Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1876-11-01
rHE WAR UP0N SOUTH CAR
OLINA.


In sheer desperation the administra-
ton has met the demands Of the most
desperate of Southern Republicans by
m executive proclamation preliminary
to declaration Of martial law in South
Carolina. This action of the Presi.
dent, with the advice and consent of
the Cabinet, t,isrcyolutonary and worse,
il is madness. The state OF affairs por-
trayed in the preamble does not exist.
No insurrection or domestic violence
prevails in South Carolina other than
that brought on dcsignedly and mali
ciously by the men whom thus procla-
nation protects. The rifle clubs, So
called, which are charged with ''riding
up and down, by day and by night,
numbering peaceable citizens and in
timidating others, are lawful organi-
zations, whose only purpose is to Sc
cure good government by peaceful
methods, and whose counterparts are
found in every county in the United
States. Their crime is that they are
opposed TO the election Of Gov. Cham.
berlain. Every judge in the State
every one being Rcpublican-has ccr-
tilted that the peace OF his circuit
has not been disturbed by these
clubs, and the members have shown
their law abiding disposition by calmly
obeying an order which they knew to
be unjust, and surrcndcring the right
to bear arms guaranteed every citizen
by the Constitution of the United
States. Moreover there is absolutely
no reason to believe that there is in all
South Carolina any combination for
resistance to either State or Federal
laws. Weeks of plotting on the part
of Republican leaders, followed by the
most persistent efforts to provoke riot
Gus demonstration, have been unavail.
ing. The State is at peace, and none
know it better or regret it more than
Governor Chamberlain and Senator
Patterson, at whose instance the Pres
ident has taken this desperate step.
Partisan exigcncy is, therefore, the
only excuse for the proclamation given
to the world this morning. The design
is to insure the reelection of Governor
Chamberlain and secure the electoral
vote OF South Carolina for Hayes, a
result which was almost certain with
out il. An ultcrior design, no doubt,
was the creation Of false estimate of
Southern affairs in the minds Of the
Northern people. The idea was 10
show, by a brazen misrepresentation Of
facts through official channels, that
the South is still turbulent and rebel.
lious, and that the chief end and en-.
ployment of the Southern whites is
the determination of the Southern
blacks. But the shameless political
tricksters in Columbia and in Wash
ington have again counted without
their host. In their frenzy they have
forgotten their cunning. The cry OF
wolf" heard so often on trivial occa-
sions, has lost its efficacy. The people
understand the tactics of the admins
tration, and, distrusting them, will ans
swer now as they did in 1874. They
want peace; they mean to have il, and
they know that the only obstacle TO
peace is the unholy ambition of the
mon who now control the federal gov
ernment and would stoop to any means
to perpetuate their power President
Grant cannot place Governor Hayes
in the White House by putting any
portion OF the country under martial
law. This crusade against the South
may make tho vote Of South Carolina
doubly sure for Hayes, but il is more
likely, as Mr.. Cameron will discover,
to keep New York at her Democratic
moorings, and place Pennsylvania on
the lcngthcning list OF States whose
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