National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1879-04-25

citizen shackled by legislation of Congress, or
the humblest citizen of this country deprived
of his rights in any way.
Perish the Capitol perish commerce
and perish the Supreme Court and all other
courts to secure the privilege to the De-
mocracy of despoiling the people of their
elective rights at the ballot-boX through the
agency of rioters, repeaters, ballot-box stuff
fers, White Liners rifle clubs, and tissue bal
lots. 1t is only against these that there is
any probability, or even possibility, that the
Federal army will ever be used to protect
the purity and integrity of the elective fran
chise. The authority to use the military
only extends to cases where the laws are
defied and violated and good order is dis
turbed by corrupt and vicious combinations
of men too powerful to be controlled by the
civil power and too corrupt and outrageous
to be tolerated at the election precincts.
This is all that the friends of the electoral
laws seek or expect, and it is upon these
very points that the Democrats base their
opposition to the existing laws which they
are now striving to erase or strip from the
statute book. They desire to throw the
Federal elections open to fraud, corruption,
and violence, and to tear away the safe
guards that stand between law-breakers
and order-violators and the elective fran
chse, which involves the dearest rights Of
citizenship.
Senator GARLAND virtually declares to
the country from the forum Of the Senate
that before these laws shall remain upon
the statute book as n terror to the De-
mocracy, he would see the Capitol crumble
in ruins and be given up to the owls and
bats and rats, and every ship connected
with our commerce rot in its moorings, and
the Supreme and all other courts be sus-
pended. Why? Simply because the laws
which are antagonized shackle the ballot
box suffer, the repeater, the bull'dozer
and the armed banditti, who have taken
the public offices in his and other Southern
States away from the rightlul majority of
the people and bestowed them upon the
minority under practices that these laws
which are now being antagonized We're
enacted to prevent. This forms the gist of
the contest now waging over the pending
question and the Democratic malediction
is-perish all else, rather than that the
"war measures" born of the rebellion shall
remain to protect the dearest rights
of American citizenship. Tear down
the Constituton-strike down the
laws-trail the Old Flag in the
dust-permit and commit any outrage
against the Union and the integrity of the
Government sooner than deprive the ban
dtti the right to kill the repeater the priv
ilege of repeating ; the tissue ballot voter
the right to stuff the ballot-box ; the false
counter the free opportunity Of plying his
vocation, or that any other rascality incl
dent TO our elections shall be obstructed by
the Federal power during the election of
Federal officials. Perhaps the people of the
United States whose only hope for the per-
petuity of the Republic resides in the pa
triotism of the voting and lighting power of
the nation and in the purity of our cleo
tions, will justify and sustain the position
taken by Senator GARLAND, but we are
not prepared to believe it. To destroy
either the military power of the nation or to
yield the elective franchise up to wanton
outrage and corruption would be to sign the
death-warant of the Republic.