Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1877-09-27

ers, a. ~ --0-7~ ]. BURSs
particularly burdensome To anvhodv %
!. other States have registry acts, which
require all the yoters In the city OF
precinct to be registered. Such Is the
registry of the State OF New York. j
DO not wish to be understood that The
registry act will prevent alt fraud,
Fraud Is so ingenious and versatile that
no man Can safely say in any one in.
stance that he is safe from its perver-
sions, but this Is the he-t means of
which We know to accomplish the end
which all should seek, of securing an
honest expression of the public will by
the ballot. OF thisnecessary instrument
10 prevent fraudulent voting the DEM
ocratic party demands the instant re-
peal. ---~-sT TofqTSSG
1t has been charged that frauds have
been committed on the ballot in the
interest of the Republican party, It
may be so. If so it is very much to be
regretted, and it is also to be regretted
mat the perpetrators have NOT been
detected end convicted. Till our DEM
ocratic friends bring some evidence, we
must be- permitted to doubt the truth
OF the charges. But one thing Is GER
tain, that the Republican party has not
opposed the enactment of a law to
guard the ballot against frauds. nor.
when such law has been enacted.
nave they urged its aim mediate re-
peal"
The right of suffrage is the most crit
icsl and essential right in Republican
government, the free exercise of which
is absolutely Indispensable. If our Re-
publican government shall ever be
overturned, it will be through fraud on
the ballot box. Thoughtful men, both
IN this country and in other countries.
feel that our government is in great
jeopardy on account OF the difficulty, if
not impOssibility, of securing a fair ex.
preston OF public opinion through the
Whenever it shall happen that the
whole public mind is pervaded by the
conviction that an honest election can
not De nad, the lovers of representative
government will despair. 1t becomes
all good citizens, therefore, to be vigil
ant In securing the right of suffrage
against fraud or violence. :, ~.q-y
Butthe Democratic party has in other
States, and on many other occasions.
shown want of that appreciation of
the value OF an unperverted suffrage
which may well lead US to distrust it's
nGeiity on this point.-The great frauds
IN the city of New York committed by
Tweed and his associates show it. .by
which the elections were controlled for
many years in that great city. and
fraudulent votes cast by the thousand.
When 1t was the custom oflthese frpud.
ulent leaders of the Democratic party
to obtain the earliest information from
other parts Of the State of the Republic.
can majOrities and then manufacture in
certain wards of the city Sufficient
fraudulent votes to overcome them.
some OF the perpetrators of these crimes
against the right of'suffrage have been
detected and punished. In the last
PRESIDENTIAL election of 1876, 1t Is well
known that The Democratic party relied
upon solid South, to be made solid by
the Intimidation of Republican voters.
ana the Impression of the votes of Re-
puoilcan majoritieS, and so regardless
mas this party been of the great right OF
SuHrage thus perverted, that ID did not
hesitate to, claim the benefit of those
frauds and of that violence. Its great
complaint now is that they have been
disappointed in not securing the results
OF those fraudulent elections. and they
have reiterated their disappointment in
their platform at Columbus, whichsie-
cIsres that "the Inauguration of r. B.
hayes to the high Office of President of
the United States, in spite OF the elect
oral and poPu'a vote given by the pso-
pie to Samuel j. Tilden, was the most
dangerous encroachment upon public
The only ground of their
com plalnt substantially is, that, where
rs the Democratic party of the South
had succeeded by intmidotion and
fraud. in suppressing the Republican
vote in several States and securing
fraudulent nominal majority for the
Democrat. electors, the party has been
disappointed by the detection OF its
frauds. i1a
L call upon you, therefore to vote
against the Democratic party because
it is willing that class ofv0ters should
be depriven of their privilege OF voting,
to law-becauSe it was willing
that the Fifteenth Amendment should
ne defeated, and that the great prin-
ciple of equality among citizeus, civil
and political, should be violated and
in the Southern States. asr..
The Republican party occupies en-
tirely different ground on the subject.
In It's last convention in Ohio, at Cleve-
land, it reaffirmed the National Repab-
Iican platform of 1876, by which it was
keclared that "the permanent pscitica-
ion of ne Southern States of the Union
aud the complete protection Of all Its
in all their rights are duties to
which the Republicae party is saeredly
pledged" -
''The power 10 provide for the en-
forcement of the principles embodied
in the recent constitutional amend
ments is vested by those amendments
in the Congress of the United States;
and we declare it to be the solemn Obli-
gatiou of the legislative and executive
of the government to put
into immediate and vigorous exercise
all their constitutional powers for re-
any just causes OF dissemination
the part of any class and securing to
every American citizen complete liber-
ty aud exact equality in the exercise OF
ali civil, political and public rights. TO
this end we imperatiyely demand q
Congress and Chief Executive whose
courage and fidelity to these duties
shall not falter until these results are
placed beyond dispute or recall"
Such is the contrast between the re-
gard entertained by the Democratic
party, as party, and by the Republic
can party, as party, for equality In
civil and olitical and public rights. and
~ 10 the Importance of placing them
beyond dispute or recall" E, .6i-S
call upon you. therefore, gentlemen,
to vote the Republican ticket, and to
use all honest means to secure its sue
cess. ~
A letter has been addressed TO Frank
Leslie, signed by the editors OF his
several publications and aboat hve
hundred other employees, expressing
sympathy and regret for his present
a. s.,l kr<> hloS