The Sumter watchman. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1855-1881, 1870-12-14

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% sIuit the e'exersi1e oftis privilege Of the
Grand Jary tosaske presentment to the
Court Of such matters as appear to be
stHbiio evils iD themselves. or 70 require
3ddioious ,legis1atioo and smendment,
they would respectfully present: z
5 1.-The present election Law. of the
!. State Of South Caroline. These laws
are bJought to the attention of this Court,
because under them elections are. held
gfSE smbers Of Congress, and to that
extent, at least; are lava Dc the United
States The attention Of th6 Grand Jury
has been called specially to these cleo
tiou laws BY numerous cascowhieh have
been brought before them st che present
term, for illegal voting, riots and CON-
spirecy to intimidate and other charges
Of offences committed for the purpose Of
defeating the ballot. 5
The Grand Jury are constrained to be.
lieve that the election laws have. moro to
do Wiflrtliese disturbances and those
charges than any evil intent on the part
OF the citizens, whether white or.bIaok.
They are unfair, unequal, and tend to
breed discord and strife, and should. at
once bs amended. It is no new thing
for disturbances Of tho peace to OCCUR at
elections; but laws may be so framed as
to irritate the citizen iu the peaceful OK.
ercise Of his right Of suffrage. The pre-
sent laws, Instead Of hedging around the
balIot-box, leave the door wide open to
fraud, and in u warmly. contested elec-
tion, disturbance Of the public peace
seems to be invited rather than pro
vented by the laws themselves.
2.-Auotrer fruitful source of mis-
chief is the employment of military to
superlnteud civil elections. The evils
Of this system, (ior it is fast becoming
system throughout the whole country,
North aud soutb,) must at once be
suggested to any reasonable thinking
mind. 1t 10 unconstitutional ;:it is un.
wise it is the parent Of mischief.
The small military force usually en.
ployed for the purpose would be utterly
and useless, if the people
were disposed to oppose aud resist it
The military force employed in South
Carolina during the recent elections
could have been easily overwhelmed in
an hour. What good, then, is accom-
plished They seem only to excite a
spirit ofresistance and bad blood. Hu.
man nature is the same all over the
world, aud for the military to take the
place Of the civil arm of the Government
is not ouly dangerous to the public
peace, but hazardous to political liberty
We have been taught these lessons
from tho history Of the country whence
We derive the principles of our Consti-
tuition and most OF our laws.
The views here presented, the Grand
Jury are happy to see, arc endorsed by
the highest military officers of the Uni
ted States, General Sherman and Cen
cral IIalleck. The latter reports -as
"Whero United States Marshals and
assistant marshals call for military aid
to execute the process Of the Courts,
there should be an order ef Court au
thoriz'ng such acquisitions, on the
ground that no proper civil posse co,ni
tatMs could be obtained. 1t may be
proper to remark in this place, that /
have been assured by Federal civil off.
GERS that the use Of troops in executing
judicial process and enforcing the re-
venue and other civil laws seems to in.
crease, rather than diminish, the appa.
rent necessity Of resorting to snch force
in civil matters. The i'll disposed he.
come more and more exaspcrated at
being coerced by force which they
think has been unconstitutionally en-
ployed against them, and the better
disposed relax their efforts to punish
local crimes, on the plea that this duty
now dcvolves on the military. Hence,
in the case OF robbery or q murder,
there is call for Federal troops to ar
rest and guard the criminals. It is,
therefore, n question we'll worthy Of
whether the military in
civil matters should not be limited to
y few we'll defined cases, such as riots
md instructions, which cannot be sup
pressed by local and State authorities"
There is another evil of great magni-
ude, to which attention should be
,alied
Reference is had to what is known as
he constabuiary force Of this State.
This establishment has all the objections
urged against the military, with many
ones. They have control oi,
md they distribute the arms belonging
o the State, and are themselves M
rmed f"rce. They actually engage in
lcctoncering. and in the night time
hey harangnc ignorant crowds at secret
Meetings. They are strangers to our p.
lie, and instead OF being the preservers
f peace are the instigators Of unlawful
nd violent acts in many cases. There
no need of such force in South
,arolina, AID it should at once be dis.
andcd.
The attention Of the Grand Jury has
cen called to the late riots which have
in Lannon's t,ountv