The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1870-10-07

cluded by law, but who to Sratify per-
sondl d;siiksS or merce''dry ends deprive Of
As ballot apersef their oen political faith
no Mgc 4 rightl to vote Mnder the taW.
Audible paeacal operation Of this restric-
ton on sll6Tpgs N many counties is to put
he eatire Control of tqration. disbursement
M Srepresentat;on ir he hands Of one half
one fourth, one eighth, and ersn less, Of tie
tar paying citizens of the county. Now
these are facts which We cannot ig-
more.
Now we do not deny that, thanks to
the presence of such men as Hon. JOIN
J. DAVIS and other Democrats in the
Legislature last winter, and the assist
ance rendered by few Republicans,
some of these proscriptive laws have
been repealed. Their repeal, however,
was ,orw-g from the Radicals as par
tial concession to the popular demand
which found utterance mainly through
Democratic sources The enemies of
the repeal of these proscriptive measures
were found solely and exclusively in the
Radical party. That political organi-
zation is, therefore entitled to no credit
for the partial reform effected last win
ter, and can claim none All that
I was done in the way of wipng
out the infamous legislation described
by the LaeiEgence in the extract we
have quoted above, would have been
done long ago, il the GROWING wrong OF
all. that which made the others posi-
bic and upon which they depended, had
been itself removed But that feature
fof registration which was then main
tanned by the Radicals to enforce this
exclusion of.good men from their rights
they rallied in force to retain. They
whipped in some Of those Republi-
cans who had aided the Democrats in
securing the repeal OF the Lawyer :,
/ Suitor and Teacher oath, and refused
to permit the registration law to be
touched bv the hand Of reform They
maintain it to day in all its ohjectiona,
bic features "and the practical opera
ton of this restriction on suffrage in
many counties is to put the entire con-
troll of taxation, disbursement and rep
resentation in the hands of one half
one fourth, one eighth, and even less, OF
the tax paying citizens OF the county.
Instead Of holding negroes in slavery
white men are now under foot,
and it is har,l for some of the white men
of the State to see wherein their condi.
ton has been bcttered since the time
when HORACE GREELEY was indicted al
Clarksburg for publishing the New
! York Tribune. II that he a genuine
Republican government, where thOus,
ands Of the most intelligent and heav,
lest tax-paying citizens are disfranchiscd,
L. and where e0ery man, no matter what
service to the State he may have rem
der9d, or how blameless his past life may
have been, or what proof he may ad
duce touching his right to vote, holds
that right subject to the whim Of the
unscrupulcus registrar who is the crea,
ture of the Governor and responsible to
him alone, then, in the name of com,
mon sense, what is Despot;sm
In the same editorial article from
which we have made an extract above,
!. the h&!6genrsr said, and We now an
swer the editor in his own words
why, sir, this is not Republicanism.
| Try the word 10y any definition that
ever existed--try it as defined in every
national platform of the party from
!. lSj6 to ISIS, and this is not RcpuhIi-
canism. 1t is anything else And so
it is not so strange that we find the
early Republicans, with whom the
name represents principles, seeking to
return to a platform which embodies
the genuine and only Repuhhcanism;
while among the ficrcest advocates OF
continued un-RepubIican discrimina-
tons and the most intolerant dcnucia
ton of Others, will be found some whose
loyalty at the opening OF the rebellion
was OF the weakest aud shakie-t descrir-
| ton.