the exercise of the right of 

 suffrage Is In some of tho suites, notwithstanding the eitorts 

 of all good citizens to the contrary, resisted and controlled by 

 fraud, intimidation, and violence, so that in such cases the 

 object of the amendment is defeated ; and 



111 riti/.eu.s, without distinction of race, or class, 

 or color, are entitled to the protection conferred by such ar- 

 ticle : thorefort', be it 



Jteeoiced, by the House of Representatives, That all at- 

 tempts by force, fraud, terror, intimidation, or otherwise, to 

 prevent the tree exercise of the right of suffrage in any State, 

 should meet certain, condign, and effectual punishment; and 

 that in any case which has heretofore occurred, or that may 

 occur, in which violence or murder has been or shall be com- 

 mitted by one race or class upon the other, the prompt prose- 

 cution and punishment of the criminal, or criminals, in any 

 court having jurisdiction, is imperatively demanded, whether 

 the crime be one punishable by fine or imprisonment, or one 

 demanding the penalty of death. 



The President directs that, in accordance with the 

 spirit of the above, you are to hold nil the available 

 force under your command, not engaged in subduing 

 the savages of the Western frontier, in readiness to 

 be used, upon call or requisition of the proper legal 

 authorities, for protecting all citizens, without dis- 

 tinction of race, color, or political opinion, in the 

 exercise of the right to vote as guaranteed by the 

 fifteenth amendment, and to assist in the enforce- 

 ment of certain, condign, and effectual punishment 

 upon all persons who shall attempt, by force, fraud, 

 terror, intimidation, or otherwise, to prevent the free 

 exercise of the right of suffrage, as provided by the 

 laws of the United States ; and have such force so 

 distributed and stationed as to be able to render 

 prompt assistance in the enforcement of law. Such 

 additional orders as may be necessary to carry out 

 the purpose of these instructions will be given you 

 from time to time, after consultation with the officers 

 of the Government. 



Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



J. D. CAMEEON, Secretary of War. 



On September 4th Attorney-General Taft 

 issued the following circular of instruction to 

 the United States marshals in the election dis- 

 tricts : 



SIR : The laws of the United States having made 

 it my duty to exercise general direction over the mar- 

 shals as to the manner of discharging their offices, I 

 have prepared for their use this circular letter of in- 

 structions as to the coming elections, intending the 

 same also as a reply, once for all, to numerous appli- 

 cations in like connection from private citizens in va- 

 rious States. 



In the present condition of legislation the United 

 States occupy a position toward voters and voting 

 which varies according as the election is for State 

 and other local officers only, or for members of Con- 

 gress and presidential electors. In elections at which 

 members of the House of Representatives are chosen, 

 which by law include elections at which the electors 

 for President and Vice-President are appointed, the 

 United States secure voters against whatever in gen- 

 eral hinders or prevents them from a free exercise of 

 the elective franchise, extending that care alike to 

 the registration lists, the act of voting, and the per- 

 sonal freedom and security of the voter, as well as 

 against violence on account of any vote he may intend 



to give as against conspiracy, because of any that be 

 uiuv already have givi -n. 



The IMU.- <.i tin I nit,-,! States, therefore, which 

 y.u are to preserve, and whose violation you are to 

 suppress, protects, among other*, the right* specified 

 in the last paragraph ; and uny person who by force 

 violates thobc right* breaks that peace and render* it 

 your duty to arrest him, and to suppress any riot* in- 

 ri'lent thereto, or that threaten the integrity of the 

 registration or election, to the end that the will of the 

 pio|.lc in MII-II election may be iiM-crtuincd imd take 

 effect, and that offenders may be brought before the 

 courts for punishment. Notorious events in several 

 States, which recently and in an unusual manner 

 have been publicly reprobated, render it a grave duty 

 of all marshals who have cause to apprehend a viola- 

 tion of the peace of the United States, connected as 

 above with the elections to be held upon the Tuesday 

 alter the first Monday in November next, to be pre- 

 pared to preserve or to restore such peace. As the 

 chief executive officer of the United States in your 

 district, you will be held responsible for all breaches 

 of peace of the United States which diligence on your 

 part might have prevented, and for the-arrest and 

 security of all persons who violate that peace in any 

 of the points above enumerated. 



Diligence in these matters requires, of course, that 

 you be and continue present in person or by deputy 

 at all places of registration or election at which you 

 have reason to suspect that the peace is threatened, 

 and that, whenever an embodiment of ihepotse eomi- 

 tatug is required to enforce the laws, such embodi- 

 ment be effected. You will observe that the " spe- 

 cial " deputies mentioned in section 2021 of the 

 Revised Statutes have peculiar duties assigned to 

 them duties which otherwise do not belong to dep- 

 uty-marshals. Such " special " deputies can be ap- 

 pointed only in cities of 20,000 inhabitants or upward. 

 But the duties assigned to marshals and their depu- 

 ties by section 2022, or other like statutes, belong to 

 all duly appointed deputies, whether they be general 

 or " special," within the meaning of that and the 

 preceding section. Deputies to discharge this latter 

 class of duties may be appointed to any number 

 whatever, according to the discretion of the marshal 

 in all States in which sheriffs have a similar power. 

 Section 2030 has no practical bearing upon this point 

 in States where no limit is imposed upon the appoint- 

 ment of deputies bv sheriffs, because in such States 

 the laws of the United States "prior to the 10th of 

 June, 1872," left marshals also unlimited as to the 

 number of their deputies. 



In discharging the duties above mentioned, you 

 will doubtless receive the countenance and support 

 of all good citizens of the United States in your re- 

 spective districts. It is not necessary to say that 

 it is upon such countenance and supp'ort that the 

 United States mainly rely in their endeavor to en- 

 force the right to vote which they have given or 

 have secured. The present instructions are intended 

 only to counteract tnat partial malice^ wrong-head- 

 I, or inconsideration, which sometimes triumphs 

 at critical moments over the conservative and in 

 general prevailing forces of society, and to which the 

 present and passing condition ol the country gives 

 more than ordinary strength, and therefore requires 

 the Government to particularly observe and provide 

 against. In this connection 1 advise that you and 

 each of your deputies, general and " special," have 

 a right to summon to your assistance, in preventing 

 and quelling disorder, "every person in the district 

 above fifteen years of age, whatever may be their 

 occupation, whether civilians or not, and including 

 tho militarv of all denominations militia, soldiers, 

 marines all of whom are alike bound to obey YOU. 

 The fact that they are organized as military bodies, 

 whether of State or of the United States, under tho 

 immediate command of their own officers, does not 

 in any wise affect their legal character. They are 

 still the pott* eomitatvt" I prefer to quote the above 

 statement of the laws upon tl.L point from an opinion 



