The mountain Democrat., 1864-01-16

for Mr.. Bramlette and the utter ruin oil
their business.
Such. fellow citizens. were the Civcum.
stances under which the election Of Au.
gust Sd begun. It's result was no longer
doubtful. Had Gen. Burnside designated
by name the individuals who should fill
the various Offices Of the State, he would
have saved US the expense and the trouble
of an "election"-the rights of the peo-
pie would not have been more Aagrantly
violated, nor would the officials thus ap.
pointed have BEEN any more the creatures
of bis will than are those whom he has
more indirectly imposed upon US.
| The limits to which we are confined foe-
+ oIG any attempt at q detailed account OF
the manner in which the ''electf0n'' was
conducted. The military orders before
referred to we're carried out with rare
fidelity by those to whom their execution
was entrusted. A few officers Ito their
lasting praise be it spoken) openly express
ed the shame they felt at their connection
with such task. Armed soldiers we're
stationed at every considerable poll. The
judges of election we're, contrary to law,
taken exclusively from the ranks of our
opponents. Many weak men, apprehen-
sive Of injury to person and property, cast
their votes for Mr.. Bramlette, in violation
of their convictions. The votes of many
more, when offered for our candidates,
were illegally rejected. Thousands Of 9th
ers were deferred from an attempt to vote.
by the knowledge that illegal tests would
be applied to them, their votes refused,
and themselves probably arrested. The
names of our candidates were illegally
stricken from the poll books at many pre-.
clncts, and never placed upon them at
others. Judges were arrested for refusing
to conduct the election in manner for
hidden by the laws of Kentucky and their
own oath, and voters were imprisoned for
the high crime of confessing themselves
Democrats.
These are sweeping charges, but they
can readily be substantiated. That we
may not be supposed to avoid specifca-
ton, we publish in the appendix marked
No. 15) a statement showing the outrages
perpetrated at different points, in more
thdl wv SubJ Out lIdIctIuIS dI6
ample to swell the list almost indefinitely,
but these will be sufficient to indicate the
general character of the whole. The facts
stated are, some of them, within our per-
sonal knowledge-the remainder have
been communicated to US by gentlemen in
whose veracity We have entire confidence,
and whose names are in our possession.-
We particularly invite your attention to
the report of Major Gibson, the certifi-
Gates OF Capt. Lesson and Sergeant Brown,
and the protest of the Hon. Charles A.
Wickliffe, official documents whose cor
rectness even our opponents will not ques-
tion. They are numbered s, 13, IA and
Is, in the appendix.
In connection with these statements,
and as fully supporting them, We publish
in the appendix (marked No. ~ table
showing the official vote cast for each can
didate for Governor, and in parallel COL
umns the total vote cast, and the number
of white males over twenty-one years Of
age in each county. 1t will be perceived
that the whole number of votes cast was
"a, $50, Of which Mr.. Bramlette received
67,5s6, while the number of persons enti-
tied to vote was 1s2,246. The votes of
over ninety-Seven thousand citizens were,
therefore, unpolled. How these votes
would have been cast, had the election
been untrammeled, is q question which,
we think, every candid reader of this pa
per has already determined in his own
mind. We have shown that every species
Of ipdncement was offered to allure the
voter to the one party-every means Of
intimidation and violence had been used
to prevent his support of the other. We
now leave our readers to draw their own
conclusions as to the direction in which
the unpolled vote would certainly have
been cast, had all external influence been
removed.
Returning to the table Of the vote cast,
it will be perceived that in twelve coun-
ties not single vote was permitted to be
cast for Mr.. Wickliffe. In eight others he
received less than ten votes to the county.
In fifteen others he received less than fifty
votes to the county. In sixteen others he
received less than one hundred votes to
the county. These fifty.one counties en-
brace many of the strongest Democratic
counties in the State.
In only twenty.eight counties of the
State did Mr.. Bramlette receive majority
of the population entitled to vote. Less
than two fifths of the population entitled
to vote have made him Governor Of Ken
lucky.
1t is contended by the Administration
press, that the deficiency in the vote cast
= oGk..h,,toh1o k4 h. aheoroa &c
Kentucky soldiers in the army of the Uni
ted States, all of whom would have voted
for Mr.. Bramlette, and the enlistment of
others in the Southern armies, who have
thereby lost the right to vote. On this
point we have to say:
First. That the number Of white males
over twenty-one years Of age, as publish
ed in our appendix, is taken from the
Auditors report for 1862. and, notwith-
standing the accession Of Thousands of
young men to the age of maturity in the
meantime, it is nine thousand less in num-
Der than was reported by the Auditor for
1861. The falling off can be accounted
for in no other way than by the fact that
the soldiers who had left their homes to
join either army, in the fall of 1861, were
dropped from the returns, and are not in
cluded in the Auditors report for 1862.
Secondly. That hundreds of those who
were known to be friendly to the Admin
istration were furloughed and sent home
to vote.
Thirdly. That large number of Ken
tuckians in the United States army are
under twenty-one years of age, and there
fore not entitled to vote; and lastly, that
they are very far from being unanimous
in support of Mr.. Bramlette or the Ad-
ministration.
We have said however TINT our object