Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1878-11-28
Force and Fraud at the South.

There IS frienuly contest between
two couuties OF South Carolina for the
honor of carrying the Democratic ban.
ner. Abbeville is rightfully Repub-
lican county; two-thirds Of its inhabi-
tants are colored; 1t gave Republican
majority of 800 In 1874; and two years
later, even under the pressure of the
rifie-clubs and the trading" arrange
ment between some of the friends Of
Hampton and the supporters of Mr..
Hayes, 1t could not be made to record
Democratic majority of more than
two hundred on the State ticket. This
year only three Radicals ventured to
vote In the whole county-or, to be
more exact, only three Radical votes
were courted. Fairfield county is still
more decidedly Republican than Abbe-
vile. Three-fourths Of the Inhabitants
are colored. The Republican voters
in 1874 were two to one Of the Demo-
Gratis and Hayes's majority in the coun-
ty In 1876 was between 800 and 900, the
Republican vote for many years past
falling but little below 1900. This
month Fairfield county returns not one
Republican UOte.
These facts speak for themselves.
Common sense tells us that there is
absolutely only one way Of accounting
for them, and 1t is an sffront to our in
telligence to ask us to believe that re-
suits SO extraordinary could be brought
about by lawful means. Great and
sudden changes In the relative strength
of parties are sometimes wrought in
the fever of popular uprising; but not
even in times of passion and excitement
is whole party instantly obliterated;
and these are quiet days. What has
been done with 30 much braggadocio
in Abbeville and Fairfield has been
done with less but equal effectiveness
all over the South. An arrogant mi
nority has seized possession of the Gov
ernment and practically DISTINGUISHED
the greater part of the population, ell
ther by driving them away from the
polls, or by grasping all the machinery
of election and declaring the result to
sui: itself. Thus the Bourbon DemOc
racy has secured a Solid Sonth' at
last, by an operation which does not
differ essentially from the method of
revolutionizing the Government pur.
sued from time immemorial in the
South American republics.
This condition of things brings US
face to face with a serious political
problem. For the present a republican |
form of government docs not exist in |
the Southern States. The principle of
equal suffrage, upon which our whole
representative and federal system is
founded, has been set aside in favor OF
an oIigarchy of rifle clubs, intimida-
tors, and ballot-boX suffers, who calm.
ly refer to their laWless triumph as an
"evidence that the colored people, even
"where they have the numerical ma
''jority, cannot hold their own against
"the superior intelligence, naeoGs, and
courage of the whites" They pledge
themselves to retain the power they |
have thus secured; and a distinct no.
tice has been served upon the freed
people that their brief day OF political
independence Is over. They are to
vote no more, unless they vote as they
masters bid them. OF course this usur-
patton must be fought down. 1t is not
only an invasion of the rights
of the negro, whom we are
bound, by every consideration of hu-
gratitude and prudence, to
protect, but it Is a subversion of the
Just balance of powers between the
States, an intolerable infringement #
the rights ofthe North, and a menace
to the stability Of the Union itself. The
United States of America will not be
ruled by Wade Hampton's "Hunkado
ri Clubs. IN. Y. Tribune.