Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1876-10-27
From tho New York Herald.
THE MILITARY IN ELECTIONS.
GRANTS False Proclamation and
hfs Dangerous Dssign.

Grants False Proclamation and
mis- Dangerous Design.
The Presidents proelamat made
for no true cause, misstatlng the clear
aud we'll understood facts in almost
every paragraph, ordering the disper
sion OF an instruction which does not
exist, on pleas which are notoriously
without foundation, and threatening
to send TO the state not only the regu-
lar rrmy but the militia Of the States,
is surely too grave and dangerous an
abuse OF power to pass unnoticed by
Northern voters. The clause OF the
Constitution, under which the Presi-
dent shelters himself and Gov. Cham
bctlain, evidently supposes the Gov
ernor Of State to have attempted to
put down disorders before he is entie
tied 10 call for Federal help. 1t sup
| poses the emergency to be SO serious
that he would call the Legislature to-
gether for consultation before he ap-
peals to Washington. if possible; and
for this Mr.. Chamberlain has had
abundance OF time. It supposes at
leaet actual and notorious illegal com
binations too powerful for him 30 put
down ; but there is not the least proof
of any combination whatever. except
one of the respectable people of the
State to defeat Gov. Chamberlain at
the polls. There can be no plea even
OF resistance on the part Of the rife
clubs, which are for the most pars. If
not entirely, legal and chartered or
g,nizations Their members have
submitted quietly to arrest, wherever
they have been called on. The plain
and disagreeable truth seems to be
that the President Of the United States
has been led to abet Gov. Chamberlain
in an attem pit to create a riot in South
Carolina for the purpose of coercing
the people to re>elect him.
It is impossible TO believe that SO
serious and dangerous a misuse of
power for partisan purposes will go
unnoticed by the voters of the North
| ern States. Such acts, unless they are
promptly condemned by the people,
| become precedents ; and if the people
of the United States should by their
| neglect allow such precedent az this
to become established, it would hang
as a menace over every election, and
would surely soon be misu5ed in a
manner to create general civil discord.
No one pretends to doubt that the peo-
pie of South Carolina have for many
years suffered from public robbery and
grave maladn Illustration at the hands
of men who used the ignorant negro
vote to maintain themselves in power.
At last, there, as In Arkansas and Ala
bama, even the negroes, or at least the
more intelligent part of them, have
become weary of misrule at the same
time, as in those other States, the Re-
publican party has become divided,
aud one faction arrays itself against
the party candidate. By this split the
Democrats reasonably hope to profit
and to carry the State. They are using
their utmost efforts to do SO, and they
deserve the sympathy of every oppo-
nent of bad government in the North
But in this emergency, when natural
| causes give the friends of honesty a
chance, the Federal power is invoked,
and successfully, to step in aud save
Gov. Chamberlain from defeat which
,, he deserves and which the public good
| demands. Surely thai is not free or
constitutional government. What
would the people of New York have
said If, when Tweed and his Ring were
about to be overturned, these had been
able to summon Federal troops and
Federal marshals to help them, and
had procured Presidential proclama-
ton ordering the opponents of the
Ring to disperse2