Mr. DELANO. was proceeding to remark, when my time exired, that Mr. Hamilton took the case of an e ort on the part of Congress to interfere with the law of descent in a State and that brings me to the consideration of another clause in this bill. “All citizens shall have an equnl right to inherit.” Suppose a State legislaure declares that in the case of a person dying intestate the heirs shall inherit, excluding those who are of African or mixed blood. That would be illustrated in the case of a man who married 1st a white woman, by whom he had white children, and then married a black woman, by whom he had children of mixed blood. The State legislation is such as to exclude the children of mixed blood from the inheritance. Now, sir, should this bill be passed that law of the State might be overthrown by the powerof Congress. In my opinion, ifwe adopt the principle of this bill we declare in effect that Cengress has authority to go into the States and manage and legislate with regard to all the personal rights of the citizen rights of life, iberty, and property. You render this Government no onger a Government of limited powers; you concentrate and consolidate here an extent of authority which will swallow all or up nearly all of the rights of the States with respect to the property, the liberties, and the lives of its citizens. This thought is illustrated by Mr. Madison; and for the purpose of directing the attention of the chairman of the ComJudiciary kMr. Wilson] to it, Iwill read the language of Mr. Madison from No. 45 of the Federalist: “The powers reserved to the Federal States will extend to allthe objectswhich in theordinary course of affairs concern the lives. liberties and properties of the people and the internal order, improvement and prosperityof the State.” An one who has studied the Constitution of the U.S. knows that it was designed to establish a Government with limited powers, powers restricted to the necessar objects of its existence and the proper discharge of the great duties devolving upon it. It was never designed to take away from the States the right of controlling their own citizens in respect to property, liberty, and life. If we now go on in a system of legislation based upon the assumption that Congress possesses the right of supreme control in this respect, I submit whether we are not assisting to build up a consolidated Government in view of the powers of which We may well tremble. pursuing this train of thought, I might go on and show that the authority assumed as the warrant for this bill would enable Congress to exercise almost any power over a State. Sir, we have had in the State of Ohio until a very recent period a law excluding the black man from bein a witness in a court of justice. I do not kno. but that laws of a similar character still exist in some of the States. It is buta little while since Indiana repealed a law of that sort.