The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1878-10-18
In Restraint Of Personal Rights.

Il
Manhood suffrage, when once conferred,
becomes a personal right, and any unlaw-
full interference with its proper and legit-
innate exercise is wrong and an outrage.
One Of the irst indications Of declining
political integrity and the decadence of
civil liberty is corrupting or intimida-
ting the freedom of the elective franchise. |
Whoever is permitted to exercise the
right Of voting should be left free to do SO
in accordance with the dictates Of his own
judgment and without fear of hurt or
injury 10 any form from another. The
right to vote implies conscious individual
freedom and personal responsibility: the
voter Is answeranle TO his own conscience
in the deposit of his vote, and as an honest
and enlightened citizen will vote for men,
and measures which he believes will best
promote the well being and the true inter-
ests Of the country. Any thing which
operates 10 restraint, or defeats the liberty
of the voter 70 a clear and undoubted
right Of freedom and personal choice in the
deposit of his ballot is subversive of the
principles of the elective franchise; and in
proportion as such restraint or coercion
becomes enlarged and extended, to that
extent it becomes formidable and danger
GUS to the welfare of the nation. Within
q few years past the coercive force alIu-
ded to has received in this country the
ineleRant but expressive name Of BULLDOG
ing and has been attempted by politicians
in various parts Of the country under DIFF
ferent guises to effect and control the
elections.
Whether the elective franchise
has been wisely bestowed, or
whether portion Of the people Of the
country were proper subjects to be en-
trusted with such an important right is
not the point to which we refer.
We allude directly to the acts Of men
who have attempted by improper means
to control and direct the suffrages of their
fellow citizens and compel them to vote
for men and measures for which they
would not vote,i left to their own free and
unrestrained choice. The readers mind
will naturally revert to the many reports
which come TO the north Of such attempts
made at the south TO control the colored
vote Of that section of the country. II
matters not how ignorant or poorly quail
flied the colored citizens are to exercise
the privileges of voters, that privilege has
been given them By the solemn act of thu
nation, and their right to free and unco
creed suffrage Is as broad and sacred
as that of white men. Having
been clothed with the rights anC
privileges of freemen and voters, anything
derogatory to their rights and privileges
and especially violent and compulsory de
privation of their rights, is an outrage upor
their citizenship and should be severely
reprobated by all right minded men. Ii
political affairs as in morals and religion
the right to persuade, to teach, to exhor
and entreat is perfectly legitimate, and i
recognized as proper means of influencing
the opinions and actions of all classes o
men; but going a step beyond this and b
compulsion, in whatever form it may b
done, inducing men to act contrary t
their honest convictions,in lawful spher
of action, is an unwarrantable an
unlawful tyranny. And it mat
:ers not where or by whor
it is done. 1t is as much an outrage an
an injury to the body polite
Moline as it is in Louisiana an
South Carolina. Suppose, for instance,
manufacturer has large number of me
in his employ,-any influence which b
may exert over his men to induce them I
vote his party ticket by giving them
understand their continued employmer
depends upon their voting as he desires
as much bulldozing as anything else Isl
is an interference with the free and unb
assed choice of his men. Still more oil
jectionable, and still greater is the violenc
done to the spirit of constitutional liberty
if by his presence at the polls and by b
action there, he causes the men to believ
they are being watched and marked as oil
jects of punishment for the way they vott
in expectation that they will be discharge
and thrown out of employment for DARN
to be freemen. Certain it is If men vote {
the dictation of another aud contrary frou
what they otherwise would, it is not the
own vote which is deposited bot that {
him who coerces. And no plea of super
or intelligence or personal interest wi
justify the coercion, because the citizen
invested with the right Of suffrage in OF
der to express thereby his own preferenC
as to candidates, and his own individui
Judgment upon questions of public poIicl
Further still. it virtually defeats the wi
Of the people and renders elections eithe
farce or an outrage. The man VIII
coerciyely controls thousand votes, Les
or more, has nonstrous and unlawfu
advantage over his other fellow citizens
be has it in his power to control or SER
ously effect the result Of az election agains
the actual wish and views of the majority
left to its proper and untrammelled e1
preston, and By such means policy ma
be imposed upon the country directly Q
variance with the real and honest sent
ment Of the people. Such system a