The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-01-04


country. He. is soon to retire to private
life; after. q. longiand illpstfious careeriof
public service. ;i His SINCERE wellsWishers
would be .sorFy to seq, him So out otpfice
with, his reputation furnished q BY, iacts
which law-abiding, men Of neither, party
can defend, ,a;;, The ,:soener. he ,iabaadons
Chamberlain, the, better it will be, for the
peace of the. country; and for: his: own
tranquility and, fame.-N 7. Herald,
Dec. 18th. -. i. i .:.... .,",:. rpni:- NJ
i ): 81. INTERPOLATION. ...4,;., ~,
EXTRACT FROM Mr. THusMASE's RE-
CENT SPEECH IN THE UNITED STATES
SENATE. hua .4nH7,!''fi i..ij.',:f
.SirdIo Iocan tell you that these charges
of, intimidation will not as long as
understhe mere pretense. of intimidation
YOU can overthrow the votes of the peo-.
ME of State, AS long as you. have this
machinery of a returning board, "a per
fectly irresponsible returning beard, 'ac.
cording. to the present claim that on the
vague notion, .of! intimidation you can
change the result Of an election. as IN
the case of this very same James Madison
Wells parish in the count of 1870, which
disfranchised. his, whole. parish on y his
own affidavit; deprived, at of its 7three
members whom ithad. elected to the Leg!
islature, and put. in three men who had
not been elected; on, bis own mere ;aftldaa:
Wit, alleging intimidation when he was
not there, his affidavit not made IN pub
lie, not submitted to the inspection of the
public, but, filed latter that board went
into secret session, and was never seen. oY
the. men who were; elected; ;4neyer seen,by
their counsel, ,!neyer,seen., ;! by. the public
'as long as:such things as that can be done
there will be claims of the votes of these
States being controlled by intimidation.
Why, Mr.. president, tits new feature
introduced into the American G0nstitu+
ton and the American system Of govern
ment. :We,did think once that the only
question about an election wass who has
a.lnajoritya aof the votes 2: That is what
we thought; :, that is what our fathers
thought when they made. our Constitu-
tion but that is not the question any
more. The question is not who; has the
majority of the votes, but who, has the
majority of the men who count the
votes? e:.4..;.: - ~. -. ~. -.
If YOU have, returning board with a
majority ready to count out Democratic
candidates and count in Republican can
didates; they have a power as great as the
tribnnes of the Roman people had to veto
the voice OF. the people ;4not. simply to
veto what the people have done, but to
determine what the people ought to have
done. according to their judgment OF
what. they think.te be- bests That is it,
sir. III. -.!.;1 .caac - Isl -: ::
And now my colleague, in the very i'm
passioneds !andnyeFy eloquent. speech: he
made to-day, says. that. this results, IS. 4
understand him, from the color line. l
tell him: that I-stand prepared to prove
that the responsibility for the color, line
rests on his party i tell him .aat i stand
prepared to prove that millions of the
peoples money have been expended to
establish the color line. / know very
well why the right of suffrage. was given
to the colored men. It. is not matter of
speculation; it is not matter Of inference ;
it was openly avowed when the fifteenth
amendment was under consideration /;
openly ayowed in this Senate that the
Republican party needed the 300, 600 ne
gro votes that. could be given if the tif-
teenth amendment were adopted that
the Republican party needed them, and
that without them the Republican party
would lose its power in the United States:
Yes, sir, the Republican party did need
them, and the trouble now is that the
Republican party Do Is! 1!'' not get them
Why, SIR. they talk of intimidation
Here are thousands of negro men in
Louisiana who come up and say, we
voted the Democratic ticket" have
seen it stated ais high as. thousands; call
it hundreds if you choose; call it any
number you please; they come up and
say. eve voted. the Democratic ticket" "
What does the returning board say :?
Count their votes? Not at all; they say
"yoti were 'intimidated to vote the Dem
ocratic ticket -. What then? They
come up and make affidavit that they
voted It without intimidation. What
does thee: i returning board sayf "Yon
were intimidated To- make the affidavit, "
And SO it goes. -.i 8,
why, sir, where is the end of this
Cannot any man Who has the least hon
esty 1;aid aud tie: least sagacity in the world
see see that if such practices as these be toll
Grated anything like republican institu-
tionis and free government and d free bal.
lot are at ,ann end? You put the desti-
nies of whole States in the hands of four
irresponsible men called a. returning
board, and talk about a republican form
Of government! You want to invoke the
whole force Of the government, its army,
its navy, to secure to State republican
form Of government; and you put in the
hands of four irresponsible men, and not
Of the highest character either, the right
to determine on the phase Of the govern
ment of that State. And yet you call
that a republican form of government!
Mr.. President. it will not do; no, sir,
it will not do. Ny colleague said, with
great force and eloquence, that if elec-
tions were to be. carried in this country
by intimidation there was an end of re-
publican institutions. I agree with him
and telr' him, and say to each one OF
YOU that if elections are to be carried by
the Use of the army Of the United States
and its intimidation, there is an end Of
republican institutions. Sir, all the init
midation that ever actually existed on
the part Of the Democratic or the white
people of the South is but as drop in
the bucket to the danger. of that intilni-
dation which comes from the standing
army of the United States. Anarchy in
any country at last corrects itself, for it
cannot be BORNE; but the use of stand
ing army to control the people has been
fatal to liberty ever since republic exis-
ted. / agree with my colleague that in
timidation of the voters is fatal to repub-
lican government; but 1 ask him, while
his mind, heated and excited by what he
has heard, is brooding over cases of hom-
icide, of violence, and the like, to think
Of the far greater danger of intimidation