such functions as these,
is itself the law of the state upon all matters within its jurisdiction.
To pronounce the supreme law-making power of an established state
illegal is to say that law itself is unlawful.

The provisions which these governments have made for the preservation
of order, the suppression of crime, and the redress of private injuries
are in substance and principle the same as those which prevail in the
Northern States and in other civilized countries. They certainly have
not succeeded in preventing the commission of all crime, nor has this
been accomplished anywhere in the world. There, as well as elsewhere,
offenders sometimes escape for want of vigorous prosecution, and
occasionally, perhaps, by the inefficiency of courts or the prejudice of
jurors. It is undoubtedly true that these evils have been much increased
and aggravated, North and South, by the demoralizing influences of civil
war and by the rancorous passions which the contest has engendered. But
that these people are maintaining local governments for themselves which
habitually defeat the object of all government and render their own
lives and property insecure is in itself utterly improbable, and the
averment of the bill to that effect is not supported by any evidence
which has come to my knowledge. All the information I have on the
subject convinces me that the masses of the Southern people and those
who control their public acts, while they entertain diverse opinions
on questions of Federal policy, are completely united in the effort to
reorganize their society on the basis of peace and to restore their
mutual prosperity as rapidly and as completely as their circumstances
will permit.

The bill, however, would seem to show upon its face that the
establishment of peace and good order is not its real object. The fifth
section declares that the preceding sections shall cease to operate in
any State where certain events shall have happened. These events are,
first, the selection of delegates to a State convention by an election
at which negroes shall be allowed to vote; second, the formation of a
State constitution by the convention so chosen; third, the insertion
into the State constitution of a provision which will secure the right
of voting at all elections to negroes and to such white men as may
not be disfranchised for rebellion or felony; fourth, the submission
of the constitution for ratification to negroes and white men not
disfra