tion of the public safety shall become in such district impracticable, in every such case such combinations shall be deemed a rebellion, against the government of the United States, and during the continuation of such rebellion, and within the limits of the district which shall be so under the sway thereof, such limits to be prescribed by proclamation, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States, when in his judgment the public safety shall require it, to suspend the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus, to the end that such rebellion may be overthrown: Provided, That all the provisions of the second section of an act entitled "An act relating to habeas corpus, [of March 3, 1863] which relate to the discharge of prisoners other than prisoners of war, and to the penalty for refusing to obey the order of the court, shall be in full force. so far as the same are applicable to the provisions of this section: Provided further, That the President shall first have made proclamation, as now provided by law, commanding such insurgents to disperse: And provided also, That the provisions of this section shall not be in force after the end of the next regular session of Congress.

Sec. 5. That no person shall be a grand or petit juror in any court of the United States upon any inquiry, hearing, or trial of any suit, proceeding, or prosecution based upon or arising under the provisions of this act who shall, in the judgment of the court, be in complicity with any such combination or conspiracy; and every such juror shall, before entering upon any such inquiry, hearing, or trial, take and subscribe an oath in open court that he has never, directly or indirectly, counselled, advised, or voluntarily aided any such combination or conspiracy; and each and every person who shall take this oath, and shall therein swear falsely, shall be guilty of perjury, and shall be subject to the pains and penalties declared against that crime, and the first section of the act [of June 17, 1862, relating to jurors in United States courts] . . be, and the same is hereby, repealed.

Sec. 6. That any person, having knowledge that any of the wrongs conspired to be done and mentioned in the second section

of this act are about to be committed, and having power to prevent or aid in preventing the same, shall neglect or refuse to do so, and such wrongful act shall be committed, such person or persons shall be liable to the person injured, or his legal representatives, for all damages caused by any such wrongful act which such first-named person or persons by reasonable diligence could have prevented; and such damages may be recovered in an action on the case in the proper circuit court of the United States, and any number of persons guilty of such wrongful neglect or refusal may be joined as defendants in such action: Provided, That such action shall be commenced within one year after such cause of action shall have accrued; and if the death of any person shall be caused by any such wrongful act and neglect, the legal representatives of such deceased person shall have action therefor, and may recover not exceeding five thousand dollars damages therein, for the benefit of the widow of such deceased person, if any there be, or if there be no widow, for the benefit of the next of kin of such deceased person.

Sec. 7. That nothing herein contained shall be construed to supersede or repeal any former act or law except so far ast the same may be repugnant thereto; and any offenses heretofore committed against the tenor of any former act shall be prosecuted, and any proceeding already commenced for the prosecution thereof shall be continued and completed, the same as if this act had not been passed, except so far as the provisions of this act may go to sustain and validate such proceedings.

Writ of Habeas Corpus Suspended in South Carolina

Richardson, Messages and Papers, vol. vii, p. 136. On March 24, 1871, the President had issued a proclamation against certain bodies in South Carolina; on May 3, he issued a general proclamation calling attention to the Ku Klux law; on October 12 he issued another proclamation against bodies of whites in South Carolina, and five days later suspended the writ of habeas corpus in nine counties; Federal troops were sent in and more than eighteen hundred ar rests were made. [October 17, 1871]

WHEREAS by an act of Congress entitled "An act to enforce the provisions of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and for other purposes," approved the

20th day of April, A. D. 1871, power is given to the President of the United States, when in his judgment the public safety shall require it, to suspend the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus in any State or part of a State whenever combinations and conspiracies exist in such State or part of a State for the purpose of depriving any portion or class of the people of such State of the rights, privileges, immunities, and protection named in the Constitution of the United States and secured by the act of Congress aforesaid; and whenever such combinations and conspiracies do so obstruct and hinder the execution of the laws of any such State and of the United States as to deprive the people aforesaid of the rights, privileges, immunities, and protection aforesaid, and do oppose and obstruct the laws of the United States in their due execution, and impede and obstruct the due course of justice under the same; and whenever such combinations shall be organized and armed, and so numerous and powerful as to be able by violence either to overthrow or to set at defiance the constituted authorities of said State and of the United States within such State; and whenever by reason of said causes the conviction of such offenders and the preservation of the public peace shall become in such State or part of a State impracticable; and .

Whereas on the 12th day of the present month of October the President of the United States did issue his proclamation, reciting therein, among other things, that such combinations. and conspiracies did then exist in the counties of Spartanburg, York, Marion, Chester, Laurens, Newberry, Fairfield, Lancaster, and Chesterfield, in the State of South Carolina, and commanding thereby all persons composing such unlawful combinations and conspiracies to disperse and retire peaceably to their homes within five days from the date thereof, and to deliver either to the marshal of the United States for the district of South Carolina, or to any of his deputies, or to any military officer of the United States within said counties, all arms, ammunition, uniforms, disguises, and other means and implements used, kept, possessed, or controlled by them for carrying out

the unlawful purposes for which the said combinations and conspiracies are organized; and

Whereas the insurgents engaged in such unlawful combinations and conspiracies within the counties aforesaid have not dispersed and retired peaceably to their respective homes, and have not delivered to the marshal of the United States, or to any of his deputies, or to any of the military officers of the United States within said counties, all arms, ammunition, uniforms, disguises, and all other means and implements used, kept, possessed, or controlled by them, for carrying out the unlawful purposes for which the combinations and conspiracies are organized, as commanded by said proclamation, but do still persist in the unlawful combinations and conspiracies aforesaid:

Now, therefore, 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 suspended, to the end that such rebellion may be overthrown, and do hereby suspend the priv ileges of the writ of habeas corpus within the counties of Spartanburg, York, Marion, Chester, Laurens, Newberry, Fairfield, 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 district 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 any violation of the act of Congress aforesaid, during the continuance of such rebellion.

[1]

The Election of a Senator

The Election of George E. Spencer, pp. 36, 73. Spencer was U. S. Senator from Alabama, a candidate for re-election, and was supported by the Washington administration. (1) Letter from Spencer to Robert Barber; (2) Statement of Perrin, a deputy U. S. marshal. [1872]

MY DEAR BARBER:

Decatur, Ala., Oct. 22, 1872.

I have just returned from Louisville, where I have been to see Gen. Terry about troops for Alabama.

I have had a company of cavalry sent to Livingston, a detachment to Pickens county, a company of infantry to Eutaw, and a company to Demopolis, and a company to Seal's Station, Russell county. Also, a squadron of cavalry to report to Marshal Thomas, at Huntsville.

I wish Randolph, deputy U. S. marshal, would use the company at Opelika in making arrests in Tallapoosa, Randolph and Cleburne, as suggests. . . I must not, however, be known in the matter.

[2] I wrote to Gen. Spencer in Lou Mayer's presence, that under the Enforcement Act we could get affidavits and have Democratic members arrested and detained until the legislature was organized by the Republicans, and his election as Senator secured. Lou Mayer [chairman of the Republican party organization] was present when I wrote the letter. I read it to him and he approved its contents. .

The missing members were arrested while on their way to Montgomery, at Selma, and were carried via Meridian [Mississippi] to Mobile where they waived an examination, gave bond and were released. No indictment was ever found against them, and there was no further prosecution. I do not think it was ever intended that they should be indicted or prosecuted. . .

Troops were brought here at that time for the alleged purpose of protecting the federal revenue officers in the performance of their duties. This was the ostensible object, but the real object was to parade the troops through the country with