The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1873-11-27
TEE ELECTION AND TIE COURTS.


another year to the ONCE ne
holds, and will, we hope, maintain his
rights. 1t is duty he has sworn to dis
charge, and he will prove recreant and
faithless if he permits himself to be
busted by any other means than the de-
cision of our State Supreme Court.
From the Chickasaw Messenger.
We believe the position assumed by
him in regard to this grave question is
correct, and We are sure the interest of
the people of Mississippi would be sub
served, if the Governor should ignore
the election, and treat it as q nullity.
The friends of Gov. Powers says he
will carry the case to the court of last
resort, and his enemies (the Ames fac
ton ) tremble in their boots when they
assert that "Powers will back down"
From the Natchez Democrat.
1t seems to be, just now, a popular
fancy with the political pessimists of the
State, to draw parallel between the ter
rible case of Louisiana and the prospec-
tive case of Mississippi, and to urge
peaceable acquiescence in the numerical
result of the recent election in order to
avoid such expense, confusion and an
archy as the memorable Kellogg Nc
Emery contest entailed upon Louisiana. =
These men, in their inordinate zeal to
have Ames and his co-adjutors peaceably
installed in the places to which they claim
to have been elected, lose sight alto
gether of the important fact that there is
no similarity between the case of Missis-
sippi and that of Louisiana, and but lit
tie, if any, reason to apprehend that the
arbitrary physical power of the Federal
Government will be used in Mississippi
to subvert the operation of the organic
law as it was in Louisiana to subvert the
will of the people as expressed at the
ballot box.
From the Yazoo Democrat
The opinion seems to prevail that Gov.
Powers will not vacate the Executive
chair to Gen. Ames, but will carry the
matter before the courts. All of which
is very proper.
If the law under which the recent
election was held is an unconstitutional
enactment, and Ames and his ticket
should be permitted to succeed to power
by virtue of that election, what is to pre-
vent series of illegal elections being
entailed upon the State hereafter Again,
if Davis, becomes governor ON account
of the election of Ames to the Senate,
what is to prevent him and his officials at
the expiration of their terms four years
hence from raising the same point that
Powers now quietly submits and vacates
his office to Ames without a contest, the
legality of the election law still remains
vexed question and may possibly and
probably arise four years from now and
be the means of retaining Davis five
years in the executive chair. 1t is to
the interest of the Ames party not to see
the uncoE4stitutionality of the election law
now. They may see it in a different
light when it will result in keeping their
tools in power an extra year.
Gov Powers we believe will fully test
the matter before yielding an inch of his
''nine points of the law"
From the Raymond Gazette.
The opinion is gaining ground very
rapidly that our late election was all a
farce, and that we shall have it over
again next fall. The Legislature elected
may assemble, it is true, but it is pretty
certain that it will meet at its own indi-
vidual expense, and that its debates and
serious resolves will have all the binding
effect of first class country debating So
ciety. The State printer, too, may
print at his own expense, and hence may
charge $4,000 or even $50, 900 for a
50, 900 job, without hurting the people.
The election was clearly illegal and will
h. ,orouounooJ en- h., +ba C,o~ov,,o Co,,.t
and hence it matters little who was or
who was not elected-at least such seems
to be the current of public opinion.
From the Aberdeen Examiner.
The balloting over, the attention of the
people is now directed to those at the
head of the State administration, and
the question asked is, will the executive
and his cabinet maintain the position so
positively assumed by them few weeks
ago, that the election is illegal, and that
the present incumbents of office from
Governor "down to fifth corporal" are
entitled to hold over until January 1st,
1875.
After the many powerful legal argu-
ments made in support of that position,
and the decisive stand taken by Powers,
Morris, and many of the ablest lawyers
in the State, to say nothing of a major
ity Cf the members of the House of Rep
resentatives and a majority of those le-
gally entitled to seats in the Senate, it
would be the height of pusilanimity and
cowardice to yield the field without a
stubborn battle before the highest Judi
eial tribunal in the State.
If the Governor was right, then it is
ais bounden duty to maintain the law at
Ill hazards; and if he is honest in his
whether right or wrong, it is
lis duty to have the question arbitrated
before the Supreme Court.
In this affair the individual claims of
Jov. Powers amount to nothing-it is an
ssue that concerns the welfare of the
,eople whose servant he is, and he has
10 right or authority to compromise their |
laims through personal delicacy, or to
urrender their rights because dema-
,ogues may attribute his championship
o thirst for Office.
From the Vicksburg Times.
So far as the determination of Gov.
lowers to pursue the course indicated is
oncerned, we have no suggestions to
fer-no counsel to VOLUNTEERING threats
. apply. No intelligent person will Sc
iously question the right of the Govern
r, the Attorney General, Secretary of
tate, or any other party in interest to an
ppeal to the courts for an authoritative
of the constitutionality of
he late election, about which there is
1ch diversity of opinion even among
lembers of the legal profession.
1t is to these tribunals alone that we
ok for peaceful and just solution of
u doubtful questions involving the rights
{ citizens, whether they be office holders
: not; indeed it is for the sole purpose
adjusting and settling disputes which