Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1871-1872, 1872-10-01

ed with debt. doubt whether their debts can |
ever be paid, and | an sure there is very
liite disposition TO pay them among the /
people who own property in the South
They regard them ns frauds. simple iniqui-
ties imposed upon them, aud as most unjust
burdens which they cannot bear. ! SpPre-
hend IL they were 10 sell out al ths properly
IN South Carolina to-day it vonld nor very
much more than par thts5 pretended ue0ss'
which have been imposed upon her oy
CARPET Dagger. who rule the negro legislators
aome of them merely simple, some OF them
royues. and all Of them, being without prop /
ertv nlso without proper responsibility.
\ Here Is 40 element Of diseord and hStred-A
general belief 90 the part Of the southern |
| people that We Of the North send these vii |
| aims down there to rob them. BY enfrAn.
chtsing the blacks, and by other measures
OF reconstruction, we have delivered these
people, bound hand and foot into the
clutches Of these corrupt carpet baggers, to
be robbed At their mercy. Now let me try
to give you an illustration Of the way the
thing works. Men say, Suppose they do
steal? What can We do about it2 You
pretend to be in favor Of local self govern
menI. They have got it, and those local
selt governing authorities are the robbers
What are you going TO do about it? will
tell you Of q case.
THE SITUATION IN ARKANSAS.
| Ia the year 1868 the State Of Arkansas,
among other States was reconstructed I'M
der our Republ can Legislation. They re-
constructed a very large portion OF her peo-
ple-probAbly one half Of the white people
being eufranchised aud not allowed to vote.
The blacks and those they call "scGlawags'
that is, poor whites whom they regard
ed of no account, voted, while the property
holding whites were dislranchised aud al
lowed no voice in the al a nistratlon of their
Government So then Powell Clayton, an
Arkansas man, who came IN there with
a regiment Of our soldiers, or else following
10 their wake, and one Of the leaders Of the
cArpst.bag crowd was elected Governor Of
the State. The Constitution then prescrib-
ed that all whom Congress dlsirancbised
should DO denied the righi TO vote. Well,
Congress proceeded very properly, though
, tardily, 10 take oil the disfr tnchi.emeut, 20
, that ninety Eve or ninety nine Certainly
I ninety tive out Of every 100 OF those who
had been dislrAuchised as Rebels, we're TEE L.
franchised By Congress. Bat the carpet
baggers said: mo, Congress has nothing
10 do with il. Our State Constitution, which
we framed 10 1858, disfrsnchised these the ,
whom Congress had then dstraHchised,
. Now Congress takes OF the tal, bat We do
NOT, We are goirg to keep them tight
They appoint Gov. Clayton be appoints q
Board OF Registration Tor every county, and
from the decisions of that Board there 10 no
appeal, aud they pot ou the registry Just
b whoever they please. ! met 80 or 40 eli
Gems Of Arkansas a. Louisville, two or three
DAYS ago, and they told me tina: over 20,
600 Of the property holders aud land hold
ers of that State were nov disfrau chised--
Kept of the registry; not shat the laws r.
quire so many, but when the lava did not,
the registrars did Ihey had the power and
they would put on such SIS they chose and
no more and when they found they we're
not going to get a majority without striking
Off, they would strike Of so as TO have the
vote KEEP. right-thR, IS tor the Govern ulent
under which the people to-day ere living.
] The land no ders ought To be eatrAu chised
by this carpeg.5ag governor which uesus
q 20 cast the Electoral vote Of the STATE
against the people Of the state by keeping
large part ofthe people disifan chised, aud
; At a late Grant State Convention It was
solemnly vowed that none of these persons
+, disirauohised shou d be allowed to vote this
fall after that they would see about It.
SENATOR CLAYToSs ILLEGAL TRANSACTIONS.
Let me tell you how it operates. In the
year 1870 they had their second election
under the State Governments, not for Gov
-rnor bnt TOR the Legislature and Congress
Powell Clayton, Governor Of the State an
controller Of all this election machinery, ap
pointer Of registrars al over the State, vas
a candidate for United States Senator. 1t
was safe thing to bet that he would be
I elected under that system-hrst making all
the registrars, and then putting on Just as
many voters ~ they saw f. Suppose you
have q title TO be on the registry, they will
not put you on, and you cannot get 90, and
there ID no remedy for 1t. There Is another
. hitch beJon Il at. Powell Clayton and his
! subordiuAtes are the State Board of Can
: vassers, with absolute power TO r, jscs what
ever votes they see fl, and bring oct such a
2 result as they choose. So then II appeared
= when the Legislature was chosen, that IT
va, largely Republican, yet Mr.. Clayton had
8 not got control Of It enough to elect him
for the Senate. He has to throw out votes
AS President Of the Board of Can vassers
? he discards those votes that be pleRses, so
as to bring 10 the candidate that ne pleaseg.
+ For instance, in one county there was an
anti Clay ton ticket. He throws these votes
out-ihree-quArters Of the Republican vote,
and brings in the Democratic ticket rather
than have the Republican ticket elected,
uhich was against him. So he goes lhroug b
like this and makes oura Clayton majority
vhich elects him 10 the Senate. But 10
Il doing this you understand that you cannot
. reject votes cast for one Office aud ad o. II
. votes cast by the same voters for another
l Office. That is perfectly plain. II you de-
eide that this poll is not legal poll you
l have got to throw it out for sll purposes. So
l. Gov. Clayton throws out the votes of Repub-
9 licans there because they we're elscIing an
=, anti-Clayton ticket, and thereby defeats
Thomas BoUles, the Republican candidate,
: and elects John Edwards, the Democratic
= candidate. John Edwards comes forward
. with a certificate as good as anybodT Mr..
7 Bowles does not like 1t. People generally
u do not be goes on and contests the cleo
J, ZION, and, With abundance OF testimony.
O proves that the votes Of his, thrown out Tor
o the sake OF sleotiBg Clayton, were no,
rigbtfully thrown out, AID a committee OF
}. the House OF Representatives takes the
u case up and cOnslters It from top to bot
tom, and say unanimously, withOut dis.
sentlnR voice, the people elected Thomas
BoWles; he mast have the seat. So, on
u that unanimous vote it goes to the House
! which, by an equally unanimous vote, says
2 the same thing, and BoWles is put in II
u was not because he was Republican, be-
. cause they fought just the same thing IN
e Texas, where they larned out William T.
Is Clark Republican, and put In ID. c. Gid.
e dinRs, Democrat, because be was elected
a. by good majority, aud there was not q
u dissenting voice in the committee or in the
e House.
. GRANT RELIEVES CLAYTON FROM MERITRr
PUNISHMENT.
So then, you see that you are not resting
!. on my story about Clayton and bis Govern
ment Here is the unanimous decision oil
! Committee on Elections of the House o.
Representatives, that Mr.. Clayton had fraud
/, ulentenily returned votes, and he had re-
turaed the man who was not elected, and
tjscted and ousted the man who was elect