The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1877-03-09

tuie as well as the ExecutivR Delsai tWent
of that Government. has been ~ the hands
Of the most redemptionless iogucs the
face ol t o eaith. But whatever may have
been the moive. nobody can doubt tia. the
legal eff CT -! this ON lssion R To make the
elrc ION Illegal.
Thai is haldl, tile worst fit The cleo
tion itself, emaucipated from all law aud
all authority, was no better Than a riot, a
mob, a general satuInalia. IN whcl, the
s. ldiers Of the United Sta,esarmy cut the
principal as we'll as the deeentest figure.
We offer to prove-the offer will go upon
record, and there it " i'll stand drprever-that
every poll in-Charles,on county. where hey
rushed into the ballot box z. 900 majority,
was in possession of the soldiers.
A Goveln:nent whose elect ions are con
trolled 10y military force cannot be repubi-
can in form substance. For this l cite
the authority of Luther vs.. Borden, If per-
ch ,nce the old-iime law hassyat any infiu
ence. Do You not see the hideous dep.h of
pai ional degradation into which you will
plunge us if yon sanCtify this mode OF max
ing "a President? Brush up your histori
Cal memory and think of itifor Il moment.
The man whom you elect in this way is as
purely the creature of the military power
as Calicula or Domiian. for whom the pre-
torian guards controlled the hustings and
counted the votes.
turns, for>noth. Not we i You will not
let us. We cannot get behind them. M.
That is the law, of course. We may strug-
gle for just ice !; we may cry Tor mercy; We
may go down OH our kneeS, aud beg and
woo for some little recognition of onr rights
as American ciiizcns; bui We might as well
put up our prayers to- Jupner, oi Mars, as
bring suit in the court where Rhadamau
thus presides. There is not "a god on Olym-
In.
fervor than we shall be heard 10y our adver-
sarics. We are at their mercy ; it is only
to them hat we can appeal, because You,
nilemen, unfortunately cannot help us.
You are bound by the new law which you
have made. You are of course addicted
like o.her people ~ the vice of consistency,
aud What is done once must be done over
again.
In the Louisiana case the people ap
pointed el ctors in favor OF Tildeu, recnded
their act, fiuisIeo il, and left their work IN
such "a state that nobody c.,uld misunder-
stand it. But other perstnIs, who had no
power to appoint. falslfed the record Of The
actual appoiutmeut, paitlvby plain forgery
and partly 10y fraud which was as corrupt
in morals aud as void in law any forgery
could be. You thought it3righu aud legal
aud just to say that you would not look at
th,- ,oe"rd which he irsts,ie bad made !:
the forgery. :he fraud, and the corr upton
were too sacred to he interisred with tie
truth must hot he allowed to come in con
Hct with t!ie imposture, lest the cuncussion
might be damaging.
This precede At must be followed. 1t is
new law, to be sure, but we mus, give il
due welcome aud the new lords That it
brings INTO power must be regarded as our
very noble and approved good masters"
Having decided tnat electors we're duly ap-
pointed III Louisiana who were known not
to be appointed we cannot expect you to
take notice &c any fact similar or kindred
to il in South Carolina.
Then, again, the question of ''duly APP
pointed' was decided In the case of Levisee,
electOr who was AN officer of The United
States Government at the time he was aI,-
pointed. aud continued to be afieiwaisl
The Federal Constitution says hat no man
shall be appointed who Is III that relation
ro the FEEDER iaI Government. But you held,
according to law, mud YOU, that lie was
Il lawful elector ana his vote a good vote.
In other wo.d>, thing is perfectly consti
tutional although it il kubwn to he in the
very teeth of a constitutional interdict
Now you why we are hopeless The
present state of he law is sadly against us.
The friends of honest elections and honest
government are an deep despair We once
thought that the yernyi"g power of the
two Houses of Gong ress oug Int to be brOugh Int
always into lequi>itIon Tor the pnipose of
seeing whether the thing that Is brought
heie is forgery and "A fraud on the one hand,
whether IT Is genuine and true cettifi-
cate ON the other.
But wiiie we cannot ask you to 90 back
behind tins certificate, will you just please
To go To it-oniy toit-u step bcnInd. Ii
you do, you viii. find that il is no cert iicaie
at AL such as Is required by law. II lie
certificate does not show that ethel Of
those requirements was met aud where
party is exercising Il special authority like
tins they must keep strictly within it, aud
you are to presume anything except
" hat appears OH the face of their act 10 be
done.
If nybo.ly will cast back his mind "a little
into the history of Presideuta elections or
look at the debates of less Than ~ ear ayo
he VIII remember that Mr.. jefferson was
charged wien he was Vice President of the
United States Will, having elected himself
by means OF, not Il fraudulent. but IA tneie
ly informal vote sent up HON Georgia.
The Intoimaity was not III the certificate
inside of the envelope, tut in the outside
veitfica, ION. Nj. Matthew T.. Davis, in
1887, got up that story. Ii Was not tue,
but IT was believed foi IA while, aud it cast
great odum on Mr.. JcHrrsoiI's memory
1t was not aD iufoImality that was nearly
as iniiuitan as this. moi hing like it. But
one of the Senators now on this bench Ie-
feried To il IN debate only short time
ago. aud denounced Mr.. JeiieI sou as hav-
lug elected himself 10y iIaud, because he
d'd not Call the attention al the Seua,e aud
House at Representatives To that fact.
Ii Nj. .Ieff,s sons memory ought to be
sent down 10 p'sterIiy covered with infa-
my because he in hs own case IL ilowtd d a
vote ~ be c.'uatcd which Was sliu h,ly in
formal ou the Out side Of the envelope, |
should he & lad 10 know What ought to be
done to those who would count this vote
which has neither form nor substance,
which leaves out all the essential particu-
iais that they are required To cel1ify?
This great nation still struggles for ius-
tice "a million majority Of white people
send up iheir cry. and = majority oi more
than quartz, of "A million of all cnlois de-
mand it. But cannot complain
want you to understand that we do not
complain. Usually it is said that "the
f.,W ler Setteti, pot fit n his net in SiuLt .,f