The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1876-09-30

President Democratic Con- State Central Committee.
Mr.. Patton has also requested of At
torney General Taft to instruct the Marshals
to take accused citizens under arrest to
the nearest U, S. Commissioner, for speedy
examination and bail, SO that they may
not suffer prolonged absence by being
dragged away to distant parts of the State
at this critical moment to their crops and
business.
The Philadelphia Times, Of Monday,
gives publicity to these several appeals of
Mr.. Patton for justice, to the conservators
of the law, and makes the following com
ment upon this plot to overthrow a fair
expression of the popular will by the ballot
in those States:
'The chapter given elsewhere on the des-
perate movements of the administration to
control the elections of several Southern
States, will appall patriotic men of all par
ties, and must make thousands of men pause
before they will consent to the continuance of
such reckless and revolutionary political au-
thority. 1t is now manifest to every intelli.
gent observer that the deliberately planned
purpose Of Secretary Cameron and his imme-
diate political advisers is so to Cypress and
provoke the people of South Carolina, Louisi.
ana and Mississippi as TO compel conflict
between the parties, and then seize upon the
pretext OF their own creation 10 exercise
martial law without formally declaring it, and
secure by violence and fraud the votes of
several electoral colleges which could not be
honestly obtained. Ii is bold, bald declara.
ton to the country that bayonets and not
ballots shall decide the Presidential contest if
necessary to elect Mr.. Hayes. Both the New
York Tribune and the New York Post, whose
specials from Washington we copy, have
manfully condemned Secretary Camerons
bayonet election order, and both earnestly
support Hayes but they are compelled now
to bow in silence to the very policy they
deplored and yield obedience to what is
plainly intended to be an utterly lawless VIC
tory for their candidate. In South Carolina
this country has already witnessed the logical
fruits Of the encouragement given the blacks
from the highest officials, to make the battle
err right or wrong. 1t has reached even the
brutally ignorant negroes Of the rice and sea
island cotton fields, and they have given
themselves up to riot. 1t has taught the ne
groes Of Charleston that negro who differs
with him politically is fair game for violence
or even murder, and it has eliminated in IN
speakable offence against white women of the
State. That the negroes should readily accept
the license profered them by the administra.
ton through its trusted organs, is not sur
prising, and their violence is the crime Of
those who lead them rather than of the
negroes themselves. In Louisiana it is ap.
parent that arbitrary arrests are To be resort.
ed to in order to inhame public sentiment and
prepare 1t for violence when the studied pro-
vocation shall come. Judge Billings, the
disgraced and disgraeefal Judge Of the U. s.
Court, is conveniently absent, and most Of
the country parishes have no agents Of the law
by whom it may be promptly administered
without dragging the people far from their
homes, away from witnesses and all means OF
defense. The appeals Of Mr.. Patton to the
people OF Louisiana, to the Judges Of the
Courts and to the Attorney General, tell the
whole story in the fewest words, and if he is
attempting to make political capital, he can
be defeated in his purpose by complying with
his very reasonable demands. If Il shall be
pretended that arrests made on the eve Of an
election are solely in the interests Of Justice,
the PRESENCE will be palpably false if means Of
hearing and redress are denied the people
arrested. This question is not a local one
for the States interested. II is great as the
country itself, and interests all the people as
vitality as il does the people of South Caro-
lima, Mississippi aud Louisiana. The same
revolutionary exercise Of power was attempted
here few years ago, but the Governor q
Pennsylvania, himself Republican, made
the political Traders Of Washington halt be,
fore the sovereignty Of the Commonwealth
Since then, the act Of Congress under which
this abuse Of power is claimed to be confer
red, has been declared so fagrantly unconsti
tational BY Chief Justice Waite, who delivered
the opinion Of the court, that no part OF il can
have any validity, and yet the administration
in time Of profound peace, usurps the author
| y Of the people, assails the peace and safety
ofeommunities, and aims to make a President
by revolution and fraud. IL this the cause
Of Rutherford B. Hayes7 II it is, there arc
tens Of thousandso Of patriotic Republicans out
side OF South Carolina, Mississippi ant
Louisiana, who will vote to end forever thu
CLEAN Of the bayonet at she ballot-box.r