The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1876-10-25

amcndaDlc to. 10 give man days Work
election day with tho object OF keeping
him from the polls is not an unknown de-
vice in Northern States. 1tis only when
it becomes common that it attracts general
attention. Such devices, it is true, are not
vcry honorable to the "i,,depcndent voter"
who is influenced by them, nor are they
particularly creditable to those who en-
plov them; but they afford nc ground for
Fcdercl interference, and nobody, North
or South, will care much how Tar these
practices ex end if the peace is preserved
and if the privileges Of all who have the
will to exercise them are protected.
The War Upon South Carolina.
from the Philadelphia Tlmes]
In sheer desperation the administration
has met the demands Of the most desper-
ate Of Southern Republicans by All Exec
utiyc proclamation preliminary to a dec
~laration of martial law in South Carolina.
This action of the President, with the adj
vice and consent of the Cabinet, IS revo-
lutionary and w~orse-itis madness. The
state of affairs portrayed in the preamble
docs not exist. No insurrectlon or ome
tic violence prevails in South Carolina
other than that brought on designedly and
maliciously by the men whom this proc
llul1LlOU DTOLCCLS. .lllos AIN ktAp w
called, Which are charged with riding up
and down, by day and by night, murder
ing peaccable citizens and intimidating
Others" are lawful organizations, whose
only purpose is to secure good govern
ment by peaceful methods, and whose
counterDarts are found in every country
in the United States. Their crime is That
they are opposed to the election OF Cover
nor, Chamberlain. Every Judge in the
~State-overy one being Republican-has
certified that the peace Of his circuit has
not been disturbed by these clubs, and the
members have shown their lawabiding
disposition by calmly obcying an order
which they knew to DO unjust, and sur
rendering the right to bear arms g.laran-
teed every citizen by the constitution OF
the United States. Moreover, there Is aD-
solutcly no reason to believe that there IS
in all South Carolina any combination for
resistance to either State or Fedora laws.
Weeks of plotting on the part OF the ne.
publican leaders, followed by the most
persistent cffortsto provoke riotous de-
monstration, have been unavailing. The
State is at peace, and non know it botter
or rcrret it more than Governor Chamber
lain and Senator Patterson, at whose III
stance the President has taken his desper-
ate step.
Partisan exigcncy is, therefore, the only
excuse for the proclamation given TO the
world this morning. The design is to in
sure the recollection Ex-Governor Chamber
lain and secure the electoral vote Of South
Carolina for HAYES, a result which was al
most certain without it. An Interior de-
sign, no doubt, was the creation Of q false
estimate of Southern affairs in the minds
Of the Northern people. The idea was to
show, by q braZen misrepresentation or
facts through official channels, that the
South is t llturbulent and rebclllons, n
that the chief end and employment OF the
Southern whites is the eXtermlnatlon OF
the Southern blacks. But tho shameless
political trickstcrs in Columbia and in
Washington have again counted without
their host. In their frenzy they have for
gotten their cunning. The cry OF "wolF'
heard SO often on trivial occasions has lost
its efficacy. The pcoble understand the
tactics Of the administration, and, distrust-
ing them. will answer now as they dld IN
1874, They want peace; they mean TO
have it, and they know that the only OBJ
Stacle to peace is the unholy ambition OF
the men who now control the Federal
government and would stoop to any
means TO perpctuate their power. Presl-
dent Grant cannot place Governor hayes
in tho White House by putting any por-
ton of the country under martial Iaw.
This crusade against the South may make
the vote Of South Carolina doubly r tor
Hayes, but it is more likely, as MIR. Cam
cr0n will discover, to keep New York ut
her Democratic moorings and place Penn
sylvania on the lcngtheninS list OF States
whose votes will be cast for Tilden and
Hendricks.
The Day Of Dcilverance is at Hand.
From The .Nc,r YORK SUM-
We urge on the wrongcd people or
South Carolina to so promptly obey the
demands Of this c~lectionccring proclama-
ton tnat their enemies shall have no ex-
clsc for following it up with tho threat
ened bayonot law. They have borne
%gricvous wrongs long and patiently. Tut
through all this is hard to bear, lcttheo out
ragged people of South Carolina make no
movement except at the ballot box. They
have the sympathies Of the majority of
the North, who arc not deceived by the
flaming appeals of Chamberlain for Fed
eral aid to elect him for their Governor,
and the day oftheir deliverance is at hand.
The attempt to ovcrawe the vote OF South
Carolina by Grants soldiers will react
against the party in whose behalf 1t IS
made.
The American People will Answer the
Proclamation at the Polls In Novem-
Der.
[Eron, The Ncw York Horld.l 7
1t is to be hoped and we are glad to be-
licve that it is to be expected, that the cit
izcns OF South Carolina who have borne
themselves so patiently and SO bravely un-
der the atrocious wrongs and ~injurice
hcaped upon them by their local opprcs-
sors, will not fail inthcir duty to them
selves and to their country now. The
monstrous proclamation issued to-day by
President Grant and the order accolnpa-
nying it, which practically declares war
against a State at piece within the Union,
is q blow struck, indeed, directly at the
people of South Carolina struggling to
emancipate themselves from a despotism
of rogues and rut1ians. ut it is a blow
aimed at the people of the whole country
who are on the point of making all such
usurpations and Outragcs at once and for
ever impossible by driving from place and
! power the INSCRIPTIONS and lawless a d
ADMINISTRATION by favor and in aid of which
they have planned and %pcrpetrated. Tho
! proclamation of President Grant and the
order of his secretary of wal give plain
warming to thoughtful and conservative
men Of all parties throughout the North
and the West that nothing whatever,
! neither the lives and liberties of Amcri-
can citizens, nor the principles of the con-
stitution, 0 the explicit law of the land,
nor the decisions of the great tribunal
which stands between all the interests OF
American society and a worse than South
American anarchy, will be for II mo-
mcnt weighed in the balance by the mel
I y-l,n rn Lot hiS pnl1Dtr\- tn-Ioy AGAINST the
pcrpetuation Of their power. 1t is to all
intents and purposes, and in the s~trictest
meaning of the phrase, an %inccndiary
nrocl,p,ation Tt IL IN attack upou the