Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1878-11-21
Elections at the South.

gress by virtue of an amendment of the Con-
stitution which they have declared infamous,
unconstitutional and void. True, they were
elected by fraud or violence. The startling
letter of Mr.. Mackey of South Carolina,
which was printed by the Tribune yesterday,
and ought to be reproduced in every journal
in the land which seeks to publish the truth,
gives picture of the real condition of many
Southern districts First, prescription of the
worst sort is employed to break down the Re-
publican party; then assassinatiOns are devised
by secret leagues, and terrible massacres strike
terror to the hearts of timid or peace loving
vovers; and finally, if all these methods fail,
the ballot-boxes are stuffed with Democratic
ballots on little slips of tissue paper, with
such reckless impudence that the number of
ballots counted exceeds the entire number of
the names on the poll lists in at least twenty
precincts out of thirty-two in a county. Eve
cry day it is becoming more plain that the
''Solid South" is product, not Of the free
will of voters, but of systematic violence and
boundless fraud. The men who could not
1880, and if Solid North does not prevent,
they surely will. But they would have pow
er 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
IL as they now have gained, if the recent
amendments OF the Constitution were not in
full force against the Union, though void
against its foes. The Southern Democrats
deny the validity of the Fifteenth Amend
ment, and trample it under foot, and deprive
the colored Republicans of all chance to
choose representatives of their own even in
localities where they outnumber the whites
ten to one; and yet these same Southern Dem
ocrats elect 12 more members of Congress
than they could elect if the negroes had re-
mained slaves.
Emancipation, we all remember, was tn
crowning act in the suppression of the rebel
lion. But it was said with truth, by all in
telligent citizens, that emancipation would
prove farce without enfranchisement. In
States governed by former masters, the ne
groes would have been in a condition worse
than slavery. The breaking of fetters would
have teen an act of cruelty, had the negro
been left without ballot for the defence of
his personal rights. Theie were sagacious
men who then maintained that no change. If
the Constitution would suffice; that commu.
mites which we're hostile to the Union could
not be safely trusted, until whole generation
\ ho1 Fba aIp riefro IF
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 should be
retained as territories under military super
vision until loyal local governments 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, providing
only that the increased representation result
J Ah5 iiOhi CLuduOipdllOH vi HCSIOCo
go to their benefit, and not the benefit of their
! late masters. The former slaves it was de-
clared, should elect their own representatives.
{ On those terms States were readmitted. The
faithful observance of those terms was con-
dition in fact, and is to this day condition in
| fact, and is to this day condition in reason
and equity, of the restoration of the defeated
rebes to political rights.
Yet the colored citizens are no longer per.
mtted to vote as they will, or if they vote at
all their ballots are lost in the stuffed ballot
boxes at which Democratic judges of election
preside. By force and fraud it has come to
pass that the emancipated and enfranchised
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 76 members for himself,
and 1S for his slaves. Having rebelled, he
was restored to the Union on the condition
tlat his former slaves should have the Lallot
and elect their own members. But now, by
White League and Ku-Klux, by assassina'
tions and massacres, by ''bulldozing" and bal.
| lot-box stuffing, it has come to pass that the
Southern Democrat elects 76 members for
himself and 80 for his former slaves. If few
of the 76 members to which white citizens of
the South are entitled are still chosen by Re.
publican votes, it is an error in the working
of the machinery employed to produce Solid
| Sonth-an prrOr yyhinh namOarafc oecura
will be corrected hereafter.
We offer no suggestions now as to the
remedy to be adopted. The question at pres
ent is whether the loyal and liberty loving
North is willing to be ruled itself by this
same system of violence and fraud. 1t is
whether the conditions upon which certain
States were restored to the Union have not
been UNANIMOUSLY disregarded. The question
is, in word, whether 100000 Southern
Democrats shall have as much power in this
Union as 12,0O0.OOO Northern and 100000
Southern Republicans, by means of systematic
defiance of the Constitution and its guarantees
of freedom. 1t is high time that this question
| should be seriously considered, and, unless
we very much mistake, the people of the
North will have something to say about it in
due time, when the facts have been fully
placed before them.-[N. Y. Tribune.
Thanksgiving Proclamation.
The Governor yesterday issued the follow
ing Thanksgiving proclamation:
In grateful recognition of the good provi-
dence and mercy of Almighty God during the
past year, and in harmony with proclama-
tion of His E1cellency the President of the
United States, /, Richard NJ. Bishop, Gov
| ernOr of The State Of Ohio designaie Thurs