The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-12-04
TIE INDIGNATION MEETING

last by the citizens ard reform parties, to
protest against the outrages peipetrated at.
the late, so called, election in that city,
was all that its most earnest promoters bad
anticipated, and conclusively demonstrated
that the spirit which characterized the Re-
form movement is, by no means, extin-
gnished. The meeting was presided over
by the venerable Prof. n. II. Smith, rcso-
lutious, couched in earnest, ringing terms,
adopted, and measures instituted by which
the grievances will be formally brought to
the notice of the Legislature, and that in a
manner not to be disregarded. That meet
ing, called to denounce the indignities
heaped upon the people of the State by a
debased ring of politicians and the infam-
Gus frauds by which the honest will of that
people had been defeated, was representa-
tive of all that is honorable and upright in
politics. Itrepresented movement which
had been inaugurated by those who earn
estly and seriously believed and so charged
and which charges never have been dis
proved, that some branches of the State
government were rotten to the core, that
one, at least, of the guardians of the peo-
pies money was corrupt and INSCRIPTIONS,
and hence unworthy to hold the position
which he occupied, that part of the enor-
nous taxes levied upon an already over
burdened people had found their way into
the pockets of "useful' men instead of
being appropriated to the payment Of the
State Indebtedness, that great portion of
the legislation at Annapolis, during the
past few years, had been solely and entirely
liz the interests of ravenous lobby, that
corruption and intrigue and low trickery
had displaced purity and ability and plain
dealing in the control of State affairs, and
that ring Of plunderers, with United
States Senator as ''the head aud front of
the offending" had grasped the reins of
power and used them to further the pur-
poses of its unholy aspirations. 1t repre-
sented that movement, and it represents
more. Notorious public events within the
past month, have made it, and the men who
composed it, the champions of the freedom
of the elective franchise, of the purity of
the ballot -box, and the earnest opponents
of terrorism, "plug- uglyism and muir
der. The responsibilities which have thus
devolved upon the Reform organization are
big with the future security of our citizens
and the perpetuity of republican ideas. It
has left the confined field of politics as at
present considered, and entered a broader
domain. While it will continue to insist
that the abuses which have latterly attended
the supremacy Of the Democratic party in
the State must be abated, and the dishon-
est and INSCRIPTIONS men who are enjoy
ing its honors be compelled to "step down
and OUT while it will contend that John
Lee Carroll did not receive a majority of
the votes legally cast at the late election,
that, should he be inaugurated, he would
become the Governor of the State of Mary
land by virtue of the most glaring and
unblushing fraud, and would occupy that
high office, and discharge its important
duties as the representative of minority
OF the people, Wnlle IL Will LnuS lDSlSt upon
and contend for these minor, and, in some
selfish objects, it will stand upon
a higher level, and wage the battle for
broader, nobler, grander principles. To
quote the words of Hon. John Richie, read
at the meeting on Tuesday evening last,
" the question is none other than the main
tenance of the purity of the ballot box.
In this all citizens are interested, for if
that be destroyed republican institutions are
at an end"
Steps have, finally, been taken to answer
that question in favor of the right, and we
hope that before long, law will be vindi-
Gated, and exact justice melted out to the
scoundrels who have trampled it under
foot. A memorial to the Legislature will
be circulated throughout the State, and we
trust to see it SO numerously signed that
even the constituencies followers of the ring
will not dare to disregard it.