The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1876-12-08
The South Carolina Outrage.

President Grants perceptions of the Con-
slitution and the laws of his country seem to
be entirely too dull to contemplate the crime
of which he has for the second time been
guilty, of sending federal soldiers to interfere
with the organization of State Legislature.
In the Louisiana case, he attempted 10 evade
the responsibility by declaring in his message
to Congress that his orders to the troops
were misapprehended. Bearing in mind the
Indignation which his unlawful and danger
Gus usurpation OF power then excited in all
minds not utterly partisan, he can scarcely
plead n similar excuse now, especially in the
face of his orders to Gen. Kruger.
In republic whose proudest boast has been
the subordination of the military to the civil
power The cnormiy of the outrage of inter-
fering by federal soldiery in q matter be-
longing exclusively to State, is easily I'M
derstood BY the parliamentary law of all
civilized nations, and by the express provi
sions of the Federal and State Constitutions,
every House is the sole judge of the qualf.
cations of its own members. President Grant
and Governor Chamberlain cannot be so ig-
norant of the English language rs not TO
know that when the House is the sole
Judge" nobody else is or can be the Judge
The gentlemen who claimed to hive been
elected members OF the Assembly from Edge
geld and I.Nnrcns counties, and bore certif-
cate Of election from the highest court in the
rl,o I-r a. Ill
the gentlemen who claimed the same seats
and showed certificates from the Board Of
Eanvassers, should also have been admitted
The House should have been allowed
peaceably to organize, as it would have done
and the contested seats would have been dealt
with just as they are dealt with in all legisla.
tive bodies. There is nothing revolutionary
unusual or unjust about this programme
The organization Of the Legislature would
have been effected in accordance with law
and order and peace would have prevailed
Now, there is excitement and confusion, and
rs the Egening Post, of New York, we'll says
that there is no outbreak is the merit only Of
The people of South Carolina.
Remember that this was wholly State
matter. 1t had reference only to the organi
zation Of one branch of the State Legislature
the other being already organized and in SEES
sion. Its ultimate bearing was only upon the
election of Governor and Lieut.. Governor
of South Carolina. The vote for Presden
tial electors was not in question at all, SC
that there was no possible peg upon which
to hang a justification ofFederal interference
Gen. Grant could easily have better pre-
text for marching his troops into the hall o.
the House of Representatives at Washington
than for stationing them at the door of The
State House in Columbia, and excluding
members-elect or persons claiming to bt
members.cle though the outrage would bt
as great in the one case as in the other. Gen
Grant could not have committed greater
crime than is embodied in this one action, il
his soldiers had driven voters from the polls
or he had declared himself Dictator, 1t prove.
him capable of any desperate deed. He i.
ready not only to count in Hayes, but to put
him in at the point of the bayonet.