Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1878-11-27
Elections at the South.

utClaltu lUlaIuOuS. Unconstitutional
aud void. True, they were elected by
fraud Or violence. The startling letter
of Mr.. Mackey of South Carolina,
which was printed by the Tribune yes
terday, and ought to be reproduced in
every Journal in the land which seeks
to publish the truth, gives a picture
of the real condition of many Southern
districts. First, prescription of the
worst sort is employed to break down
the Republican party; then assassina-
tions are devised by secret leagues
and terrible massacres strike terror to
the hearts of tmid or peace loving
voters; and finally, if all these methods
fail, the ballot boxes are stuffed with
| Democratic ballots on little slips of
tissue paper, with such reckless i'm
pudence that the number of ballots
counted exceeds the entire number of
the names on the poll lists in at least
twenty precincts out of thirtytwo in
county. Every day it is becoming
more plain. that the "Solid South is
but of system violence and bound
less fraud. The men who could not
buy the Presidency in 1876 mean to
steal it in 1880, and if Solid North
does not prevent, they surely will.
But they would have power to steal
only 1876 electoral votes at the worst,
and could not have gained, even by
force and fraud, as many members by
at least II as they now have gained, if
the recent amendments of the Consti
tuition were not in tull force against
the Union, though void against its foes
The Southern Democrat deny the
validity of the Fifteenth Amendment,
and trample it under foot, and deprive
the colored Republicans of all chance
to choose representatives of their own
choice in localities where they outnum-
Der the whites ten to one; and yet these
same Southern Democrats elect II
more members of Congress than they
could elect if the negroes had remained
slaves.
Emancipation, we all remember,
was the crowning act in the suppress
sioD of the rebellion But it was said
with truth, by all intelligent citizens
that emancipation would prove farce
without enfranchisemeut In States
governed by former masters, the ne
groes would have been in a condition
worse than slavery. The breaking
Of fetters would have been an act of
cruelty, had the negro been left with
out ballot for the defence of his per.
sonal rights. There were sagacious
men who then maintained that no
change of the Constitution would suf-
fee; that communities which were
hostile to the Union could not be safe
ly trusted, until a whole generation
had passed, either with the admins:
..,,a,lou Of local governments upon
which the relations between the late
masters and their late slaves would
depend, or with share In the Govern-
ment of the United States. 1t was
their most urgent plea that the United
States should hold in its own hand for
years the protection Of the colored
people in their rights, and that the
communities lately in rebellion shonld
be retained as territories under mill
tary supervision until loya local govern,
ments could be firmly established.
But the more generous view prevailed.
The country decided to trust those who
had rebelled, and to restore them to
the share in the Government of the
Union which they had forfeited, pro-
vidlng only that the increased repre-
sention resulting from emancipation
of the negroes should 90 to their bene-
fit, and not to the benefit Of their late
masters. The former slaves, it was
declared, should elect their own repre-
sentatlves. On those terms States
were readmitted The faithful OBJ
servance of those terms was condi-
ton 10 fact, and is to this day
condition in reason aud equity, of the
restoration of the defeated rebels to
political rights.
Yet the colored citizens are no
longer permitted to vote as they will,
or if they vote at all their ballols are
lost in the stuffed ballot-boxes at which
Democratic judges of election preside.
By torce and fraud it has come to
pass that the emancipation and enfran
chisement colored millions cannot elect
for themselves as many members as
their enfranchisement has added to the
representation of the South. Under
the old rule, the Southern Democrat
would have elected rs members for
himself, and Is for his slaves Having
rebelled, ae was restored to the Union
on the condition that his former slaves
should have the ballot and elect their
own members. But now, by White
Leagues and Ku-Klux, by assassina-
tions and massacres, by "bulldozing"
and ballot-box stuffing, it has come to
pass that the Southern Democrat elects
76 members for himself and 80 for