Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1868-09-15
BENJAMIN F. BEALL, Edi
IFor the Spirit of Jefferson.l
suEpHERDsrowN, Sept. 8th, 1868


Mr.. BEALL Yesterday was the day ap-
pointed for the registering Of voters, and the
day has thereby become noted for the enact
ment of a farce at once SO ludicrous, and yet
so iniquitous, that while it aroused the risi-
bility, it also excited the indignation and scorn
of all honest and thinking men of all parties.
What these men think is tosbe the result of
the shameful outrages perpetrated upon the
vast body of their fellow citizens, it is i'm
possible for me to imagine. 1t seems to me,
however, that they are conscious of an APP
preaching retrlbutlon-an avenglng Nemesis
so terrific, that it appears to have had the
same effect upon them that was anciently sup
posed to be produced upon those whom the
Gods wished to destroy. g Nene, nsene teheL
upharstn," is so legibly imprinted upon the
wall, and in such glaring, brilliant characters,
that the brightness thereof, one would think,
had scared their very eye-balls, and rendered
them at once, so desperate and so relentless,
as to make them an object of serious reacc-
tion, as a psychological phenomenon to all
calm and thinking men.
1t is my object, to give you as briefly as
possible, the course of procedure adopted at
one of these places-though before [ proceed,
1 wish to ask if all your readers are acquaint-
| ed with the origin of this iniqutous law?
OF course it could only exist where the
principles, if not the practice of governments
are essentially free. Suffrage, in itself, is not
an Inherent or inalienable right, and may, for
just cause, be withheld-but when it is with>
held for purposes of party aggrandzement, or
for hatred aud malice, and that too, from
nine tenths Of the citizens of community,
have not the parties SO Withholding it, reason
to tremble? This registry law had its exist
ence during the reign of James II, the last
and most infamous of all of the ancient and
infamous line of the Stuars. In the large
and populOus city Of Tewkesbury-a city en-
titled to two, if not more, members OF Paria~
ment, but thirteen names were registered and
allowed to vote Under its provisions, Par
liamcnts were packed, laws dispensed with by
the sole authority of the King, the founda-
tions of the national church were undermined,
and the organic law of the kingdom, violated
continually. What was the consequence p
The people-the people of England, arose in
their might-the foul, bloated, bigoted tyrant
was driven from the throne he disgraced-
driven into eXile-he, with all his hated race,
and the very name of Stuart became kissing
and a term of reproach to all nations. With
the examples Of history before him, should
not the oppressor beware!
In no part of our nation, where the people
Il
relict of the Stuarts now exist. Maryland,
at the indignant command of forty thousand
frcemen, wiped the degraded blotch from her
statute books; while West Virginia has to
bear the crowning disgrace of having made
it part of her organic law.
But promised to give you the plan of
procedure adopted by Mr.. Henry Cookus, the
registrar for Shepherd township, and few
words will suffice. was present during the
greater part of the afternoon, and although
the applications were numerous, L am under
the impression that not one was registered.
Now it seemed to me that his duties under
the law, were so clear and SO explicit as to
be unmistakable. He is simply there as an
executive oficeT-bound by his oath to exc
cute the provisions of the law in all fairness
and impartiality, and without party prejudice
or prediction. 1t is true, any man present.
ing himself for registration, whom the regis
trar knows from indubitablc facts to be dis
loyal, he may reject. But if a man offers to
register, against whom the registrar knows
nothing-his plain, his obvious duty is to
register that man, after administering to him
the prescribed oath. This course, so fair, so
just to all parties, gentleman present urged
upon Mr.. Cookus, in the case of four persons
who asked for registration, and with whom
being residents of his immediate neighbor-
hood They might have been thirteen or
fourteen years old at the breaking out of the
rebellion. They had but a short time since
reached their twenty-frst year, and were en-
titled to vote. Mr.. Cookus positively re-
fused to register them, because he said he did
not know them, although he confessed that
he knew nothing to their disadvantage. The
gentleman referred to, of known loyal senti-
ments, insisted upon the right of these men
to be registered, and asked Mr.. Cookus if he
supposed he sat there as a judge with unlim-
tied powers, and not merely as officer placed
there to execute the law. He also wished
further to know of Mr.. Cookus, if he sup
posed that the law gave him the power to re-
ject every person whom he did not know
and if it was probable thing that he would
know everybody in the township, applying
to him for registration. He replied that he
interpreted the law to suit himself, and did
not feel bound to give an explanation of his
course to any person.
Another reason giuen by Mr.. Cookus for
not registering these four men, was that his
blank certificates were nearly exhausted, and
that he could not administer the oath with
out giving them one OF these. The response
the gentleman made to this, was that there
were vet some dozen blanks on the table, and
that they ought to be used until exhausted,
as it was very serious matter to deprive a
man of his right for an excuse so trivial; as
more blanks could be procured with very lit
tie Inconvenience. All, however, availed
nothing.
L also learn that q number of men from the
adjoining counties and townships-men of
known loyalty, and registered at their pre-
vious homes, we're refused registration, by
the registrar of Shepherd township, for no
assignable cause whatever.