The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1858-01-30
.,..,,., rr.uds...Our Danger.

No other feature in American society IS so
;ustlv alarming to the rejecting lover OF his
country, as the frauds which are now haoitu-
ally practiced upon the ballot-box. wrong
policies may be pursued, but experience can
SET them right. Administrative evils may
exist. but while the sovereign power remains
uncorrupted there is hope for the CORRECTION
Rut when the elective franchise is debauch
ed.-when the ballot-boX, the last resort OF
Republicanlsm, is robbed OF its sanctity'
when it fails to express the sober will OF ma
jority of legal electors, the last security OF
our peace is gone. The cartridge-box will
soon take the place of a corrupted ballot box.
There are painful evidences that such
period of our Territory approaches, the dark
est of which is that so little alarm is felt re-
specting it. If but party success is thus Sc
cnred. who will vigorously resist the .ong :?
Whose mouth is not sealed, or opened only
with shameful apologies, or denial Of the
mortal crime If paltry gold is lost by
fraud, legal penalty pursues the guilty with
sleepless vigilance; but how seldom is legal
justice made TO fall on the ten fold more gull
~ aSSaSsins OF the ballot-bOx In the last
days Of Rome her public offices were sold to
the highest bidder Was this more certain
proof of a ruined State than to make them
lawleSs plumber
The Republican party may be chargeable
with retaliatory instances of frauds Of this
kind if so let the severes' condemnation fol-
low. That party has the life of the Repuo-
lie in charge, and its persistent integrity "a
lone can save it. 1t must be true or all is
lost
But it is impossible to deny that with the
other party, such frauds have become well
nigh its settled policy when essential to success,
We do not believe leading politician in its
ranks would dare hazard his position by re-
fu>ing at least to wink at such measures in an
exgency. if not actually to resort to them
In fifteen states, where its chief strength lies,
Scruple as to the righteousness of slavery
is damning; how then is it possible for the
rest of the same party to escape demoraliza-
tion2 Look at facts-never to be forgotten
nor controverted.
In California, under the administration of
that party, this iniquity was carried to such
an extent that public justice was completely
paralyzed Law was dead and no remedy
could be found in the ballot. Society was
driven to revolution for its own preservation.
The chief responsibility for this horrible con-
dition of things already lies within the So
called Democratic party.
In Wisconsin the attempt was made to
seize the higest Office in the State by the
most enormous election frauds, and civil war
was threatened in support of the claim, which
was averted only by the integrity of the Ju-
dietary. In all this that party stood by their
candidate even after the facts were fully prov
ed. This attempted usurpation can scarcely
find its parallel in the despotism of Europe,
but it was never effectively rebuked within
thar party. The most prominent actors in it
We're subsequently sustained for office at
home, ard some who wallowed in that shame
TO the bottom are now holding office in the
same party in this State. Had he maintain.
ed the principles of the Declaration of indie
pendence he would have been utterly repu
diated-now all is right
The villainy by which the Buchanan cause
prevailed last year in Pennsylvania is famil
lar TO all. Several of the culprts (al Irish
men by the Way are in prison for their share
in the guilt, and the regret is that his princi-
pals are not there with them. The bold
wholesale frauds in Indiana Illinois, and 9th
er States, are as notorious as the Presden
tial election itself.
And our own Territory affords further il
lnstration. The elections last spring in St
Paul, where Irishmen even voted over and
over again, many times, from Ward to Ward
yention Delegates, followed by the monstrous
outrages at the fall elections, in which open
forgery and perjury is resorted to in order to
make SIBLEY the Governor, still further
prove the actual charac er of that party
And in Kansas all the wrongs perpetrated
have been committed within the same party
and by its most Jealous adherents. Indeed
the man who should doubt that such meas
ures would be adopted in an exigency, would
be ridculed for his verdancy, so well is the
policy established.
What is to be the end of these things q
They have been continually and steadily in
creasing during several years and if this
continues an elective government will have
proved farce and anarchy is our destiny
And why will it not continue What is to
arrest it2 Two things only. We must have
severe legal penalties, and they must be exc
cuted. Then the people must be aroused to
this danger, and resolutely cote do,cn any man
or party implicated in this worst of treason.
1t will not correct itself-evil never does that
it must be stopped, even at the hazard of civ
il war. That, with all its terrors would be
far less alarming than the continuance of this
order of things at the ballot-box. If not
corrected it will first debauch the public
heart, then plunge US into anarchy and blood
Let the people be warned, and stop this trea-
son where it is.
One OF the Right Sort Of Men.