The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1870-06-15

HlOre IMAM Ninety SaoS7i "N'S
the years prior thereto there had been
only sixty-three contested cases, That
is about the difference between an
honest Congress that existed up TO 1860,
and a dishonest one that has existed
ever since, and now exists. /.
I'he Law Enforcing the Fifteenth
t ." Amendment.
OF all the offences committed by the
Radical party against the constitution
of the country and the rights of the
States as defined by that instrument and
practiced for three-quarters Of acentury
by the wise and good men of the Repub-
lie, the recent act Of Congress to enforce
the Fifteenth Amendment is the most
shameless invasion upon the liberties of
the people From the foundation of
the government the right to regulate
suffrage in all its phases has been re-
served to and practiced by the States.
Congress never dared 10 interfere with
it either in Massachusetts or in South
Carolina, because'it was the most sacred
of all rights and the most clearly ex-
pressed by the constitution and laws.
And go guarded were the founders OF
the Republic upon this question that
the military were always prohibited
from approaching the ballot or being
chartered within its sacred precincts.
But under this act OF Congress to which
we now refer the whole question OF suf-
frage has been violently wrested from
the States and placed under the control
and arbitrary authority not only Of the
civil officers of the Federal Government,
but in specified contingencies under the
control and direction Of the military!
So that in any election hereafter TO be
held in any State or Territory under
this law, State constitutions and laws
regulating suffrage are complete NULL
ties, and at the instance Of any citizen,
good or bad, the officers appointed 10y
State authority to conduct an election
can be robbed of his functions, and fined
and imprisoned for the discharge of his
clearly defined duties
This Infamous bill was of course en-
acted to secure universal suffrage to
the negro, because it was feared by the
Radicals that perhaps some OF the
Southern States would exclude the col
ored man from the ballot. 1t was in
tended doubtless to have particular
bearing upon Maryland and Kentucky
because in those States the negro had
not vet been admitted to suffrage bv
the Legislatures thereof: But in per
petrating this monstrous outrage upon
the States and the people, with a view
10 protect the negro in his rights, Con
gress seems to have been unmiudful of
the fact that. in West Virginia it is the
aVhits man and not the negro who is
excluded from the ballot under the
odious Constitution and laws of the
State, and that by the stringent clauses
it contains the white man in this State
is given some power as well as the ne
gro in Kentucky and MARYLAND But
such is the fact as the reader will read
lily perceive by reading the first, second
and third clauses Of the bill, which we
shall publish in full in a few days to
arouse the indignation of the people.
These provisions of the bill to en-
force the Fifteenth Amendment clearly
admits to the ballot every citizen quail
fed under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
amendments of the Constitution with
out regard to race, color or previous
condition, who conforms to the require
ments of the law, and ifany citizen so APP
plying to the Registrars tohave his vote |
recorded and taken is refused, fine of
five hundred dollars to the party (
agrieved, and an additional fine Of FIVE
hundred dollars and Imprisonment if
convicted, is the severe penalty i'm
posed upon all such officers And it
will be observed that these rights OF
registration and voting are reserved to
citizens regardless Of any State COnStitU-
ton or La,cS TO The contrary! Thus is
the Radical negro and Fifteenth
Amendment party in West Virginia
hoisted upon their own petart, and in
their infamous attempt TO eniranchise
the negro in every State and Territory,
they have also unintentionally enfran-
chised and opened the ballot
to thousands of white men in
this State who have been
shamefully robbed of the rights OF
freemen for the last FIVE years. We
call now upon every white man of this
State twenty-one years of age, and who
is not disfranchised under the Four
tenth Amendment to the Federal Con-
stitutiou, to apply for registration, and
ifsny one is unjustly refused by the Re-
gistrar, his privilege and duty are clear
ly pointed out to him by the law
we are discussing He must make
his complaint and affidavit at once,
and have the full penalties visited upon
the offending Registrar. By these men.