The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1875-02-25

leIlSEilu oNtlptVtSNFNNtsttt.ss sshS ~
| foiInatce of Shcir lcgitimat busi-
ness. -. sss.,ss
This sSIseeis erc called a ca' titu-
Itional eonver ION, as it had q legal
right: to dos which question IS to
,wfcshof the Should havc Tco sit,i-
ltionaz enyenS ION was:s :sabhiitl = toa
| vote of She people IN juno, fST4.
il.ISshc VOTE stood, fofconvention, 269;;
against coIfSontion, 500; -sns ing
ttiie whole fs,e cast 6, 8, aud 6sina-
Ejorits jar the conventson Of II ,652.
lsTs.s,, -, = :, ~, NC cn,,.
stood for the eorsti; lon Is 97i and
against it, 24;S01; being q majority
$500, and total vote of 1GS,5W.-
And vet this is the government, thus
brought into existence by the Presi-
dent himself, that he now seeks by
the military to overthrow. He now
seeks, years afterward, to reinstatc
Brooks, whom he previously put out
of office.
The secret of this whole matter is
this: Baxter was thecandidate of the
republicans, Brooks of the democrats.
Hence Grant at the point of bayonct
placed Baxter in power as governor
de fdcto, rs he has done Kellogg in
Louisiana. But after Baxter wa:
thus installed as governor he turned
conservative in his views, and Brooks
turned to be par excellence radical;
hence Grants wish now to install
Brooks as governor, and which he
threatens an American Senate will
do.
Let us see when the voice of the
people was heard most potentially!
I've have seen that upon the ratitica-
tion of the new constitution there
were 103,504 votes cast. When
Brooks and Baxter were candidates
for governor the total vote was only
.S0,72l. Yet when 103,504 voters
have spoken their will, this dcspot
of American growth seeks and threat
ems by military power to thwart
their wills. He claims the power to
make and unmakc States at his i'm
perial will. He treats Legislatures
Of sovereign States with not half i'm
portanee that should attach to an or
dinary townmeeting. But still per-
sistent in his vaulting and mad am
bition, he now comes to the Ameri-
can Senate representing forty mil.
lion Of freemen, and dictates to that
BODY. All these facts that l have
stated in regard to Arkansas are
found by a committee appointed by
the Speakea of this house, composed
of three republicans and two demo-
crats, Hon. LUKE P. POLAND being
chairman.
The committee in its report uses
the following noble words, which
should be placed in letters of gold
over the doors leading into this Capi;
tol and into the Executive Mansion,
as we'll as over the doors Of every
State capitol:
"Thc people Of every State have
the right to make their own consti-
tuition to suit themselves; provided it
be republican III form and in har-
mony with the Constitution of the
United States, and the National
Government has no power to de-
prive them of that right"
The committee close their report
with the following language:
"The committee do not recon-
mend any action by Congress or by
any other Department of the Gener-
al Government in regard to the State
government of Arkansas.
President Grant, unwittingly it is
true, admits in his message Of Feb
ruary s that it is a majority that he
seeks to put out of power, and that
it is a minority that he seeks to put
in power. In this land where here
toforc we have been accustomed to
govern ourselves, maori;ies will
never consent to be governed by
minorities. Take away yourarmics
and and al4lt l4tt tSI1ilr be well. In my own
State of West Virginia for many
wears We were governed by a minor
tv. inmy own county, witha voting
population of sixteen hundred, only
about three hundred were allowed to
vote; in neighboring town Of a pop
ulation of about twelve hundred on
" six were allowed to vote; and SO it
was nearly all over the State under
our infamous registration law such
as they have in Louisiana and Ar
kansas. Such outrages shocked the
sentiments of the Libcrty-loving peo-
pie of my mountain home, and they
arose peaccably in the might and
majesty of their power and hurled
their oppressors from their places,
which will know them no more for
During all this reign of terror in
my State the United States military
were stationed upon US, but as soon
as the people spoke and placed the
men and party of their choice IN
power the military left; and. thank
God. no soldier has placed his foot
upon the soil of West Virginia since.
V;+b ys now all is peace and pros