Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-02-01
THE PERIL OF THE HOUR.

washington thcfo 20 SoNo Do
on-something of which they are as yet
ignorant. There is reason to believe
that the leaders of the ruling party are
about to inaugurate system OF meas
ures that will not only obliterate the
States. but take from the people their
constitutional right of self-government
To accomplish this end, several meas
ures are proposed One is indicated by
bill pending in the House of Repre-
sentatives in regard to elections. The
closing provision of it is, that the mill
tary and naval forces Of the United
States, together with the civil posse
comitatus, shall be at the immediate
command of the Marshal for the execu-
ton of these provisions. This places
the army, the navy and the State mill
tia under the absolute control of a par
tisan Marshal, who, with unlimited
power in his hands, can control any and
every election in favor Of the party with
whom he acts, or by whom he is paid.
The bill is intended to make the Exc
cutive, acting through his military
agents, superior to the people and indie
pendent of their will, in whatever form IT
may find utteraDce. Ii is intended to
place in the hands of the President the
power to re-eleet himself, and to elect
any person in any State to any Office he
may think proper. 1t is intended to
overthrow the theory and practice of
popular elections, and to concentrate
power in the hands Of the head of the
government, and thus render him indie
pendent Of the people. Its effect will be
to render him practically a monarch.
Another measure is, so to intermeddle
with the Southern States as to coerce
them either to vote for Grant in 1872, or
to prohibit them from voting for the
Democratic candidate by robbing them
of the night to vote at all That this is
the programme can scarcely be doubted.
While the country was unconscious,
while the people of the South were toll
ing to reconstruct their prosperity,
and while all seemed smooth on
the surface, the emissaries Of
the conspirators we're among them
secretly taking testimony upon which 10
found their infamous scheme. A con-
mittee appointed By Congress Is either
now in the South, or soon will be IN IT, to
take the testimony Of negroes as to the
status Of Southern society. These mis-
cradle witnesses are just the tools the
usurpationisss desire. They will swear
to outrages that never occurred, and
we're never dreamed of except in their
own disordered brains. With them lie
is better than the truth, if it subserye a
purpose. 1t is upon the testimony Of
this ignorant class and a few white men
that Southern society is TO be overturned,
the ballot taken from the people, and a
new army of plunderers hurled down
upon them. Capitalization of power at
Washington is what is aimed at. To ae-
. complish this, Grant must be elected IN
1872. The Democratic papers Of the
North are sounding the alarm, and the
people more Immediately interested in
these acts of the usurpers cannot be too
watchful The Judiciary bill referred to,
is the voice Of the Radical leaders.
Speaking through it, they declare:
/. The people are unworthy to enjoy
the privilege Of selfgovernment.
2. They are the subjects Of the Gov
eminent, and bound to submit to the
rules aud regulations it may prescribe
for their control without their consent.
g. They are by nature traitors, and
must not be trusted with the elective
franchise except under the strict sur
veiIlance of the military agents of the
Government
The people claim certain rights, aud
must assert them against all who assail
them. They maintain:
/. The government was founded by
and with their consent, is subject to their
control and such notifications as they
may determine to be conducive to the
public veal
2. They have the right to exercise
their sovereignty at the ballot box, free
from the scrutiny of the military and
the agents Of the government, and under
such laws as they may adopt with the
sanction of the organic law.
3. The government has no right to
station its emissaries at the polls under
any pretext whatever, for in exercising
the elective franchise the people are the
government, determining, in the mode
prescribed by the organic law, what il
policy shall be.
These principles are in direct antago-
nism to those embodied in the programme
Of the Radical conspirators. Let the
people float them as banner and stand
BIZ them. To abandon them is to sur
render free government and their Owl
personal liberty.