The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-10-27

THE somewhat serious aspect which af-
fairs are assuming in New York and Brook
/ Ign relative to the new election law, seems
to require brief examination of the law
itself as well as the questions involved in
I its execution. Section of an act approved
July II, 1870, provides in substance as fol-
lows: That in any city having upwards of
twenty thousand inhabitants, it shall bc
the duty of the Judge of the Circuit Court
of the United States for the circuit where
in said city shall be, upon the application
of two citizens, to appoint in writing for
each election district or voting precinct in
said city, and to change or renew said APP
pOintment rs occasion may require, from
4 time to time, two resident citizens of the
district or precinct, one from each political
/ party, who, when SO designated shall be
and are hereby authorized to attend mt all
times and places fixed for the registration
of voters, who. being registered, would be
entitled To vote for representative in Con-
gress. These commissioners are to over
/ see the registration, and also to exercise
the same supervisory care on the day of
! election: witness the counting of ballots,
watch the ballot-boxes until their contents
are counted, etc, etc. This portion though
manifestly objectionable is not so liable to
abuse as section 6, which we quote in full :
"And be IT, further enact.d, That i'm any city hav-
/ ing upwards of twenty thousand inhabitants, it
shall he lawful for the Marshal of the United
States of the district wherein said city shall be, TO
appoint "a many special deputies a. may be nee
essary To preserve order at any election at which
representatives i'm Congress are to- be chosen; and
said deputies are hereby authorized to preserve
order at such elections, and to arrest for any Of
fence or breach OF the peace committed Ill their
! view"
a clause in what is known rs the enforce
ment bill provides that the commissioners
appointed by said bill may issue warrants
or other legal processes for the arrest of
| guilty parties, and the persons empowered
to execute said warrants or processes may,
if in their opinion the emergency requires,
summon to their assistance posse conf
tatus, and if this is inadequate for the work
in hand, the land and naval forces of the
United States may be called in. The prac-
teal effect of these two bills taken together
may be clearly understood by the interpre-
tation placed upon them by the United
States Marshal of Philadelphia, and his ac-
ton in the late election. This official not
merely swOre in large number of deputies
to usurp the functions of the police and
keep the peace, but called out body of
United States marines to support and defend
his deputies if necessary. Whether the
-iAoicDol SONtlutti Ill tlllS
business, by formal instructions from
Washington, does not alter the features of
the case, or lessen the outrage an atom
BY this course, which, rs he claims, is in
strict accordance with the laws of Con
gress, the city of Philadelphia was virtu
ally placed for the time being, at the absO
lutte mercy of a Federal agent, backed by
| Federal bayonets. This United States
Marshal, with or without directions from
the President, could decide what constitut-
ed breach OF the peace or a violation of
good order; when the breach or violation
| assumed the dimensions of riot and
when 1t was proper for the marines to open
fire upon the citizens He was, to all in
tents and purposes as much the military
master of the situation as was Napoleon
I'LL when he swept the streets of Paris
with grape-shOt and baptized the comp
Il etat with the blood of Frenchmen, and
as the Marshal's action has neither been
repudiated nor rebuked by the government
we are compelled to believe that it
meets the appreciation of President and
Cabinet, and must be accepted as
an example for guidance hereafter
Marshal Sharp of New York, is
evidently determined to follow the
same path, having already, as the telegraph
informs us, sworn III eight hundred depu-
ties for service on the second Tuesday i'm
November The first regiment of regular
artillery, which by curious coincidence, is
just now ordered from Fort Bedloes ISL
and, may be detailed to do in New York,
what the marines did in Philadelphia; and
SO the matter rests for the present To as
sumo that such proceedings as these have
a shadow of justification in the COnstitu-
ton is the sheerest nonsense They are
stripped of the flimsy disguise which COW
ers them, nothing but the machinery of
despotism transplanted from the old world
to the new, and made to serve here the in
terests of party, AS they do there the am
bition of kings. A people, who, through
indifference or ignorance, fail to recognize
this palpablc truth, are unfit to be free, and
cannot expect long to retain the little free
dom Radicalism has left them-Miss0urt
Republican, Oct. 49,