The New York herald., 1876-10-19
The Presfdent,s PROCLAIM . tion.

to the utmost self-restraint, to absolute
peace and non-resistance, no matter under
what provocation. The real situation in
South Carolina begins to be understood in
the North, and the language OF the Presi-
dents proclamation will not change opinion
here. 1t is very well understood by people
who care to know that there is no insurrec-
ton in the State, no domestic violence,
no combinations against law" no disorder
whatever which the Governor, if he chose to
do so, could not easily and summarily put
down. What effort has Governor Chamber
lain made to put down ''insurrecnon' or
domestic violence?" None at all If such
state of things has existed as General
Grant is made in his proclamation to pre-
tend the Governor has had abundant time
to call the Legislature together; but he has
not done SO. He should have called out the
State militia; but he has not done In
short there are no proofs of the existence of
an ''insurrection" in South Carolina or Of
domestic violence" or of any effort of the
Governor to find or suppress either.
There is good deal of vague talk of rifle
clubs" Suppose Governor Tilden should
enroll all the roughs and all the illiterate
and ignorant population of the State, and
none others. in the militia should arm them
with State arms and suppose then, in the
midst Of an exciting political campaign, he
should suddenly order all the remainder of
the citizens-the whole of the substantial
and intelligent olass--to disarm. and if they
hesitated order Wholesale arrests by federal
marshals and call on the President for
rroops-what would be said Of such pro-
ceeding2 Yet that is precisely what Gov
ernor chamberlain has done and what the
President abets him in. Fortunately SO
far the members of the ''rife clubs" have
quietly submitted to arrest In fact, the
whole plan of the democratic canvass neces-
this is SO certain and evident that the call Of
Chamberlain for troops has clearly no other
object than the hope to stir up riot and vio-
lence. We trust that the democrats will be
on their guard and give not the least occa-
sion by their own conduct for the success of
this base scheme. And we again advise the
colored men of South Carolina to vote for
General Hampton. He has promised them
equal justice, absolute security and fair
play. and they may depend on his word.
The Presidents proclamation, made for
no true cause, misstating the clear and we'll
understood facts in almost every paragraph,
ordering the dispersion of an insurrection
notoriously without foundation, and threat
ening to send to the State not only the reg
ular army 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 President shelters
himself and Governor Chamberlain,
evidently supposes the Governor of State
to have attempted to put down disorders
before he is entitled to call for federal help.
1t supposes the emergency to be SO serious
that he would call the Legislature together
for consultation before he appeals to Wash
ington, if possible; and for this Mr. Cham
berlain has had abundance of time. It sup
poses at least actual and notorious illegal
combinations too powerful for him to put
down; but there is not the least proof of any
combination whatever, except one of the re-
spectacle people of the State to defeat Gov
ernor Chamberlain at the polls. There can
be no plea even of resistance on the part of
the rife clubs, which are for the most part,
if not entirely, legal and chartered organiza-
tions. Their members have submitted
quietly to arrest wherever they have been
called on. The plain and disagreeable
truth seems to be that the Presi-
dent Of the United States has been led to
abet Governor Chamberlain in an attempt to
create riot in South Carolina for the pur-
pose of coercing the people to re-elect him.
1t is impossible to believe that SO serious
and, dangerous misuse of power for parti-
san purposes will go unnoticed by the
voters of the Northern States. Such acts,
unless they are promptly condemned by the
people, become sprecedents and if the peo-
pie of the United States should by their neg
lect allow such precedent as this to become
established it would hang as menace over
every election and would surely soon be
misused in a manner to create general civil
discord. No one pretends to doubt that the
people of South Carolina have for many
years suffered from public robbery and grave
maladministration at the hands of men who
used the ignorant negro vote to maintain
themselves in power. At last there as in
Arkansas and in Alabama, 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 republican
party hos become divided, and one faction
arrays itself against the party candidate.
BY this split tho 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 opponent of