t upon one of these deputies
with the intent to prevent a lawful election will be no more than an
ordinary assault upon any other citizen. They can not keep the peace.
They can not make arrests when crimes are committed in their presence.
Whatever powers they have are confined to the precincts in which they
reside. Outside of the precincts for which they are appointed the
deputy marshals of this bill can not keep the peace, make arrests,
hold prisoners, take prisoners before a proper tribunal for hearing,
nor perform any other duty. No oaths of office are required of them,
and they give no bond. They have no superior who is responsible for
them, and they are not punishable for neglect of duty or misconduct in
office. In all these respects this bill makes a radical change between
the powers of the United States officers at national elections and the
powers uniformly possessed and exercised by State officers at State
elections. This discrimination against the authority of the United
States is a departure from the usage of the Government established by
precedents beginning with the earliest statutes on the subject, and
violates the true principles of the Constitution. The Supreme Court,
in the decision already referred to, says:

It is argued that the preservation of peace and good order in
society is not within the powers confided to the Government of
the United States, but belongs exclusively to the States. Here
again we are met with the theory that the Government of the
United States does not rest upon the soil and territory of
the country. We think that this theory is founded on an entire
misconception of the nature and powers of that Government.
We hold it to be an incontrovertible principle that the
Government of the United States may, by means of physical
force, exercised through its official agents, execute on every
foot of American soil the powers and functions that belong to
it. This necessarily involves the power to command obedience
to its laws, and hence the power to keep the peace to that
extent.

This power to enforce its laws and to execute its functions
in all places does not derogate from the power of the State to
execute its laws at the same time and in the same places. The
one does not exclude the other, except where both can not
be executed at the same time. In that case the words of the
Constitution itself show which is to yield. "This Constitution
and all