The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1855-06-06
OUR MUNICIPAL ELECTION.

W.
To be beaten in fair, open contest to call into being
feeling Of disappointment unmixed with humiliation
To be outvoed under any and all circumstances is
not calculated to engender the most soothing
Elections But to be Knocked with the empty forms of the
elective franchseto be deuded into the attempted
else of the highest and dearest rights Of freeman, and
find the whole affair wretched cheatto suffer the hui
initiation of being cooped up in PEN and subject TO the
nquisora nsolence of oathbound workers in darkness
and iniquity and then discover that with all these mor
cations and with right and justice, and principle and the
majority your side you have submitted TO these hum
~is sa~sis,l
ton and promote that searching inquiry viii usually
cures the abatement of general evil.
We are free to admit that we attach no political
importance to elections in any part of the District
Columbia. The District is neither sovereign State,
organized Territory part of the general constituency
of the whole country 1t can neither make influence
follow public opinion beyond its limits and it is a
matter Of perfect indifference to citizens Of the Dis
trct whether the members of city government hold
political sentiments in accordance with the majority the
minority of the federal Legislature. In briefly abiding
them the in which the election held in this city
Monday last conducted, purpose is to show
what the country large may expect if ACKNOWLEDGMENT
should obtain the same unbrdled license elsewhere
has already obtained in Washington.
In every State in the Union it has been customary all
general and local elections make ample provisions for the
protection Of the rights of the minority the ballotbox
To this end least of the inspectors Of every voting
precinct has been cheerfully conceded the party in
opposition by the party in power. In this city there
election precincts each entitled to three inspectors
judges Prior to the election these judges appointed
by the knownohing city councils and in the blindness Of
their folly they selected nineteen of their active
followers to fill these important Offices The remaining
two udgeshps given to political opponents and to
render this triang concession perfectly ridiculous and
gaory the concessions made in wards where their
services could be of no practical benefit.
The trckery fraud and reckless violation of solemnly
guaranteed constitutional rights which marked the whole
of last Mondays farce should excite no surprise They
in perfect keeping with the scant principles and
ton of know nothngism When the vote was
counted of, the know-nothings claimed average
jority OF four hundred their candidates. trc less
than their majority of year How that majority
obtained is matter of infamous notoriety.
Upwards of three hundred and fifty naturazed citizens,
whom the had socmnly declared were justly enti-
lied to oil the rights and privileges Of American citizen
ship allowed by their know-nothng judges and
masters to vote Monday last They produced their cert
Many them proved that their received at
the last municipal election. Sam was inexorabe What
cared he for the constitution the laws the courts
They Of foreign birth and that sufficient Vote
they should not, and vote they could not
1t stated in the report which appeared in our local
columns yesterday that by the preconcerted systematic
annoyances and delays the part Of those holding the
election hundreds Of citizens deprived from deposit
ing their ballots although they in attendance al the
polls for hours before the windows closed. This
fully corrobcraed by the testimony Of witnesses of
the highest responsibility. II add the natnrszed
that thrown the vote that lost through
fraudulent mpedmcnis, it win be that the anti
knownothings have clear majority in the city OF Wash
ington of at least fire hundred