The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-06-08
THE RETURN OF wH1TTEMoRE.

rial article:
THE RETURN OF WHITTEMORE.
Sufficient returns have been received from
the special election in the First Congressional
District Of South Carolina to render the return
of the notorious Whttemore certain by de-
clded majority. We need not recapituIate in
detail the story OF his shame. Worse than
defaulter in Massachusetts,, before he donned
the sacred robes; more than distrusted for dis
honesty as chaplain of regiment; charged cir
cumstantially with defrauding the freedmen In
various ways; elected to Congress from district
where colored men of the most ignorant class
largely predominate; bartering bis cadetships
openly and shamelessly in the market; and final
ly fleeing the House to escape an almost unani-
nous expulsion, he now returns to the same
House that drove him out as moral leper,
with the broad seal of the State of South Caro-
lima attestlng his right to represent the First
District of that Commonwealth in the popular
branch Of our National Legislature.
In few days he will again appear at the bar
of the House and ask to be sworn as member.
Will he be admitted? The nation, profoundly
sensitive respecting the half developed cor
ruption which seems to pervade our supreme
law-making power, will watch the action of
the House with much solicitude. The case is
without precedent in our history. Members
have heretofore resigned under resolutions of
censure and been returned and sworn unchal-
lenged, but In no instance, we believe, has
member Of Congress been expelled or COM
PEELED to resign, TO escape expulsion for We
nality, and subsequently, returned to claim
seat. Mr. Matteson, ofNew York, was censured
by strong vote, some years ago, for alleged
corruption and then compelled to resign; but
resolution of expulsion had failed to command
the constitutional majority In his case, and his
legal right to his seat was unquestioned. At
the time Of his resignation he had already
~, To I'M
and when the new term commenced he re-
sumed his place. The proprlety of allowing
him to serve without some notice of the dis
grace he had brought upon the previous Con-
gress was freely discussed In the public jour
nails, and was the subject of repeated consulta-
tions between some OF the leading members OF
House. But it is due to Mr.. Matteson to say
that he stoutly disputed all the allegations OF
corruption, and GAINED that his explanations
cleared him OF all moral turpltude In the mat
ter.
it is clear that the House has the legal right
to protect itself from the presence OF any iiR->
proper person. 1t Is The sole judge OF the
Qualification OF Its own members, and 1t Is NOR
ally bound to refuse admission to man who
has notorionsly and corrnptly abused his Off
Cial privileges and brought intamy upon him
self and the country. We submit, therefore,
that when Mr.. Whittemore's credentials are
presented for rcadmission, Ii Is the duty OF the
House TO reject him and declare the scat vacant
because the proposed Incumbent Is utterly I'M
worthy, and his admission would be blister
ing stain upon Our national character.
Mr.. WhiitcmOre's reelection Is but part of
the grand scheme of Il pack of the most un-
scrupIlons adventurers to maintain power in
South Carolina. OF the four districts In that
State, two elected epublicans-WhittemOre
and Bowen; and the other two districts elected
Simpson and Reed, Democrats. by about 1000
each. OF the two Republicans, Mr.. White
more Is sadly notorious, and the antecedents
of his Republican colleague arc anything else
than creditahle. An advcnturer and camp
follower in THE rebel army, and more than once
arraigneS for crime before the rebel military all
thorities, he naturally cast his lot with the
swarm of vampires who have fastened upon that
State, In desecration OF the name of Republi-
canisln, and are eating out its vitals and
making reconstruction term of reproach
among oil upright men. In the two districts
which gave very large Democratic majorlties
the members elected were not eligible, and
the minority candidates have both been sworn
In in defiance of the popular will expressed
against them in unmlstakable tones We need
not say that the men, Messrs. Roge and Wal
lace, who consent to sit in Congress in con-
tempt of the decision Of the election returns
cannot merit any high measure of popular re-
spect.
But Tor the combinations of the corrupt State
authorities, Whittemore would not have mad
shallow Of q chance for reelection. But he Is
neither better nor worse than the average OF
his fellow official plunderers, and they did not
dare to overthrow him. They would have done
so, but Whttemore would have risen like the
GHOST of "Banquo" to confuse them Cover
nor Scott Is q candidate for reelection next
fall. and he dare not break O link In the circle
of Swiss mercenaries, who now control the
State by appeals to the passions and prejudices
of the ignorant, and by the official patronage
they command. They profess to purchase
bonds of the State to pay for lands, and then
what they fail to plumber directly from the
State they plinder from the negro. The re-
election OF Whittemore Is but the act of despe-
ration Of these men, to perpetllate their power,
and our National Legislature is presented with
Il hypocrite and renegade to save Junta OF
petty thieves in their uneasy and uncertain
positions at home.
The Republican party must wash Its hands
of these political abortions called State Off
cias in the reconstructed States, or it must
cease to rule in O single commonwealth OF the
South. When reconstruction began 1t was
impossible to place competent and honest
men in power in the Southern States; but re-
construction is settled, anu the Republican
party must demand ability and integrity in
Its representative men, or 1t must die. If
Whttemore shall bc admitted, and thus the
high sanction Of the Republican national
administration be given to the political ad-
venturcrs who have blOtted the history Of the
constitution, and now hang as mli-stones
about the nccks of the struggling States of the
South, they will all follow Virginia and Ten
nessee, and Republican power In the South
will have no future. Its history will be but Il
continued chapter Of shame and misfortune,
and it Will pass away speedily amidst the re-
loicngs Of all honest men. Already the Citi-
zens' party Is making headway in South Caro-
lima, and embraces in It's ranks some Of the
ablest leaders, both white and black, in the
State; and it needs but the admission of Whit
temore. and The high approval OLA Republican
Congress to be given the ilnbecile and corrupt
rulers who have returned him, to insure the
utter and hopeless discontinue of Republican,
ism in the strongest Republican State OF the
South.
The Character of the Man Elected
Will Congress Admit this Dissraced
Cadet-Swindlcr.
In the same vein as tile above manly and
outspoken article, the travelling correspon-
dent of the New York Tribune writes from
South Carolina:
The fact that the return OF Mr.. Whittcmore
TO Congress will inllict Il serious blow upon the
best interests of the Republican party and of
the South, is not more thoroughly appreciated
at the North than it is here, and not more in
the minority party opposing him on general