The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-09-15

and in the facts going to prove its necessity
it would certainly seem that there appears
enough to make any lover Of republican gov
ernmept feel the blood stir in his veins.
The people Of Texas represent that in
series of enactments known as "administra-
ton measures, because prepared by the Gov
ernor of the State for the servile Legislature
which at once passed them, their civil liber-
ties are in great danger, if not now actually
overthrown, and in verihcation of such state
ment refer to the tenor of the acts named.
These are five in number, and we briefly sy-
nopsize from the full exhibit made in the
petition before us. First comes an act osten-
sibly to organize the State militia, but really
to create standing army of many thousand
men. In the active corps of this army, or
the State Guard, are to be enlisted picked men
of the Governors own selection, and in the
reserve the whole arms-bearing population is to
be enrolled, under penalty of fifteen dollars
for every man who refuses to place his
name upon the lists. All officers in both
bodies are to be appointed and dismissed by
the Governor at pleasure, at pleasure the
Governor is to disburse the fund arising
from the ffteen.dolar exemption; and,
whenever he may see fit, the same functionary
is empowered to proclaim martial law
throughout the whole State or in any portion
of it, put his whole force on a war footing,
suspend the civil law, arrest any citizen or
citizens, try, condemn, and execute them by
martial law, and call on the community thus
put under the ban Of the bayonet to foot the
bill.
The second administration measure" is
an act to organize State police, or, in other
words, a mounted battalion of detectives
who are declared independent of all local
peace officers, made amenable only to the
Governor, and given a general jurisdiction
as gems dGTmeS and nlOuctGrds throughout
the State.
The third act is one authorizing the Gov
ernor, in his own good pleasure, to appoint
all district attorneys, county officers, sheriffs,
district court clerks, and mayors and boards
of aldermen throughout the State, though by
the reconstructed constitution of Texas it is
most positively declared that these officers
are to be elected by the people.
Fourth and fifth of the lawless edicts
against which the people of Texas petition
are the registration and the election acts, the
sum and substance of which are that the
Governor is empowered to appoint all regis
rrars and Supervise all voting lists, and
that the judges throughout the State are ex-
pressly forbidden, in any way or on any pre-
tence, to interfere with said registrars, or
take cognizance of cases arising under said
registration or election laws.
Such being the despotic acts which erect
an imperialism in Texas, against which the
people of that State protest, it is further to
be remarked that their petition states that
whereas the cost of their State government
has never exceeded 100000 per annum, the
average since annexation being but $500, 900,
the estimates just presented by the Governor
amount to 81, 600, 600, or 400 per cent. more
than ever before known.
In the face of such an imperialism as this.
the people of Texas, through their represen-
tative men of all shades of past difference,
''do respectfully petition the Congress of the
United States to exercise its constitutional
duty to restore to this State a republican
form of government, and do most solemnly
appeal to their fellow citizens of the United
States to aid them in this their petition. We
will only add that since the date of this peti.
tion the Legislature of Texas has refused to
permit an election for Congress in that State
this fall and with SO much submit the ques
tion whether President Grant, who even tore
himself from Long Branch to array this
country against the French empire, is no
bound to do something in apprehension Of
imperialism on our own shores.