Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1876-12-22
CONSPIRACY AuAINsr FREgDoM.

should he upheld in his usurpation of the
rights Of the people by many men ap-
parcntly respectable, is still more alarming.
Happily we are no longer to be led away
by mere names or reputation Mt the North;
we judge for ourselves; we trust only the
common test of experience; and in New
York experience has shown that our most
noted, active, or wealthy citizens are the
least to be relied upon 10 shield us from
the assaults OF public thieves. Nor can
the fact that Mr.. Tilden has secured the
services OF several persons of this class hide
from the people the real nature Of that
conspiracy against freedom to which he
seems to have lent himself in nearly all the
Southern States. The contrast, indeed, be-
tween the two parties who have contested
the control of the Union is one that can
bring only sincere satisfaction to those
who have advocated the election of Mr.,
Hayes, for they have carried with them the
Tree sufirages of the great mass of the ma
tion. 1t is not to universal suffrage that
the perils of the moment are due, but to
| the want of it. II il because hundreds of
Thousands Of voters have been driven from
the polls that we are threatened with dis
puted election, and an administ ration sus-
tanned in the North by superstition, in the
South by murder.
But for the papal priests and ultramon.
tanisn Mr. Tilden would have lost every
Northern State; but for that wide reign Of
violence and insecurity, which has 30 long
prevailed in all the Southern section. he
would have been left in an insignificant
and appropriate minority. Almost in a
solid and imposing body the educated and
Industrious people OF the North and West
gave their suifrages for Repubicanism and
progress, free schools and humanity. No
stain OF blood rests upon their hands. no for.
eign superstition blinded them to the in
torests Of freedom. The immense mriori
ties for Rcpublicnnism in New England.
in the interior of New York State, and the
safe stability of Pennsylvania, were an
swered by the enormous and unequaled free
votes in Iowa, Kansas and Minnesota, and
by the unbroken unity OF the new States
and the Pacific coast. Through all this
vast region the election was carried on
with perfect fairness and good order. No
rife clubs, as at Edgefeld District, South
Carolina, had secured the country to in.
timidnte voters, or formed n close circle
around the polls, through which an open.
ing for the brave white and colored Re-
publicans was only made by the efforts of
few United States soldiers. No horrible
massacre happened or could happen in
Iowa or Nebraska like that OF Hamburg.
In all the Republican States the people
kept rufhans in check. In the Southern,
1t seems to have been scarcely possible for
the Republicans in many districts to vote
at all. From one town in Alabama comes
strange picture of the condition of
Southern life, and Of the utter loss of a tree
suffrage. The Democratic officials, intoxi-
Gated, shameless, ride around the district
threatening violence to white and colored
republicans, and considerable white
population is deprived Of its vote. In
Kentucky Tor ten years a reign of violence
has continued in many districts, and the
State government has in vain striven to Sc.
cure the lives and property of its citizens.
The condition of Mississippi is such that
| one can scarcely any longer look upon it
! as a part OF the Union. 1t is in state of
semi-rebellion. It's defiance of all law is
notorious. Georgia has long been in
similar condition That airy free election
has been held IN these States, or in Ala
bama or Texas is absurd to urge. The
right OF free voting has been violated at
every step; the people have nowhere been
allowed to signify their wishes. 70 COM
pare am election in Georgia with one in
Kansas or Nebraska Is to mark the differ
ence between free State and despotism.
In the one, every citizen declares his pref
| erences without molestation; in the other
he is harassed, intimidated, or driven
from the polls. The members of Congress
who profess to represent Georgia and Mis-
sissippi, the candidate who claims his
office by the vote of these semi-insurgent
districts, nre usurpers and intruders, and
to suffer them to rule over the free and
progressive States Of the North and West
where good order prevails and the laws are
observed, would be to submit to an entire
overthrow ef all the principles OF freedom.
We should become the scOf of every enc
my oil free institutions, the subjects of a
dangerous and probably ruinous ty-
ranny.
There is n plain necessity for rigid
inquiry into all the circumstances of the
recent election. If the Southern States
have shown themselves unfit for selt-gov-
ernment by allowing murderers and rioters
To elect their officials, by refusing to their
people the free exercise of the right of suf-
frage, no reputable Democrat will desire
that they shall Over again control Presi-
dental canvass. This is the charge made
against the Southern leaders, and this is
the question to be determined by the action
| OF the whole people. The moment seems
favorable for such an inquiry. The Gem
tennial year cannot be better employed
than in establishing the right of universal |
suffrage. 1t is not party question, tits one
that relates to the stability of the govern
ment II Democratic Representatives are
apparently elected with an illegal vote in
the Southern States, by n denial OF the
right OF voting to large section of the
La lNxr Al 4
suffrage, the whole nation is concerned to
see that they shall not be permitted to
assume position they have never won; il
they are honestly elected, no one will OBJ,
ject TO their control. Ifmcmbers of Con-
gress are chosen in Georgia or Mississippi
by violence, no reputable Democrat will
desire to see them admitted to office; if
those elections were fair and orderly, they
will meet no opposition by Republicans.
! But let us not in the Centennial year. full
OF its patriotic and honored memories,
fail in our duty to the Constitution and the
people. Let so just and rigid scrutiny OF
the disputed districts be made as shall sat
iSiy the hnmane and patriotic men of both
parties. Then, if the Southern leaders, as
they hercely assert, have been uniustly
assailed, they will stand unblemished in
the eyes of their eountrymen. II they are
really guilty of the barbarties and acts OF
violence charged against them in the
Edgeleld District, in Mississippi, Louisi.
ana, Georgia, Florida, and even Delaware
they will receive their punishment from
the hands of the people.
To Congress belongs the right to deter.
mine whether its members have been fairly
chosen. The election, therefore, in the
Southern States will become proper sub
ject of its inquiry. If necessary, the new
Congress may he called together at the
close of the present session, and on no sub,
jeet could it more properly exercise its in.
telligence and its candor than in calm
judicial inquiry into the validity of the
Southern elections. The cries of the op,
pressed voters of the South, the shocking
condition Of society said to exist in many
Of its districts, the intense ignorance of ii,