The mountain Democrat., 1864-01-16

call elections shall be free and equal, n
that the privilege Of free suffrage shall be
supported by laws regulating elections and
prohibiting, under adequate pezAItiss,
ell undue influences thereon from bribery,
tumult or other improper practices" and
that contested elections for Governor
and Lieutenant Governor shall be deter
mined by the General Assembly, accord
ing to such regulations IS may be estab-
lished by law" Surely the spirit of these
provisions would avoid any election such
as We have described. Unfortunately,
however, the laws enacted in conformity
with them impose penalties upon the per.
soUs quilty "f the ofepcea. -agAipst, the
right Of free suffrage, enumerated in the
/ Constitution, without providing that the
validity of the election itself shall be in
anywise affected by the commission of
snch offenses. Our lawgivers did not con-
template the possibility Of forcible in
reference so extensive as to taint the
whole election and so, in establishing o
Board for the trial of contested elections,
/ they made no provision for such a contin-
gency, but simply directed that "the can
didate receiving the highest number of
legal votes given" should be adjudged to
be the person elected.
AS the investigation is thus limited to
the number of legal votes given, it mat
ters not how many men were driven into
the support of Mr.. Bramlette by threats
of military violence, nor how many others
were deferred from voting for Mr.. Wick
life by the knowledge that their votes, if
offered, would not be received. The ar
rest of Judges and voters, the erasure of
the names of candidates from the poll
books, the administration of illegal oaths
all these, too, are wrongs which do not
so affect the validity of an election as to
be available in contest before the tribu-
nal established by lava tribunal, be it
remembered, whose own seats had been
obtained by the same practices on which
their judgment was to be asked. Consid-
erations like these constrained US reluct-
antly to abandon all idea of contesting the
election, and have left US no other remedy
than this appeal to the sober judgment of
the people.
On the 1st day Of September Mr.. Bran
lette took the oaths and entered upon a
discharge of the duties of the Office to
which be had been thus elected. His in.
augural address lies before US, and while
to many Of his positions we can make no
objections, there are passages to be found
in it which strikingly illustrate the cor
rectness of the suspicious which led US to
nominate a candidate in opposition to
him. He continues to defend the right
fulness of military arrest without limit
ing bis argument to the theatre of hostii-
ties. He maintains the right to restrain
the publication of newspapers when "rea-
sonable grounds" exist to believe that
they have been guilty of, or are about to
commit, acts to the danger of the public
security, without intimating who is to de-
eide upon the reasonable character of the
suspicious. He objects to the policy of
negro enlistments, but admits the exist
ence Of rightful power in the Admins
tration for that purpose. He denies the
right of the people to limit or control the
public expenditure in time of war. In
these most important particulars he con-
tradicts the platform of his party. He
does far more; he denies to the citizen
those invaluable rights Of freedom from
arrest without warrant, of free speech, or
control over public supplies, for which
the English people fought for five hundred
years, and which our forefathers, inherit.
ing from them, believed they had be-
queathed to US inviolate forever
We must not be suspected Of any 10.
territorial Misrepresentation Of Mr.. Bram-
lette's position on these vital points, and
therefore conclude our appendix (No. 1e)
with four extracts from the printed copy
Of his address.
For the present, fellow-citizens, the fate
Of Kentucky is sealed. Her very devo.
ticn to the Constitution has been made
the means whereby to deprive her people
Of every constitutional right Deceived
and betrayed, she lies PROSTATE and help
less-wept by her friends, derided by her
oppressors. But there is that in the spirit
of her people which tells US it will not be
so long. Like tabled Anteus, who, each
time he touched his mother earth, started
up with redoubled strength, her fall will
but invigorate her for struggle yet to
come. That her independence may be
restored to her by the peaceful remedies
of the Constitution, rather than by vio-
lent convulsions, must be the earnest
prayer of every lover of his country.
We therefore present this address to
the people of the United States, and espe-
cially to the Congress of the United
States, soon to assemble, praying that
body to adopt such measures as in their
Judgment will secure to the States adhe-
ring to the Union the freedom Of election,
without which the very basis of our liber-
ties is destroyed.
N. A. DUDLEY, j. II. HARSEY,
NAT. WOLFE, W. F. BULLOCK,
r. X. WHITE, JOSH F. BULLITT,
R. G. PALMER,
| Coz h. noro Do rtU