St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-01-12

PRESIDENT, he was as good man as
they deserved-as they could appre-
ciate. He represented them, though he
afterward betrayed them. That, too,
they deserved. And when majority
of the people of this country cast their
ballots for James Buchanan, a chief
executive, who let his own cabinet
officers plan a rebellion to take the
nations life, and steal the munitions of
war under his very nose, he was as
good man as country that prOfessed
to recognize men as equals before their
| Creator, and yet connived at the bond
age of three million of them, held,
bought, and sold them as chattels-I
say hewas as good a man as such
country deserved, though it was yours
and mine and when we chose him
and | presume some of us actually
voted for him-God ordained him, ay,
God ordained him in His wrath, and in
the fame of battle we found it so. He
armed against us the men who would
have destroyed the nation. God in
tended to let us see what was the up
shot of making compromises with evil,
and not trying to get rid of it.
The divine element in a cOnstitu-
tiOnal monarchy, where the authority
to rule a nation is hereditary, like
property; descends from father to son,
consists in carrying out of constitutional
regulations. The oldest son of Queen
Victoria is heir-apparent to the throne.
This is according to the Constitution of
the English Government; that is, by
giving this man, the Prince of Wales,
his birth as the oldest son in that royal
household, God sets him apart, God
ordains him to rule over that great
nation. The divine element in a gov
ernment like our own, free republic,
where every citizen has right, and is
under solemn obligation to express his
preference for the chief executive, is in
the ballot; and where any portion of
the American people, whatever the
political party, descend to bribery and
intimidation in elections, to fraudulent
voting, or to the counting in of candi-
dates not actually and legally elected
by the ballots of the people, they desc
crate their most sacred preEOgative (;
they trample under foot that very
feature in their system of government
which links it to the throne of God :;
they usurp the prerogatives which be-
long, of right, to the nation in its ag-
| , LOl IL 10 :
honest voice, the choice they legally
make, which is the voice of God
The man who assassinates the right
full ruler of a great, free people, has IA
name that will rot; no matter how
much his grave may be sprinkled with
flowers. But how is it better to assas-
sinate ruler-the ruler whom the ma
ton prefers and would choose-at the
ballot box, than on his way to the capi-
! tai or in the Presidential chair? And
: if it be true that in any state of this
Union, intimidation, money, OF fraud
has deprived the majority of the citi-
zens of that Commonwealth of the right
and privilege of expressing their prefer
, ence for chief executive, or has nullified
that preference, that state has been
: stabbed at the heart has been COM
) PEELED to utter voice which is not hel
, true voice. Talk about state rights
that state has had no rights. When
our Government gave the cOlored man
, the right of suffrage it took upon itsell
, solemn obligations to protect him in
? the exercise of this right by law il
need be, by army and navy; no mat
; ter where he was born or who his an
cestoIs might be; no matter about the
r kinks in his hair or the thickness of his
7 lips; that right of suffrage made him
| in such nation as this, the Lord,
L anOinted temple, the depository of {
! divine prerogative. He held the bal
4 lot, by which the nation appealed tt
g the God of nations to show who Hi
:, choice was for its chief ruler. 1t wa
the nations gift. And every true ant
d loyal citizen of this nation is to be dis
covered, to-day, by his determination
e that, whoever he may be that holds th
n right of suffrage, he shall freely ant
y securely exercise that right, at lChateUe
n cost else the right itself is sham an,
a farce.
o If by bands of disguised night-riders
: yelling and shooting and cursing, tn
8 humblest citizen of the nation, be h
n white or black, is prevented from fai
:, expression OF his preference for tn
e chief ruler of the land, it is an insult t.
II the whole people, of whom, according
!, to the theory of our Government, he i
g a peer to the prOudest. If Senator job
t B. Gordon had been shot on his way t.
the polls, it is no greater outrage t.
d American citizenship than if it ha'
It been one of his late slaves. If tn
y humblest citizen of this nation is give
# to understand that the bread which h
It earns by the sweat of his brow, for hi
wife and children that the ciOthin
o they wear; that the humble roof whic
e protects their heads from night-dam
e and storms, depends upon whether h
o casts this ballot or that ballot, or an
q; ballot at all, it is an insult to the ma
IS .jesty of the American people. And
am amazed at the shameless effronter
3. of men, who, when prevented from dc
q ing this despicable, this internal wOr
'e of trampling upon the constitutions
1t rights of their felow-ci citizens, talk abou
y the tyranny Of the bayonetl There
)f no tyranny, when a country is over
y ridden by bands of armed men, for tn
e purpose of intimidation. There is n
al tyranny when the rightful America
N citizen is told, that if he exercise th
l. prerogative given him by the America
N Constitution, it will be at the peril {
y starvation But when the bayonet {
Of the American soldier is within call,
=; protect the American citizen in h
lie rights of suffrage, this is tyranny.
Of men do not want to see that which is
d. terror to evil-dOers, let them respet
re the law; for Gods minister holds NJ
rs the sword in vain. All when / thin
a of the outrages that have been con
I'd mitted against American citizens, sine
rs the date of the Presidents proclamatio
setting apart this day as a day
Is thanksgiving and praise; of humanit
st so desecrated, of American citizenshi
lie so trampled under foot, am driven
es quote what Mark Antony says in pre-
n, ence of the dead Caesar:
d. "Oh, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth.