Opinion of the Court.

clear, if we revert to the original statute from which this section was taken. That statute was the act of May 31, 1870, c. 114, 16 Stat. 140, "to enforce the Right of Citizens of the United States to vote in the several States of this Union, and for other purposes." It is the statute which was under consideration as to some of its sections in United States v. Reese, supra, and from its title, as well as its text, it is apparent that the great purpose of Congress in its enactment was to enforce the political rights of citizens of the United States in the several states. Under these circumstances there cannot be a doubt that originally the word "citizen" was used in its political sense, and as the Revised Statutes are but a revision and consolidation of the statutes in force December 1, 1873, the presumption is that the word has the same meaning there that it had originally.

This particular section is a substantial re-enactment of § 6 of the original act, which is found among the sections that deal exclusively with the political rights of citizens, especially their right to vote, and were evidently intended to prevent discriminations in this particular against voters on account "of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Sometimes, as in §§ 3 and 4, the language is broader than this, and therefore, as decided in United States v. Reese, those sections are inoperative, but still it is everywhere apparent that Congress had it in mind to legislate for citizens, as citizens, and not as mere persons, residents or inhabitants.

This section is highly penal in its character, much more so than any others, for it not only provides as a punishment for the offence a fine of not more than five thousand dollars and an imprisonment of not more than ten years, but it declares that any person convicted shall "be thereafter ineligible to any office, or place of honor, profit, or trust created by the Constitution or laws of the United States." It is, therefore, to be construed strictly; not so strictly as to defeat the legislative will, but doubtful words are not to be extended beyond their natural meaning in the connection in which they are used. Here the doubtful word is "citizen," and it is used in connection with the rights and privileges pertaining to a man as a citizen,

Opinion of the Court.

and not as a person only or an inhabitant. And, besides, the crime has been classified in the revision among those which relate to the elective franchise and the civil rights of citizens. For these reasons we are satisfied that the word "citizen," as used in this statute, must be given the same meaning it has in the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, and that to constitute the offence which is there provided for, the wrong must be done to one who is a citizen in that sense.

It is true that the word "citizen" only occurs in the first clause of the section, but in the second clause there is nothing to indicate that any other than a citizen was meant, and the section of the original statute from which this was taken has nothing from which any different inference can be drawn. That clearly deals with citizens alone, and the revision differs from it only in a re-arrangement of the original sentences and the exclusion of some superfluous words. Sections 5506 and 5507, which immediately precede this in the revisjon, clearly refer to political rights only, for they both relate to the privilege of voting, § 5506 being for the protection of citizens in terms, and § 5507 being for the protection of those to whom the right of suffrage is guaranteed by the Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution. It may be that by this construction of the statute some are excluded from the protection it affords who are as much entitled to it as those who are included; but that is a defect, if it exists, which can be cured by Congress, but not by the courts.

We therefore answer the first subdivision of the seventh question certified in the negative. The second subdivision need not be answered otherwise than it has been elsewhere in this opinion.

It remains only to consider that part of the questions certified which relates to § 5336. That section provides for the punishment of those who conspire, 1, "to overthrow, put down, or destroy by force the government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof;" or, 2. by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States; " or, 3, "by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States con

Opinion of the Court.

trary to the authority thereof." This is a re-enactment of similar provisions in the act of July 31, 1861, c. 33, 12 Stat. 284, "to define and punish certain Conspiracies," and in that of April 20, 1871, c. 22, § 2, 17 Stat. 13, "to enforce the Provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and for other Purposes."

It cannot be claimed that Baldwin has been charged with a conspiracy to overthrow the government or to levy war within the meaning of this section. Nor is he charged with any attempt to seize the property of the United States. All, therefore, depends on that part of the section which provides a punishment for "opposing" by force the authority of the United States, or for preventing, hindering, or delaying the "execution" of any law of the United States.

This evidently implies force against the government as a government. To constitute an offence under the first clause, the authority of the government must be opposed; that is to say, force must be brought to resist some positive assertion of authority by the government. A mere violation of law is not enough; there must be an attempt to prevent the actual exercise of authority. That is not pretended in this case. The force was exerted in opposition to a class of persons who had. the right to look to the government for protection against such wrongs, not in opposition to the government while actually engaged in an attempt to afford that protection.

So, too, as to the second clause, the offence consists in preventing, hindering, or delaying the government of the United States in the execution of its laws. This, as well as the other, means something more than setting the laws themselves at defiance. There must be a forcible resistance of the author-. ity of the United States while endeavoring to carry the laws into execution. The United States are bound by their treaty with China to exert their power to devise measures to secure the subjects of that government lawfully residing within the territory of the United States against ill treatment, and if in their efforts to carry the treaty into effect they had been forcibly opposed by persons who had conspired for that purpose, a state of things contemplated by the statute would have

Dissenting Opinion: Harlan, J.

arisen. But that is not what Baldwin has done. His conspiracy is for the ill treatment itself, and not for hindering or delaying the United States in the execution of their measures to prevent it. His force was exerted against the Chinese people, and not against the government in its efforts to protect them. We are compelled, therefore, to answer the third subdivision of the seventh question in the negative, and that covers the fourth subdivision.

This disposes of the whole case, and, without answering the questions certified more in detail,

We reverse the judgment of the Circuit Court, and remand the case for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.

MR. JUSTICE HARLAN dissenting.

By the treaty of 1880-1881, with China, the Government of the United States agreed to exert all its power to devise measures for the protection, against ill treatment at the hands of other persons, of Chinese laborers or Chinese of any other class, permanently or temporarily residing, at the time, in this country, and to secure to them the same rights, privileges, immunities and exemptions to which the citizens or subjects of the most favored nation are entitled, by treaty, to enjoy here. It would seem from the decision in this case, that if Chinamen, having a right, under the treaty, to remain in our country, are forcibly driven from their places of business, the Government of the United States is without power, in its own courts, to protect them against such violence, or to punish those who, in this way, subject them to ill treatment. If this be so, as to Chinamen lawfully in the United States, it must be equally true as to the citizens or subjects of every other foreign nation, residing or doing business here under the sanction of treaties with their respective governments.

I do not think that such is the present state of the law, and must dissent from the opinion and judgment of the court.

It is conceded in the opinion of the court to be within the constitutional power of Congress to provide as by § 5508 of

Dissenting Opinion: Harlan, J.

the Revised Statutes it has done - that "if two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any citizen in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or if two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured, they shall be fined," &c. It is also conceded that, in the meaning of that section, a treaty between this Government and a foreign nation is a "law" of the United States; and that the wrongs done by Baldwin and others to the subjects of the Emperor of China, named in the warrant, prevented the free exercise and enjoyment of rights and privileges secured to those aliens by the treaty between the United States and China. I concur in these views, but am unable to assent to the proposition that the offence charged is not embraced by the foregoing section or by any other valid enactment of Congress.

My brethren hold that § 5508 describes only wrongs done to a "citizen;" in other words, that Congress did not intend, by that section, to protect the free exercise or enjoyment of rights secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States, except where citizens are concerned. This, it seems to me, is an interpretation of the statute which its language neither demands nor justifies. Observe, that the subject with which Congress was dealing was the protection of "any right or privilege" secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States. There is, perhaps, plausible ground for holding that the first clause of § 5508 embraces only a conspiracy directed against a "citizen." "citizen." But the succeeding clause describes two other and distinct offences, namely, the going of two or more persons "in disguise on the highway," and the going of two or more persons "on the premises of another"- that is, upon the premises of another person with intent, in either case, to prevent or hinder the free exercise or enjoyment by such person of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States. The use of the word