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THE SUMTER WATCHMAN, Kst&blished April,.1S50* "Be Just and Fear not-Let all the Ends thou Aims't at, be thy Country's, thy God's and Truth's." THE TK?E SOUTHRON, Eatabliahed Jane, 12 66 Consolidated Ans. 2, ISSI. SUMTER, S. C., WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 1895. Sew Series-Yoi. XIV. So. 42. $>k tSBatrjpni S? ?oti?koit. ta) u o St?Usked Erery Wednesday, JM. Gr. Osteen, SUMTER, S. O. TERMS : Two Dollars per annum-io advance. ADVERTISEMENT: One Square first insertion.$1 00 Every subsequent insertion?. 50 Contracts for three months, or longer will be made at reduced rates. All communicatioDR which subserve private interests will be charged foras advertisements. Obituaries and tribntes of respect will be charged for. Everybody Votes. The Registration Law Declar? ed Unconstitutional. Judge Golf Enjoins Tne Super j visor of Hegistration. As announced in s brief dispatch re? ceived just as the Watchman and Southron was going to presss last Wednesday, Jad se Goff rendered ao opinion that makes the Registration in? operative and throws open the ballot box to every mac of the legal age who is not disqualified from voting by crime. The text of his decision is given ia fall with the exception of a few authori? ties which he quoted : Io the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of South' Carolina. Lawrence P. Mills va. W. Briggs Green-In Equity. On the 20th day of April last, on consideration of the bil! in this cause. I passed an order that the defendant, \V. Briggs Green, individually and as supervisor of registration for Richland county, io the State of South Cardio a, be eojoioed aod restrained uotil the further order of this court from the commission of the acts complained of in complainant's bill, and I directed that said defendant show cause before me, if any he could, at Columbia, S. C., on Thursday, May 2, inst, why su JD order should not be continued, or some order of like purport aod effect be theo grant? ed, eojoioiog and restraining bim both individually aod as suoh supervisor of registration from the commission of said acts, uotil the final beariog and determination of this cause. The plaintiff, a citizen of the State of South Carolina aod of the United States, brings his sait against W'. Briggs Green, a citizen of said State aod of the United States. The plaintiff exhibits bis bill io his own behalf and for all others, citizens of the county of Richland, io the State of South Caro Hoa, circumstanced like him, who are too numerous to be named and made parties hereto. It ts set forth io the j bill that the plaintiff was 26 years of age OD the 5th day of February. 1895 ; that.be isa resident of Ward Four, precinct of Columbia, io said county aod State ; that be is a male citizen of the United States : that be has resided io the State of South Carolina for more than ooe year preceding tbe last general electioo io that State, aod in the county of Richland for more than sixty days prior to said general electioo ; that he is an elector of the State of South Caro? lina, possessing all of the qualifications of ao elector of the mose numerous braoch of the State- Legi "lat are, aod is subject to oooe of the disqualifications set forth in the Constitution of that State, aod that he is uoder the Coo stitutioo and laws of the United States daly qualified to vote at all Federal and State elections held io said ward, county and State. It is set forth io the bill that sectioo 90 of the General Statutes of South Car olioa of 1882provides as follows : "Ali electors of the State shall be registered as hereioafter provided ; aod oo per? son shall be allowed to vote at any elec? tioo hereafter to be held unless regis? tered as hereioafter required" ; that by sectioo 94 of said statutes it is provi? ded: "Wheo the said registration (in certain books to be provided for and made io the manner provided for io section 93) shall have been completed, the books shall be closed and not open? ed for registration except for the pur? poses aod as hereinafter mentioned, until after the oext general election for State officers. After the said next general election the books shall be opeoed for registratioo of such persons a9 shall thereafter become entitled to register, oo the first Mooday io each mooth, to and until the first Monday io July, inclusive, preceding the fol? lowing general election, upon which last named day the same shall be closed and not opened for registration until after the said general election and that there? after the said books shall be opened for the registration of such electors on the days abovemeotiooed, uotil the first day of July preceding a general elctioo, wheo the same shall be dosed as afore? said uotil the said general elec? tion shall have taken place:" sectioo 137 of said Re* "After every general election the re gistration books shall be opened for rc gistration of such persons as sha thereafter become entitled to regist ei on the first Monday io each moot until the first day cf July preceding general electioo, wheo the same sha be closed until such election shall br? takeo place." that sectioo 97 provide; "Any person coming of age, aod bein, qualified as ao elector, may appear be fore the supervisor, of registration o any day oo which th books are opeoei as aforesaid aod take oath as to his ag and qualifications as hereinbefore prov id ed, and if the supervisor find him qua] i fled he shall enter his name upon th registration book of the precinct where io be resides." It is also alleged tha said registration laws provide that th? supervisors of registration io the sever al counties shall issue to the voter, whet registered, a certificate of registration aod that said voter shall present tb? same at the polls to the managers o electioo aod that oo one shall be allow ed to vote at aoy electioo to be held it said State, uoless his certificate of re gistratioo is exhibited wheo he offers tc vote; aod that it is required by said lav* that io case a voter shall remove fron one county to aoother io said State, 01 from ooe precinct to another io the saan county, or from ooe residence to anoth? er io the same precinct, that he sbal obtain a transfer and a renewal certifi? cate; and that should a voter lose hu certificate he must obtain a renewal ? thereof, upon furnishing evidence sat j isfactory to the registrar of the county wherein he resides that bis certificate j has been mislaid or lost, and that tin same has not been willfully or in ten j tiooally disposed of. The bill also al? leges that by the provisions and require j meets of said enactment the voter fail? ing for aoy reason to comply with any of the provisions of the same is denied j the right of suffrage, both in Federal and State elections. Complainant claims that the provisions of the said enactments fixing the time for registra? tion aod the closing of the books for that purpose oo the first day of July preoeediog every electioo, aod the many requirements aod conditions set out io the various seotioos of said regis? tration law were intended, aod that they io effect do abridge, impede and destroy the suffrage of the citizens, both of the State and of the TJuited States. , It is also averred that on the 24th day of Deoember, 1894, ao Act was passed by the Geoeral Assembly of South Car? olina entitled "An act to provide for callion a Coostitutional Convention, to provide the number and qualifications of members of the convention, their compensation, etc, and to provide for j the election of the same, and to define and prescribe the qualifications of the electors, and the manner of the electioo and of dedaring the result." That by Section 4 of said Act it is declared who shall be entitled to vote for delegates to said Constitutional Convention, and that in addition to the qualifications prescribed for electors by the Constitu? tion of the State of South Carolina is provided a further one, viz, "that the elector be duly registered as now re? quired by law, or who having been en? titled to register as a voter at tha time of the general registration of electors in the State which took place in the year 1882, or at any time subsequent thereto, failed to register at such time, or who bas become a citizen of this State, and who shall register as here? inafter provided in such cases." The complainant says that he failed to register at the registration made after the general eleotion in 1888, and during the ten days in March, 1895, provided for in the Act of 1894, be? cause although be made repeated and persistent efforts to become registered he found himself unable to comply with the, unreasonable, unnecessary and burdensome rules, regulations and restrictions prescribed by said uncon? stitutional registration laws as conditions precedent to his right to register, and that he has never been allowed to vote at any Federal or State election of the State of South Carolina; that he is de? sirous of voting for delegates to the said Coostitutional Convention, and that the paper writing purporting to be books of registration now in the hands of the defendant do not and will not contain bis name as a registered voter for the reason before stated; that he and others like circumstanced with him will not be permitted to vote at said special election by the managers thereof unless their names be found upon the booka of registration and they produce the registration certificate men? tioned; and that if the defeudant be permitted to cuntinue the aforesaid il? legal, partial and void registration, and be a?owed to turn over to the mana? gers of such election for the county of Richland the books of registration for said county he, the plaintiff, will bf de? prived of his right to vote at said elec? tion and grievous and irreparable wrong will be done and damage him, which can only be prevented by the interposi? tion of this Court by way of restrain? ing the defendant from the performance of said before mentioned acts. The defendant in bis return to the rule to show cause, insists that as super? visor of registration for Rioblaod Coun I i 11 ul III ?? i tioD of this Court, and that the mattere facts and things alleged and complaii ed of io the bill are matters relating t the political duties of bis office; tbs this is io effect a suit against the Stat of South Carolina, which is prohibite by the 11th amendment to the Consti tution of the United Stare?; aiso tba the bill presents no question aristo ander the Constitution or laws of th United States, and that this Court ba no jurisdiction of the case; that the bil presesnts no case for equity jurisdiction as the plaintiff bas a plain and ade quate remedy at law; that the bill i multifarious and not properly versified he denies that the registration law were intended and that they in effec do abridge, impede and destroy the sui frage of the citizens of the State an? of the United States, and he claim that they are reasonable and coostitu tiona!, and submits their proper aoo straction to the Court. The other mat ters set up io the return will not nev be recited, but will be considered ii substance as the questions arising an disposed of. The question of jurisdiction is firs to be determined. Defendant insists that this suit is in effect a proceeding against the State of South Carolina,aac fbat it should not be entertained be cause prohibited by the 11th amend ment to the Constitution of the Unitec States. It is not my intention at thi1 time to consider separately the manj cases cited by counsel in