American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1845-09-29
For the American Republican,
HE HINGES OF THE FL ECrIO

SHbSSo' ISuUOiS,-DcHiUCldtY 10 IlbL ltfDlu-
tom Repubcansm is not disobediencc of law:
negative propositions which we hold to be fun
damental truths Ever since we have been ca
pable Of thinking on the subject, and certainly
ever since we have come to mans estate, we
have thought, and voted and acted with the
Democratic party, heart and soul-and that,
too, with no other view than the sacred ono, OF
performing our duty to our country. Sooner,
however, would we have seen that party in the
dust, and for rather would we have been de-
prived of the privilege Of expressing our opin-
ion through the ballot-box, if we had supposed
that we were giving countonance in any way
to agrarlsn law-or were ministering to still
worse condition Of things, (if worse be posi-
ble) anarchy. Wish shame and modification
do we record our astonshment Mt the principles
avowed, and our deep regret at the resolutions
adopted at the meetings OF the Judges OF Flee
ton, on Wednesday last. Can it be posi-
bic that men of intelligence, and some too,
whose lives have been past in the study and
practice of the law, should so far forget their
reason, and lose their Judgment, as sincerely
and honestly to entertain the idea, that any
men, or any set Of men, be they called Judges
of Election, or Inspectors of Leather, Demo
cratic reformers, or Wing aristocrats, can form
themselves into a sef-constItuted tribunal to
determine what shall be legal and what illegal
what constitutional and what unconstituton-
all If men are to band themselves together
and declare that certain acts of the Legislative
Assembly of the State are a dead letter, and
that they will utterly disregard their operation,
then judicial tribunals are useless and courts,
for the Interpretation and application of laws,
ought at once to be abolished. Then, instead
of appealing to the Judges of the country for
the purpose Of ascertaining our legal rights and
remedies, conclaves and cabals, headed by de-
magogues and dxtfoyers, will be the only safe
expounders of the constitution. May we never
live to see the day when such proceedings will
be sustained by the great body of the people.
But how sophistical, how futile the reasoning
of the resolutions Has the Legislature at
tempted in any way to interfere with the rights
Of the citizens of the State, or to alter in any
particular the Constitution or Bill of Rights
On the contrary, the object of the law defect
i've as it is) is to protect those who have the
right to cast their votes and to protect those
0nty. 1t provides against fraud, which has
been confessedIy pei, petratcd at preceding cleo
tons, by persons voting in different wards with
the same certificate Of acknowledgements 1t
provides against it in the only practicable
mode. And who is there who will dare to
step forward and 0vow his sanction of such
frauds upon the purity Of the elective fran
chise? Not one And yet there are not want.
ing those, who will declare law preventive Of
those frauds unconstitutional and invidous.-
and will frame and carry through resolutions
declaring the law nugatory. How unconstitu-
tona and invdous!-how nugatory? Does
the constitution say that an Illegal voter shall
have the right to deposite his ballot! Does the
constitution say that no law shall be passed to
restrain illegal voting? Is it invidious, to keep
the fraudulent and the unnaturalzed from the
balot-box? Is it invidious to shut the door
against corruption and dishonesty? We say
not; and honestly declare, that if Democracy is
to succeed by resortlng to such unholy means,
we will none of it. If the success of the great
cause on which we think and have always
thought, rest, the sanctity and happiness of our
country, depends on the PRONUNCIATION of such
doctrines and'the establishment of such views,
as were insisted on at the meeting OF the Judges
of Election, then we have misunderstood the
meaning of Democracy, and will fly from it to
the preservation Of the purity of the Ballot-box
and the support of Law and Order.
What would be the effect, if the resolutions
adopted by the Judges, were carried out, upon
the legality of the election itself? Suppose
sheriff were illegally installed, who can say
what rights would be compromised, what inju-
ry might be done to the pockets and the inter
ests of our fellow citizens. All his acts would
be ilegal-all his proceedings nullty-and
yet, men will be so reckless and revolutionary
as to repudiate all law, to set at naught all pru-
dence, for the sake of dainagogism. For such
men we have no feeing-of them, we say
to all right minded men, f hraim is Joined to
his idols let him alone. a DEMocRAr.