New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-09-23
NOT MADE FOB THE SOUTH.

United States to employ military force
maintain the right of every citizen
every State to cast free vote was mad
to Cypress the South.
What will they say to the proof tina
this universal law was made to proven
the elective abuses in the Northern States
How will they meet the evidence that tn
alleged abuses of the ballot box perpe
trated by Mr.. T;lden and his politics
partner, Tweed, caused the extension Q
Federal authority beyond the guarante
of colored suffrage to the protection ais
Of white suffrage?
It had occurred to Us that there was n
local necessity at the South for this gen
eral guarantee, 50 we have revived on
memory by recurring to the facts con
nected with the enactment of the law t
prevent frauds in elections. This law i
designated as an act to enforce the fifteenth
amendment. After much discussion il
the House and Senate, it was referred to
committee of conference, and it was upo,
the report of the bill reported by thiI
committee that the final vote upon the &C
as it stands upon the statute book came
up.
In the course Of the argument it wa
contended by such State rights Senators
as Thurman, Salisbury and Bayard thai
the act would go beyond the amendment,
and would be to that extent unconstitu.
tional. Mr.. Bsyard objected that
This bill - reported grasps the whole
control Of elections, and is intended not to
prevent discrimination between the various
races of men, but to discriminate directly
against tho white race and in favor of the
black.
He attacks the bill on the distinct
ground that it invades the reserved right
Of the States to execute suffrage in their
own way. Here is his repetition-since
the war-of the doctrine which the var
has decided:
Your fathers, belonging to separate and
independent communities called States, On.
tered int common bond of union for cor.
tain detniee, specific purposes, the pre-.
seevatton Of the liberty OF TIE citizens and
the preservation Of the rights OF the States,
Your Federal government was framed &c.
cording to the writer's Of tho Federalist, and
every other writer upon the constitution of
the United States, for certain limited,
specifo purposes, and the same books, the
same writer's, tell you that the States re.
served to thsnselyes al other powers, and
never intended to delegate them to any
single authority which they themselves had
msde-to any creature of their own.
He asserts that the law is unconstitu.
tional.
On the other hand, Mr.. Stewart, Re-
publican, congratulates-
Tho Senate and the country that We are
about to assert some Of the powers OF Con.
gress for the projection of voters; that We
arc about to get . bill which asserts some
thing of the dignity and power Of the
nation.
The reader will see, then, that the quss-
ton of the constitutionality of the law
was distinctly in issue upon its passage.
It involved decision whether the States
Or Federal government was paramount.
We have charged specifically that the
enlarged scope of this law, making it ap-
plicable to white as well as colored, arose
from the abuses alleged to have been per.
petrated by the Democracy of New York
IN the presidential elections of 1868 and
1872. Senator Sherman, of Ohio, says:
offered - an amendment two sections
now composing part Of the bill. 1t was
! very carefully prepared amendment, pre-
pared by committee of the House of
and submitted for the pre-
,e,atio' of frauds in the city Of Neu York
That Was the sole purpose
Ihts amendment of mine is aimed at the
'epe0ters, the open piototors Of the lau IN The
;ity of NeW York. arho make the electire fran.
;hise farce and a fraud.
The only objection that 10 made-and
there 10 where the shoe pinches-is that
the bill transfers the punishment of these
crimes from the State courts of the CITY of
New York to the United States courts.
Who would think of indictipg anybody
for an election fraud in q state court in
the city of New YOrkl Why, sir, the
Judges themselves tare elected BY these
very repeaters. The judges are the instru-
nents OF the very men who are sought to
be punished. Sir, there is in the city of New
York a degree Of corruption IN the eLectire
that erists nowhere else IN the aci1e
eorld, and this 60 vernment Of oun will. in
ny Judgment, DO overthrow by this cor
upton unless We Can prevent it BY legal
1enaiuee. The object of my amendment
was simply to prevent election frauds by
egsl penalties.
The vote upon the bill reported by the
conference committee was taken in the
senate. It resulted in a vote of forty
light for the bill, and eleven against the
ill, with thirteen absent or Indifferent,
n its favor were Republicans and Dem
'crats; against it were such State rights
Democrats as Bayard, Thurman, Sauls-
Jury and Hamilton.
The reader will see that Congress.
Without respect to party, recognized the |
langers which threatened the republic;
hat they did not hesitate to exercise the
'ower of the government to suppress
buses in the States. Even Democrats
believed and trembled" at the public
eril which Tweed and Tilden had con-
PRED to bring upon the republic. |
hey did not dare vote against the law;
hey will not dare vote for its repeal.
We have intended in this article to call |
he attention of our friends in the canvass
. the Democratic error in charging that
his law was passed to Cypress the South.
was enacted to reform the Democracy
New York. All these powers Of which
1e southern Democrats complain were
wen to prevent Messrs. Tweed and
llden from carrying out their purpose to
verse the will OF the people of the
nited States by stuffing the breech- load