argument bear? ing on this question After carefullj examining them all I cooclude that il is the duty of the Circuit Court of thi United Skates to restrain a State officei from executing ao unconstitutional statute of the State wheo the execution of it by him would violate 01 abridge the rights, privileges and immunities of the complainant thal are granted by the Constitution of the United States. So fat as this question is concerned it is im? material if the officer so restrained be the supervisor of registration, the Auditor of State, the Comptroller General, the Treasurer, the Attorney General or the Governor. We do noi hare io this country any class of peo? ple, State or national officials, or pri? vate citizens who are above the law aod who are not compelled to respect it. The Constitution of the United States is the supreme Ia? of the land, any? thing in the Constitution or laws of any of the states to the contrary notwith? standing. The mandate of tbs Na? tion's Constitution is addressed to all the officers of the United States, as well as to all the officers of all the States. The Judges of the Federal, as well as of the State Courts, must re? spect it, for it declares that the Judges of every State shall be bound thereby. As is said by the Supreme Court in Dodge vs. Wolsey, 18 How, 331: "To make its supremacy more complete, im? pressive and practical, that there should be no escape from its operation and that its binding force upon the States and the members of Congress should be un? mistakable,-it is declared that the Sen? ators land Representatives before men tioued. and the members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to sup? port this Constitution.'' It would be a strange admission, a startling decision, that the Courts of the United States j cannot open their doors to the oitizens ?of the United States, who allege that they are by the unconstitutional laws [ of a State deprived of their privileges j or immunities as citizens of the United j States, and denied the equal protec I don of the laws within the jurisdiction I of such state. I am not aware that ! any Court of the United States has ever so held. I trust I will oev.-r be ad? vised of such a decisioo, and I am sure as I now see the law and my duty that I will not so rule, nor establish such a precedent. " ^ - . Complainant insists u-at his case is included in the reasoning O? A? Court in the cases last cited, and also thai, be is entitled to present his bill to this Court relative to the matters therein set forth, because of the provisions of the Constitution of theUoitedStates, and particularly the 14th and 15th amend? ments thereof To the consideration of this point and of the constitutional? ity of the registration laws of the State of South Carolina we now come. Com? plainant insists that the registration laws of South Carolina are iu contra? vention of the provisions of the Con? stitution of South Carolina, and that they also violate the Constitution of the United States, his rights as a citizen of the United States being so affected thereby as to entitle him to bo heard io this Court on the complaint we now consider. The Constitution of South j Carolina contains the following provi ; ?ions: Article 1, Section 31. ''AU ? elections shall be free and open, aud j every inhabitant of this Commonwealth j possessing the qualifications provided for in this Constitution shall have equal right to elect officers and be elected to fill public offices." Article 8, Section 2 : "Every male citizen of the United States of the age of 21 years and upwards^Bot laboring under the disabilities ^??ed in this Constitution, wit bog! ?ioctiotL I shall be a resident of this State at the time of the adoption of this Constitu? tion, or who shall hereafter reside in this State one year and in the county in which he offers to vote sixty days next preceding any election, shall be entitled to vote for all officers that are now or hereafter may be elected by the people and upon all questions submitted to the electors at any electioo : Pro? vided, that no person shall be allowed to vote or hold office wbo is now or hereafter may be disqualified therefor by the Coostitutioo of the Uoited States uotil such dit qualifications shall be removed by the Coogress of the United States ; provided, further, that ur ersoo while kept in any alms house o. sylum, or of unsound mind or con? fined in any public prison, shall be allowed to vote or hold public office." Article 8, Sectioo 3 : "It shall be the duty of the Geoeral Assembly to provide, from time to time, for the registration for all electors.*' Article 8, Section?: "Every per 800 entitled to vote at any election shall be eligible to any office which now is, or hereafter shall be, elective by the people io tibe county where he shall have resided sixty days previous to such election, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution or the Constitution and laws of the United States." Article 8, Section 8: "The General Assembly shall never pass any law that will deprive any of the citizeus of this State of the right of suffrage, except Lr treason, murder, robbery or duel? ling whereof the person shall have beec duly tried and couvicted." Section 2. Article 3. of the Constitu? tion of the United States is as follows : "The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the seve? ral States, and the electors io each State shall have the qualification requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legisla? ture." Section 1. Article 14, amendment is in these words : "Ail persons born "r naturalized io the United States aod subject to the jurisdiction thereof are Citizen? of the United States aod of the State whereio they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities ot citizens of tbe United States ; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protect^n of the laws. Article 15 of the amendment to the Constitution reads : Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color or previous condition of servi? tude. Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appro? priate legislation. The Congress has given to the Circuit Court? cf the Uoited States jurisdiction of all suits to enforce the right of citizens of the Uoited States to vote in the several States. We find now that a citizen of South Carolina is a citizen of the United States residing in that State. The rights, privileges and immunities belonging to him as a free citizen are his as a citizen of the United States, and do not depend upon his citizen? ship of that State. The plaintiff. Mills, a citizen of African desceot, is a citizen of the United States and of South Caroiioa By the 14th amend? ment he has been made a citizen of the United States, and by the 15th amendment he is a voter io the State in which he resides. Previous to the ? adoption of t?ese amendments the race ! to which he belongs had no rights that the white men of this country were bound to respect, and it was not pos? sible for anyone belonging to it to be a citizen of the United States. In the Slaughter House case9 the Supreme Court of the Uoited States, referring to the time immediately preceding and following the adoption of these amend? ments, said : "The- institution of African slavery, aa it existed in abeut half the States of the Uoion, and the contests pervad? ing the public mind for many years, between those who desired its curtail? ment and ultimate extinction and those who desired additional safeguards for its security and perpetuation, culmi? nated in the effort, on the part of tuo<t of the States in which slavery exis-ed, to separate from the Federal Govern? ment and to resist its authority. This constituted the war of the rebellion, and whatever auxiliary causes may have contributed to bring about this 1 war, undoubtedly thc overshadowing and efficient cause was ATiican slavery. ''io that struggle lavery as ai legalized social relation perished. It perished as a necessity of thc bitter? ness and fore?! of the conflict. When 1 the armies of freedom found them- j selves upon thc soil of slavery they could do rahing less than free the poor vic?fgMvbose enforced servitude was ?4 ?dation of the quarrel, and whej?HW-essed in the content the. e m WL^y proved themseUei men d^^^F^BrHj^01"1^5' offered their eer HH nnl I Efl to aid io suppressing the unlawful re- ! hellion. Slavery was at an end I wherever the Federal Government sue- j ceeded in tha: purpose. The proclama tioo of President Lincoln expressed sn accomplished fact as to a large portion of the insurrectionary districts when he declared slavery abolished io them all. But the war being over those who had succeeded ia re-establishing the author? ity of the Federal Government were not content to permit this great Act of Emancipation to rest on the actual re? sults of the contest or the proclamation of the Executive, both of which might have been questioned in after times, and they determined to place this main and most valuable result in the Consti? tution of the restored Union as one of its fundamental articles. Hence the 13th article of amendment to that instrument. Its two short sections seems hardly to admit of construction, so vigorous is their expression and so appropriate to the purpose we have indicated : "1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction. "2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legis? lation. * * * ? ' MTbe process of restoring to their proper relation with the Federal Government and with the other States those which had sided with the rebel? lion, undertaken under the proclama- j tioo of President Johnson io 1865, and j before the assembling of Congress, developed the fact that, notwithstand? ing the formal recognition! by those States of the abolition of slavery, the condition of the slave race would, with? out further protection of the Federal Government, be almost as bad as it was before. Among the first Acts of legis? lation adopted by several of the States in the legislative bodies whioh claimed to be in their normal relations with the Federal Government were laws which imposed upon the colored race onerous disabilities and burdens, and curtailed their rights in the pursuit of life, liberty and property to such an exteut that their freedom was of little value, while they had lost the protection which they had received from their former owners from motives both of interest and humanity. "They were in some States forbidden to appear in the towns in any other character than menial servants. They wrre required to reside on and cultivate the soil without the right to purchase or own it. There were excluded from many occupations of gain, and were not permitted to give testimony in the Courts io any case where a white mau was a party. It was said that their lives were at the mercy of bad men, eil her because the laws for their pro? tection were insufficient or were not en? forced. These circumstances, whatever of | falsehood or misconception may have ! been mingled with their presentation, I forced upon the statesmen who had | conducted the Federal Government in safety through the crisis of the rebellion, and who supposed that by the 13tb article of the amendment they had se? cured the result of their labors, the conviction that something more was necessary in the way of constitutional protection to the unfortunate race who had suffered so much. They according? ly passed through Congress the proposi- I tiou for the 14th amendment, aud they declined to treat as restored to their full