New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-11-30

have this, we can never be sure that the
Democratic party will not repeat its game o.
which the Southern blacks are the pawns,
pushed hither and tn Their as expedicncy may
dictate. and moved by that terrorism which
has SO dimmed the glOrics of the Centennial
Year.
TIE PRESIDENT And SOUTH CAROLINA
We deplore and condemn the use made OF
the L. s. troops the other day mt Columbia.
But it is important that the real blundcr III
the matter should he recognized, and the
popular censure given just where it Is
deserved. This is not time Tor sensa-
tional protests against legal and nrcdful action.
The events of the day show clearly enough
what would have happened If the troops had
not been there. The excited pOpuace were
ready to run over their own officers, but they
have learned what it is to attack the
United States, and they do not propose to
do that AGAIN. If the troops had
not been in Columbia, 1t Is now
evident that those members of the Legislature
whose elections were not contested, and about
the legality of whose certificates there was no
question whatever, would have been overrd-
den, the usual forms of organization would
have been violated, the men whose
seats were contested, and whose certil-
Gates were irregular, would have par
ticipated in it, and their votes would have
controlled the result. Now We do not say that
these men were not legally elected, that they
are not entitled to the seats which they claim
in the Legislature, or that Gen. Wade llamp-
ton has rot been elected in place of Gov.
Chamberlain. All that is matter for inycsti-
cation by the competent constitutional t1bu-
nal. We only insist that it shall be inyestI-
gated before it is decided, and that the parties
in interest shall not themselves make the de-
cision.
The real mistake in South Carolina on
Tuesday was in setting United states troops
to do the work of policemen. 1t was not their
business to guard the State Household their
business to grant admission to the Legislative
chambers, tO examine certificates OF election,
TO receive orders from dOOrkccpcrs or clerks
of the last House. They were IN Columbia
under the orders of the President OF the
United States, on the requisitOn OF the Gov
crnor Of the State, to prevent or suppress
domestic violence. Gov. Chamberlain should
have guarded his own State House. The
Clerk of the last Assembly should have called
on the civil authorities for whatever protec-
ton he needed in organizing the new one.
lie should have refused, in calling the roll, to
recognize members whose certificates he re-
garded as invalid, and, if he con-
sdered it necdful, he should have cx-
cluded such members from the ball un-
til the organization was completed. All
this we have witnessed again and again Mt
the North But all this he should have done
without the presence of Federal bayOnets. If
the police were unable to preserve order or
prevent revolutionary acts, 1t would have been
time then TO call for the sOldierS-nOt before.
Gov. Chamberlain is the undiSputed Exccu-
tive of South Carolina. Whether good or bad
Governor he has unquestiOned legal authority.
In accordance with the Constitution, he made
due rcqusition for United States forces to pro-
tect the State Government against domestic vio-
lence and the scenes at Columbia on Tuesday
prove that serious disturbance, which the
State authority was pOwerlcss to prevent,
would have occurred but for the presence
of those forces. The Governor unprecedented
that the hall of the House would be occu-
| pied by armed men, so that members of that
body whose election was undisputcd would be
unable to perform the duty of deciding in
cases of contest. That power, it is important
to remember, rests with the Legislature, and
those only whose election is duly certified ac-
cording TO law have any authority to act upon
the admission or rejection of claimants not
duly certified. The Governor know that GER
tain claimants, not having the legal cerif-
Gates, would attempt 10 enter the hall, claim
to be duly elected members, and decide their
own cases, and that they would lie supported
by thousands of armed men. To preserve the
peace and permit those only who had legal
certificates to enter the hall and participate
in the decision, the Governor asked
protection for the regularly appointed
doolpeepers. If the President had been present
IN person, will any fair man say that he could
properly have refused2
AS to the President, there is the whole case
| The proper authority asked protection in or
ganizing a Legislature without violence and in
accordance with law. That protection il was
the duty of the President to give. If the State
authority has erred in refusing admission IL
men who have not the usual certificate but
have only other evidence of right to a seat
there are legal remedies. But it was not the
duty nor was it in the. power of the President
to determine who were entitled to seats
That question was determined wholly by