The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1858-03-06
The Registry Law.

we call the attention OF the people OF Min
nesota to the report of the Democratic ma
jority of the Judiciary Committee in the
House, denying the Constitutional po,Oer of
the Legislature to pass a Registry Lao, and
also to the report Of the Republican minor
ity of that Committee, recommending the
adoption Of Registry Law, as means Of
preventing a repetition of the gross and dis
graceful .frauas and .forgeries perpetrated by
the Democratic party last fall.
In the articles which appeared in the Mn
neso,iam in the fall and early part Of the win
ter, about the time that SAM MEDARY and
JOE BeowN contaminated the villainies per-
petrated by their agents, we did not charge
the preparation Of those frauds SO much
upon the party of which they were members
as upon them and few other leaders.
Since then, however, the Democratic party
AS party-having adopted them, by using
the advantages secured by those frauds to
to the party,we are fully justified no'0 in charg-
ing it openly and boldly on the Democratic
party of Minnesota as part of its election
programme last fall. Had we no other
grounds for the charge than the present re-
port of the Democratic majority of the Ju-
dietary Committee alone,-that would be
suficient-amply sufficient =!
1t is palpable that desire on the part of
the Democratic party to repeat those frauds,
in order to enable it to carry measures upon
which its leaders believe the fate of the party
to hang-is the leading motiUe, which i'm
PEELED the Democratic majority of that Com
mittee to report against the constitutionality
of Registry Law.
The position assumed by them, as an ex .
cuse for their refusal to recommend the pass
age of such law-viz that it is unconstitu-
tional-is worse than ridiculous and yet
| lawyers on that Commttee-or men claiming
to be lawyers-are willing to stultify them
aelves before their constituency and the
world, rather than deprive the Democratic
party of the benefits accruing from the Dem
ocratic 'joke" Of forging election returns, or
voting Irishmen sixteen times apiece, sufi-
Gent to carry the State for Democratic can
didates or Democratic measures.
We said stultyy and we repeat it +; for the
man who pretends to be a lawyer, and can
not see the distinction between mere regula-
tion of the character Of eridence to be produced
to sustain residence in a district, and the
qualification of voter, does stultify himself in
the estimation Of any intelligent man {; and
while his own party friends may be willing
to avail themselves of the means he has re-
fused to deprive them oc-they will despise
the poor tool who lent himself to so base a
purpose J! ...a r.~. ..- ... ..- .-5 .'
A Registry law is necessary to the purity
of the ballet-box in this Territory. 1t does
not affect the qualifications of voters-nei
ther restricts nor enlarges them but simply
defines the manner of establishing a resi-
dence. t...4... ... ..... .... .. .. ,....
Yet these eminent constitutional lawyers
composing the democratic majority of the
Committee-fail to see the distinction be-
tween the existence of a fact and the evidence
necessary to sh0w 1t. '--'
Remember fellow-citizens that the Demo
cratic party has refused us REG1srRy Law
that the Democratic party has refused to pre-
serge the purity Of the ballot boz !i' a..'.....