The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-11-26
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Ths. lsnnoSefisipg efEeckses Federal :s:
teigere6ce Ah tliA past In. the. affairS and
organization oA State, in
| the South has 6een .ilnstfated$ since tho
Presidential elsction. by tha revolution:
ary prooeedinegswhich, in three of those
States, have been either tinaugnrated Or
| threatened, and which, 1t was commonly
rumored, would be attempted 10 a'fourth.
In Alabama, we have just had tile spec.
taole, of the Organization Of tho State
Legislature Mndered and delayed by the
arrest Of several = of the Conservative
| members Of that body, on their way to
the State capital, while the Radical mi
nority attempted TO sffsot separate or
ganizatior, holding their sessions,in the
United States Court room, and assu ming
to be tho Legislature of tho State. Al
though part of the scheme has been
frustrated by the release of The arrested
members on bail md their arrival ut the
seat OF government, thus completing u
quorum Of both houses, which, in their
absence, did not exist, and which their
arrest was intended to prevent; md nj
though the Governor Of the State has
refused to recognize the pretensions Of
tho sham Legislature, or to hold any
| official communication with that body,
the end of the difficulty, according to
the press correspondents ut Montgo-
merry. has not yet been reached, and we
| are told to "e1peot further develop
ments." The sole explanation of all
this trouble appears to be that The Con
servativss. since the late election, have q
majority in both houses of the Legisla-
tire, and that the pre-ent Radical Sena-
tor Spencer's term expiring before the
meeting Of another Legislature, Con-
| seryative will be elected to the United
States Senate in his stead To defent
! this, the Radicals appear to have resort.
cd to the trick. unhappily not new one
i'll the history Of our politics, of absent
ing themselves from the regular organi-
cation OF the two houses, while O sufi
cient number Of Conservative members
were arrested, on their why to Montgo
merry, to prevent an organization with
out them. The arrests were made under
tho Federal election law, and the mem
bers for Marengo County. who were
| among the number arrested, Instead of
being taken before the nearest United
States Commissioner. by whom they
might lave been admitted to bail, were
carried to Mobile, in custody of the
msrebal.
In Louisiana, We have the old fight
| ACdO"So OCtWCOA Vic w I'll ILOtu uuG au IL
| Warmoth factions, The questions at issue
| bsing the right to count the returns Of
the late election, but the true bone Of
contention there, as in Alabama, being
the United States Senatorship, for which
Governor Warmoth and Collector Casey
are rival aspirants. So utterly corrupt
| do Louisiana politics and politicians ap.
pear to have become, that it seems to
have been conceded on all hands, that
whichever party had the majority in the
returning board would be able to ma
| nipulate the returns in their own favor,
| and 80 settle the question Of the Senn-
torship. After various moves on both
sides, in which writs of Injunction and
mandamus were resorted to for the pur-
pose of testing tho legal questions in.
volved, Warmoth's last move, and Which
is said TO have given chccknate to his
adversarios, was to sign bill passed by
the last Legislature abolishing the re-
turning board, and leaving it to the
GoyernQr to count and proclaim returns
In Arkansas, where the reform party
were successful in electing their entire
State ticket, it is said that the present
kadncal State Government means to
''hold on, and set ut defiance the popu-
lar will and vote, upon the convenient
pretext of ELECTION frauds" provided it
can secure the countenance of the Ad-
ministration at Washington in this coup
d'etat. In North Carolina, where also a
Senator is to be elected in the place Of
Mr.. Pool, whose term expires, and
where also the Conservatives have ma
jority of the Legislature, it WAS freely
rumored week or two since that Go
vernon Caldwell would refuse to recog-
nize the Legislature as legally constitut-
ed, though upon what grounds, were not
very distinctly stated. This rumor
happily has proved to be without founda-
ton, as We may trust will be the case
| with the one of similar import which
reaches us from Arkansas. The very
suggestion, however. of suoh things as
within the range of political possibilities
is itself sign Of decentralization. 1t
shows that we are not as FOR removed as
we have heretofore imagined from the
condition of those Spanish American
republics, where every election is the
precursor to an attempt at revolution,
and no political party or candidate ever
acquiesoes in defeat without trying the
chances OF pr0nunciamento. The
cause Of the mischief lies upon the sur.
face. It is too much Federal legislation
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