Litchfield enquirer., 1875-02-25
The Presidents New Policy.

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 isting state government in Arkansas
 would be less startling if it were not for several circumstances. In the first place,
 four of the five members of the Select
 Committee of the House of Representa- tives on Arkansas affairs-Messrs Poland,
 Scudder of New York, Saylor of Ohio,
 and Sloss- just reported, after per sonal examination of the subject, that they find in the state ''a Constitution re- publican in form, adopted and ratified by a large majority of it's people manned by officers of their choice and going forward with reasonable quiet and peace" They therefore recommend that the admitted irregularities in the adoption of the new Constitution and the establishment of the | present government under it be overlook ed, and that both be left undisturbed by Congress. In the second place, Attorney General Williams, in an elaborate docu- ment written of the 18th of last May for the President S instruction. declared that In his opinion Elisha Baxter should be recognized as the lawful executive of the state of Arkansas" In the third place,
 the President himself, 1n a proclamation dated May 15, 1874, began the recital of t-e reasons for his proposed exercise of executive power as follows: ''Whereas, cer- tain turbulent and disorderly persons pre- tending that Elisha Baxter, the present executive of Arkansas, was not elected, l have combined together with force and l arms to resist his authority as such execu- | tive, and other authorities of said state; | and whereas said Elisha Baxter has been | declared duty elected by the General As ocmD1y UI sslia sUaUe, as prOVIueu m ElIo Constitution thereof, and has for long period been exercising the functions of said office, into which he was inducted l according to the Constitution and laws of said state, and ought by its citizens to be considered as the lawful executive there of" etc. Now, however. President Grant regards the new Constitution and the ex- isting state government as the products of ''violence, intimidation and revolutionary proceedings, and ventures" to express the opinion that in the election of 1872, l when Elisha Baxter and Joseph Brooks | were the rival candidates for the office of Governor, the latter twas lawfully elec- ted Governor of that state," and ''that he has been unlawfully deprived of the pos session of his office since that time."
 President Grants ecentricities of opin- 1 lon have led him into many strange posi- tions, but hitherto his characteristic tenac- ity of purpose has lent a certain dignity of convention even to his most perverse whims, so that it was thought that where he had once taken his stand there he would remain fixed. His well-known sud den change of opinion on the financial question has been regarded rather as the exception proving this rule than other | wise. Hisssmessage to the Senate on the affairs of Arkansas betrays new phase of character, and one, we should think, which might weaken the devotion of any personal followers who adhere to his for tunes through selfish motives.
 Whether the President is aware of it. his determination to reopen the Arkansas question will strengthen the "carpet bag ging" politicians of the state. Every dis turbance in the local governments of the those interruptions men who by intense professions of loyalty have contrived to identify their personal fortunes with the success of the Republican party, and who have managed in repeated instances to turn to their own gain measures devised l by 1t to secure fair treatment and the ex- ercise of all political rights to every class of southern citizens, black as we'll as white. The career of the man Brooks, whose advocate the President has now be- come, Illustrates the habits of the class which invariably rises into prominence whenever the federal power is exercised in the local affairs of the Southern States. Before 1872 Brooks was one of the parti- sans of Mcclure, Dorsey, Clayton and their associates. These constituted close cor portion holding in fee simple the public offices of Arkansas. Brooks finally imag- ined that he was not receiving his fair share of the spells, and in 1872 set up for himself as candidate for Governor on the Greeley ticket He undoubtedly re- ceived the votes of 8 majority of the peo- ple In many of the southern states, however, Gin Louisiana, for example, the election of candidate depends on the counting of the votes. The people vote as they please, and then the Republican managers" ''count in" whom they think best. The Constitution of 1868 made the legislature of Arkansas the sole judge of the election of Governor, and that body, being under the control of Clayton and his friends, promptly returned Baxter, the opponent of Brooks, as elected. But Baxter was in the main an honest man, and declined to become cats paw for the men who secured his election. Me- Clure and clayton found that they had caught Tartar. Accordingly they chang l Oo S4OOO AAiA D2OOAO HI HID as" sertions that he was the rightful Cover nor. Unfortunately for this new combina- tion, the Constitution made no provision for review of the decision of the legisla- ture. Brooks endeavored to use the fed eral courts to oust Baxter, but they de- clined to interfere. The Supreme Court of the state, to which he applied next, denied that 1t had jurisdiction, saying that neither this nor any other state court has jurisdiction to try suit in rela- tion to such contest, be the mode or form what it may. Such issue should be made before the General Assembly. It | IS their duty to decide, and no other trib- unal can decide that question" Chief Judge Mcclure dissented from this opin- ion, but in the case of Berry against | Wheeler which came before the court about the same time-Berry being can- | didate for the office of state auditor on the same ticket with Brooks-the Chief Judge delivered the opinion, in which | there is the following sentence: "As to all matters of contested election for the off, ces of Governor, Lieutenant Governor. Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer. l Attorney General, and Superintendent of Public Instruction, I am of the opinion that 1t can only be had before the Gener- al Assembly," He held further that Ca writ of prohibition ought to go to prohi- bit the Circuit Court from the entertain ing jurisdiction of that portion of Berry against Wheeler that has for it's object a recovery of the office;;" and Judge Cald- well, of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Arkan- sas, in note on this case, says that ''the jurisdiction of the General Assembly over cases of contested election for offices in said section (that is, those mentioned above) is exclusive" All five of the Su- preme Court judges heard this case and agreed on the question of jurisdiction.
 Brooks, however, nothing daunted by these legal Instructions, brought suit in the Circuit Court of Pulaski county, and. availing himself of the chance absence of Baxter's Attorney, obtained authority to oust Baxter, which he immediately did. A suit was then made up and brought be- fore the same Supreme Court for man. &<