The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1876-10-21

In sheer desperation the administration has
met the demands of the most desperate of
Southern Republicans by au Executive pro.
clamation preliminary to declaration of
martial law in South Carolina. This action
Of the President, with the advice and consent
of the Cabinet, is revolutionary and worse;
it is madness. The state OF affairs portrayed
in the preamble does not exist No insur.
rection or domestic violence prevails in South
Carolina other than that brought on design.
eddy and malciously by the men whom this
proclamation protects. The rifle clubs, so.
called, which are charged with "riding up and
down, by day and by night, numbering peace.
able citizens and intimidating Others are
lawful organizations, whose only purpose is
to secure good government by peaceful meth.
DDS and whose counterparts are found in
every county in the United States. Their
crime is that they are opposed to the election
of Governor Chamberlain. Every Judge in
the Stationery one being Republican
certified that the peace of his circuit has not
been disturbed by these clubs, and the men,
bers have shown their law-abiding disposition
by calmly obeying an order which they knew
to be unjust, and surrendering the right to
bear arms guaranteed every citizen BY the
Constitution of the United States. More.
over, there is absolutely no reason to believe
that there is in all Soath Carolina any com.
bination for resistance to either State or Fed
eral laws. Weeks of plotting on the part of
the Republican leaders, followed by the most
persistent efforts to provoke riotous demon.
stration, have been unavailing. The State is
at peace, and none know it better or regret
it more than Governor Chamberlain and
Senator Patterson, at whose instance the
President has taken this desperate step.
Partisan exigency is, therefore, the only
excuse for the proclamation given to the
world this morning. The design is to insure
the re election of Governor Chamberlain and
secure the electoral vote of South Carolina
for Hayes, result which was almost certain
without it. An Interior design, no doubt.
was the creation of a false estimate of South.
ern affairs in the minds of the Northern peo-
pie. The idea was to show, by brazen mis-
representation of facts through official chan
nels, that the South is still turbulent and re.
bellious, and that the chief end and employ,
ment of the Southern whites is the extermi.
nation of the Southern blacks. But the
shameless political tricksters in Columbia and
in Washington have again counted without
their host. In their frenzy they have forgot.
ten their cunning. The cry of "wolf>' heard
so often on trivial occasions has lost its eff.
cacy. The people understand the tactics of
the administration, and, distressing them,
will answer now as they did in 1874. They
want peace; they mean to have it, and they
know. that the only obstacle to peace is the
nnholy ambition Of the men who now control
the federal government and would stoop to
any means to perpetuate their power. Presi-
dent 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 the vote OF South
Carolina doubly sure for Hayes, but it is more
likely, as Mr.. Cameron will discover, to keep
New York at her Democratic moorings and
place Pennsylvania on the frightening list of
States whose electoral votes will be cast for
Tilden and Hendricks. PHILADELPHIA Times.