Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1875-10-14

eulpabls extent, violencs. tumuIt, riot
and general lawlessness prevailed; that,
a . consequence, the reception Of ille-
gal votes and the rejection Of legal votes,
the acts Of disturbance aud dassault CON-
mitted ON peacexble citizens and the
intimidation Of voters % predominated
n to destroy al confidence in the elec-
ton - being the expression OF the free
voice of the people of that Congressional
District" And as n consequence the
committee reported that the eicefion sras
cod, esd tke seat from the district scas
ses1nss d. rrpws-~xs rvuv~-.-A--:---
ity report, claiming that the sitting
member was entitled to his seat. Ths
case fingered along amid the contest,
and the bitterness growing out of ths
troubles in Kansas and its decision wa,
postponed from the first to the second
session Of the Thirty fifth Congress. =
Meantime died the Chairman of the
Committee of Elections who made thai
report Thomas L. Harris. . noble Rep.
resentative from Illinois, and the cher.
ished friend Of the iamented Stepher
A. Douglas, and the fate Of the contes,
vas left to feebler hands, and By . par
lamentary maneuver the case was laid
upoa the table without . hearing and
without decision upon its merits BY
the House Of Representatives BY vote
los Affirmative TO 81 in the negssive.-
At that time election contests were moi
decided BY partisan majorities, and the
case was lost because its merits wers
not heard.
Thus, after nearly two years of con.
test and labor. the whole subject va,
left undetermined. save by the expires.
sion of public opinion, and Mr.. Harris
held the seat to which be was, in nv
judgment, no more entitled than he j.
now to the Executive Office, without the
show of an election.
The sentiment Of the people at that
time may be gathered from the follow.
ing editorial Of the Ss~, commenting
on the volume Of the testimony, expos.
ing the violence and fraud of that elec.
tiOn:
1--WE have looked through a consid.
Grafton portion of the testimony, with
. view Of making some selections fol
publication, but We might take q pags
at random, anywhere. aud it would al
ford revolving exhibit of the natur,
Of the whole. The volume is, in fact, q
record Of the most shameless and au
dacious violations of law, public order
the rights cf suffrage and the decen
cies Of society, that any official docu
ment presents in the United States. 4
betrays . systematic and persisten
fraud at the several polls thus laid bar,
to public inspection, and if We are .,
infer, from the manner in which th,
system was carried out in practice il
the lower wards, the same sort Of thin,
in the upper wards, We must confess
that the aggregate majority of the sit
ting members for Baltimore is reall,
the bt ct evidence extant Of the extrem
moderation Of the American party a
the Congressional election. For instea,
Of 1000 for Mr.. Davis and 5000 fo
Harris, it would only have been at tn
cost of q little more effort to hav
doubled the majority in each case
'The evidence estab blishes beyond con
troversy the exclusion at will of natu
rallied citizens from the polls; tie DE-
Termination to do this; the atrocion
manner in which it was done; the de
liberate connivance of the regular po
lice; the outrage and violence commit
ted against individuals; the DARN,
frauds by which the ballot boxes wer
crowded with illegal votes; the pcrver
sion Of the ballot by striped tickets
and, in short. q history of wrongs s.
great as to justify the unqualified as
sertion that the civil and political right
Of the people were utterly subverted b
organized rufianism throughout th
whole mockcry Of the election Of th
4th Of November.
"A considerable portion Of the tes
timony is that Of well-known citizen,
men Of undoubted character, some actin
officially, and some Of the most strikin
facts are elected from members Of th
American party, also acting officiall,
The tone Of the whole voluminous n
cord is the same from beginning I
end, ard the reiterated assertions q
the witnesses, together with the oseI
whelming testimony, is direct 70 til
fact that it was not possible for tn
people Of the District, at that election
freely and fairly to express their choic
for Representative to Congress. Tb
| record is q sad commentary upon ou
boasted civilization and political libeI
ties, for the conclusion is Irresistible
that no desposism could more eifec
tuallv disfranchise people. and in
manner more humi'ating than the Dem
ocratic party was disfranchised hy mo
Law at the>last Congressional election.
The gentleman who would hold
seat in Congress on such terms ~ thes
is scarcely the man ito take care tha
the laws are faithfully executed" NO
is he likely to restore us to that "ds
cency" 80 much desired. Two year
later the public sentiment thus arouse
found vent in the weil.known Refor.
movement. Was he . Reformer ?
When did be become one? Thus b
spoke of that Reform movement {
1859, Of which his colleague for Atto'
ney 0enesal vss % prominent IN adv,
sais:
"And in this connection let ne .
Jingle vsrd about the reform NOV
meat Dsv being engineered BY some I
our city papers. / do not deny th,
thsrs ess seciAlesils in csre city that nee
70 b sorreeted-thaf there are Dattel
which sught 70 Be. and I trust, will |
reSormed, but I Do think that never y,
. coalition Of things more exaggerate
and iniudiciossly Sservssted than b