d to the object, or are
deficient in the provisions necessary to furnish suitable
remedies and punish offenses against law, the common law, as
modified and changed by the constitution and statutes of the
States wherein the court having jurisdiction of the cause,
civil or criminal, is held, so far as the same is not
inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United
States, shall be extended to and govern said courts in the
trial and disposition of such cause, and, if of a criminal
nature, in the infliction of punishment on the party found
guilty.

"SEC. 4. _And be it further enacted_, That the district
attorneys, marshals, and deputy-marshals of the United
States, the commissioners appointed by the circuit and
territorial courts of the United States, with powers of
arresting, imprisoning, or bailing offenders against the
laws of the United States, the officers and agents of the
Freedmen's Bureau, and every other officer who may be
specially empowered by the President of the United States,
shall be, and they are hereby, specially authorized and
required, at the expense of the United States, to institute
proceedings against all and every person who shall violate
the provisions of this act, and cause him or them to be
arrested and imprisoned, or bailed, as the case may be, for
trial before such court of the United States, or territorial
court, as by this act has cognizance of the offense. And
with a view to affording reasonable protection to all
persons in their constitutional rights of equality before
the law, without distinction of race or color, or previous
condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted, and to the prompt discharge of the duties of this
act, it shall be the duty of the circuit courts of the
United States and the superior courts of the Territories of
the United States, from time to time, to increase the number
of commissioners, so as to afford a speedy and convenient
means for the arrest and examination of persons charged with
a violation of this act. And such commissioners are hereby
authorized and required to exercise and discharge all the
powers and duties conferred on them by this act, and the
same duties with re