Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-03-14

sheer pretences to depend on. Not a single
item of proof of the truth of the allegations
on which the power to send for persons and
papers is asked, has been attempted to be ad.
duced by any one of the many gentlemen who
have advocated the adoption of the resolution
to that end.
The unsupported assertions of the partisan
writers for tie New York Tribune and TTmes,
50 often and so completely exploded by the
publication Of refutations direct from Kansas,
form the whole Of the testimony on which
power is asked to enable the abolition Com
mittee of Elections to pay for the services of
the gang Of wandering abolitionists, who, after
spending some months in Kansas, doing their
best to set quiet people by the ears there, are
now begging money and Sharpe's rifles
throughout the non-slaveholding States, to
turn the trouble they have made in the Terri
tory into treason. Up to this time, these po-
litical adventures have lived on the contri-
buttons of the credulous They now seek to
get quartered on the Treasury, by being sent
for to attend the Elections Committee as wit
nesses in the Kansas election case during most
of the approaching Presidential canvass; and
and they propose to devote all their time
when here to the work Of gratuitously writing
to aboli ton newspapers against the South,
and such Northern members as decline be
coming identified with the Republican party
Such is the explanation of the persons and
papers dodge, contrived only to accomplish
that particular end.
As we remark above, its supporters have
lost ground woefully throughout the debate
because that has made it plain that their
case is mere budget of the sheerest false
pretences. We have no idea that their reso-
luton can possibly command the support of
a majority Of the House, though it is very
probable that a commission will be sent to
Kansas to take testimony. The result of their
journey will be more fully to expose the con-
spiracy and intrigues of the emigrant aid SO
cieties and the Aboltionists in the Territory
to carry their points by frauds, misrepresent-
ations, and violence.
The New Election Law.-Herewith we
publish at length the bill to regulate elections
in this city, reported yesterday by Mr..
District of Columbia, and made special order
for Tuesday next
BILL defining the rights Of voters and the duties
If commissioners Of elections In the city Of
Washington. and for other purposes,
Be 1T enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives. Of tho United States of
America an Congress assembled, That from
and after the passage Of this act every free
ton, (vagrants, paupers, felons, and persons
non c0mpos mentis excepted who shall have
resided in the said city one year Immediately
preceding the day Of election, and who shall
| be citizen Of the United States and twenty
| one years of age at the time he offers to vote,
| and shall have paid the school-tax, and all
| taxes on personal property due from him, shall
| be entitled to vote in the ward Of which he
| shall have been for one month previous to the
| day Of election and is on the day thereof,
bona-fde resident, for Mayor, members of the
Board of Aldermen and Common Council,
| Register. Collector, Surveyor, Assessors and
such other officers as may hereafter be made
| elective: Provtdsd, That in all cases where
| the person so otherwise entitled and Offering
to vote, shall not have been resident of the
| particular ward in which he is resident bona
| one month Immediately previous thereto, that
then such person shall be entitled to vote in
| the ward in which he last previously resided.
Sec. 2 And be 1T further enacted, That no
person shall be allowed to vote at any cleo
ton as aforesaid, unless he shall have been
| returned on the books of the corporation of
| said city as subject to a school-tax; and it
| shall be the duty of the register of said city,
in addition to the names of persons so re-
turned by the assessors Of said city, upon sat
isfactory proof under oath, to be administered
by some Justice of the peace Of the county of
Washington, that the name of any such per-
son has been accidentally or wilfully omitted
from said books, to place the same thereon at
any time after he shall have received said
books from the assessors, up to ten days be-
fore the said election; and in case any such
person shall be absent from the city at said
time, or under twenty-One years of age, and
his name in consequence thereof be omitted
from said books, then upon his return, or be-
coming of age at any time after the day of
registration, and before the day of said cleo
ton, and upon satisfactory proof thereof made
as aforesaid, the said register shall place the
name of such person so returning on said
books. And If any person shall knowingly
swear falsely in the premises, he shall upon
indictment and conviction thereof before any
court competent to try the same, be adjudged
guilty Of wilful and corrupt perjury, and pun
ished accordingly.
Sec. 2. And be 1T further enacted, That if
any commissioner Of elections shall refuse to
receive the vote of a person possessing the
legal qualifications to vote at such election,
as prescribed in the first and second sections
Of this act, when called upon so to do, or shall
in any other manner hinder or prevent the
legal exercise of the elective franchise in said
city of Washington, he shall, upon indictment
and conviction thereof before the Criminal
Court of the District Of Columbia, be subject
to imprisonment in the county Jail for period
of time not exceeding six months and to q
| fine not exceeding two hundred dollars in each
case, at the discretion of the court, and shall
| thereafter be ineligible to any Office under the
city Corporation, besides being liable in dam
| ages to the party whose vote shall be 50 re.
jected.
Sec. 4. And be 1t further enacted, That the
penalties prescribed in the foregoing sections
| of this act shall apply to any commissioners or
other person appointed to superintend an
election who may wilfully and knowingly re-
ceive, or permit to be received, the vote of any