participation in the government of the Union the States which had been in in? surrection until they ratified that article j by a formal vote of their legislative bodies. Before we proceed to examine more critically the provisions of this amend- : meut (on which the plaintiffs in error rely) let us complete and dismiss the history of therecent amendments, as that history relates to the general purpose which pervades them all. A few years' j experience satisfied the thoughtful men who had been the authors of the other ; two amendments that, notwithsanUing the restraints of those articles on the States, and the laws passed under the additional powers granted to Congress, these were inadequate for the protec? tion of life, liberty and property, with? out which freedom to the slaves was no boon. They were in all those States denied the right of suffrage. The laws were administered by the white man alone it was urged that a race of men distinctively marked as was the negro, living in the midst of another -?nd dominant race, could never be fullv se? cured in their person and their property without the right of suffrage. Hence the L5?h amendaient, which ; declares that "the right of a citizen "; the I nired States to vote shall not be de- j r? i ? il or abridged by any State on account of race, color, or previous condi? gn of servitude." The negro having, by the 14th amendment, been declared to be a citizen of the United States is thus made a voter in every State of the Union. We repeat, then, in the light of this recapitulation of events, almost too re? cent to bo called history, but which are familiar to us ali, and on the most casual examination of the language of these amendments, no one can fail to be impressed with the one pervading purpose found io them all, lying at the foundation of each, and without which none of them wouM have been suggest? ed ; we mean the freedom of the slave race, the security and firm establish 0,4?? 0f that freedom, and the protec? tion of the newly made freeman and citizen from the oppressions of those who had formerly exercised unlimited dominion over him. It is true that only the loth amendment, in terms, mentions the negro by speaking of his color and bis slavery. But it is ju?t as true that each of the other articles was addressed to the grievances of that race and designed to remedy them as the 15th. We do not say that no one else but the negro can share in this protec? tion. Both the Iauguage and spirit of these articles are to have their fair and just weight in any question of construction Ua4crabiedly while negro slavery alone was in the mind of Congress which proposed the 13th article, it forbids any other kind of slavery, now or hereafter. If Mexi? can peonage or the Chinese coolie labor system shall develop slavery of the Mexican or Chinese race within our territory, this amendment may safely be trusted to make it void. And so if other rights are assailed by the States which properly and necessarily fall within the protection of these articles, that protection will apply, though the party interested may not be of Africa descent. But . what we do say, and what we wish to be understood, is that in any fair and just construction of any section or phase of these amendments it is necessary to look to the purpose which we have said was the pervad? ing spirit of them all, the evil whic-j they were designed to remedy and the process of continued addition to the Constitution until that purpose was supposed to be accomplished as far as constitutional law can accom? plish it The 1st section of the 14th article, to which our attention is more especially invited, ?'pens with a definition of citizenship-not only citizenship of the United States, but citizenship of the States. Xo such definition was previously found in the Constitution, nor had any attempt been made to define it by Act of Congress. It had been the occasion of much discussion in the Courts, by the executive departments, and in the public journals, it had been said by eminent Judges that no man was a citizen of the United States, except as he was a citizen of one of the States composing the Union. Those, therefore, who had been born and resided always in the District of Columbia or in the Territories, though within th?? United States, were not citizens. Whether this proposition was sound or not had never been judicially decided. But it had been held by this Court, in the celebrated Dred Scott case, only a few years before fcthe outbreak of the civil war, that a man of African descent, whether a slave or not, was not and could not be a citizen of a State or of the United States. This decision, while it met the condemna? tion of some of the ablest statesmen and constitutional lawyeis of the country, had never been overruled : and if it was to be accepted as a constitutional limitation of the right of citizenship, then all the negro race who had recently been made freemen were still not only not citi? zens, but were incapable of becoming so by anything short of a:: amend? ment to the Constitution. To remove this difficulty primarily, and to establish a clear and compre? hensive definition of citizenship which would declare what should constitute citizenship of the United States, and also citizenship of a State, the first clause of the 1st section was framed : "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to tho jurisdiction thereof at(; citizens ol the United States and ol the State wherein they reside." The first observation we have to make on the clause is that it puts at rest both the questions which we stated to have been the subject' of differences of opinion lt declares that persons may be citizens ol the Highest of all in Leavening Power.-Latest U. S. Gov': Report PrjVfcvl Baking lyySri Powder