The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1872-10-29
THE .ENroncEMENr Law.

The indictment brought by the Greeleyites
| against the Republican party, SO far as Recon-
struction is concerned, contains two counts:
1. The exclusion of jeff Davis and some
two hundred others who violated their official
oaths, from the privilege of holding Federal
office.
| 2. The interference of the Federal Govern
ment in local elections, by the appointment of
Supervisors of Election and Deputy Marshals
to attend the polls, the former to have free
oversight of the ballot box and records, the
latter to have power to make arrests and pre-
serve order
OF the first count it is hardly worth while
to speak. 1t is only question whether Con-
gress is willing to take jeff Davis back to his
old seat in the Senate. The power to do SO
lies in the hands of Congress, and it is very
petty question upon which to attempt the or
ganization of political party. Amnesty is
now universal with the exception of those
whom we have mentioned above, Senators and
Representatives in Congress, and officers of
the Army and Navy who Violated their oaths
of Office and struck at the life of the nation
they had sworn to support. Mr.. Greeley
wants these fellows back in the fold, and more
than that to concede to them the highest
privileges of citizenship. In that he is con-
sistent with himself, as he has always advo-
Gated the theory of Universal Amnesty.
But he is not consistent in the matter of the
Enforcement Law. A special plank in the
Cincinnati platform declares by periphrase
that the XIVth Amendment of the Constitu-
ton ought not to be enforced, and that the
Federal power should never be felt in the
State elections. Up to the week of his nomi-
nation, Mr.. Greeley took the other ground
/ He was strongly in favor of what he now calls
Federal interference. His pen was actively
employed in advocating the original Enforce
ment Act of 1871, which gives the power of
peremptory arrest to Special Deputy United
States Marshals at the polls in elections when
Presidential or Congressional candidate is
to be chosen. AT State or municipal elections
no such power exists. The Federal power is
only used to protect the Federal dignity. And
Mr.. Greeley also advocated warmly the Sup
Elementary Act of June 90, 1872, which de-
fines the duties of Federal Supervisors of cleo
tions, and makes it condition that they shall
serve without pay, except in cities of over 20,
900 inhabitants. Mr.. Greeley is, therefore,
fatty in contradiction with his own record in
his present support of the Cincinnati platform.
He looks now upon those laws as grievance
and an insult to the South, and he forgets that
4 he has often III -, That tho same law is gem
eral and as applicable to New York City as to
New Orleans.
But it is of far more consequence to study
the working of the law itself than to watch
the shifting stand-points of Horace Greeley.
In Georgia it was not enforced at the recent
election. We doubt whether it could have
been without the presence of an army of regu-
lar soldiers. In whole counties where there
is large colored Republican population, not
a single Republican vote was cast. In Macon
the negroes attempted to vote, but when four
of them had been killed the rest desisted In
the Cities however, "decent whites" were
graciously permitted to vote Republican
ticket, if they dared to SO insult the magnani-
nous Southern mind. The streets of Savar-
nah were patrolled by mounted ex- Confederate
soldiers, and such was the reign of terror es-
tablshed that since the election it is found
that the effect Of this violence has rccoiled upon
the men of wealth who plotted it. The labor
of Savannah is deserving it. Throughout
Georgia colonies of negroes are forming to
emigrate from the State, and another year it
may turn out that the planters may have to
pick their own cotton. So strong is the feel
ing of resentment in Macon, where the four
murders were committed, that Greeley club
of $50 Liberal Republicans have dsbanded
and reorganized for Grant. Their President
Mr.. Fitzpatrick an Irishman, in speech at
the Court House, declared that the election
riot was begun by the Greeleyites, and that
the blood of those killed and wounded was on
their heads. His speech was very bold and
bitter. The editor Of the American Union,
the Liberal" organ, offers that paper for
sale, type, office and goodwill, declaring it
pays well, but that he will not stay in the midst
of such community. lie says
"We are not easily frightened, but we see
plain enough that there is no safety for person
or property, and while we can have it for the
simple seeking, we propose to abandon this
| field" AS he has still ga choice of heaven
or hell, he proposes to take God country"
That tells the story. A Greeley success in
the South has made the lives of Northern men
unsafe, even though they are themselves of
the order of Greeley doughfaces. The election
of Greeley would greatly intensity this lament
able condition. He is the hope of the old
rebels, and even were he a far better man than
he is, he lacks that executive grasp of emer-
gencies which would be sorely needed in the
event of his accession to the Presidency. His
will, firmness and moderation are not to be
trusted, no matter how wisely he may talk.
What Reconstruction needs is four years more
of Grant
GS- Perhaps the strangest domestic pet
ever heard of was recently exhibited at the