The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1879-04-17
BLAINE OF MAINE.
Synopsis Of His Great Speech
in the Senate.
The Flimsy Pretext of the Demo.
Gratis for Free Elections in
the South.

| The pending question being on Mr. Blaine's
amendment prohibiting the appearance within
mile of polling place of any person armed
with deadly weapon of any kind, Mr. Blaine
addressed the Senate. He said the method
/ adopted in the pending section to get rid of the
| eight closing words of the section of the Re
| v1sed Statutes proposed to be repealed, namely,
or to keep the peace at the polls" was an UNI
usual and extraordinary method. The ordinary
| way to repeal single sentence is to strike out
| the particular words objected to; but the mode
chosen in this bill is to repeal and re-enact the
whole section except the last eight words He
was persuaded this unusual course was not
| taken accidentally, but designedly. If he so
might speak, it came of cummings intent
| being to create the impression that the Repub-
licans in the administration of the General
Government had used troops right and left ia
every direction, and that as soon as the Demo-
Gratis got into power they proceeded. to enact
this prohibitory sixth section, and a Demo-
cratic stump speaker would doubt
less make great political capital out of
this idea; whereas every word of it, from
first to last was, the enactment of the Republi-
can party. Whether Intentionally or not, the
issue thus presented was dishonest one. The
law was passed by Republican Congress.
There were forty-six Senator's sitting in the
Senate Chamber at the time, of whom only ten,
or at most eleven, were Democrats, and the
House of Representatives was Overwhelmingly
Republican. We were in the midstof war. The
Republican administration had 100000 or
possibly 100000 bayOnets at its command,
and under circumstances with the amplest
power to interfere with the elections had they
so chosen, with soldiers at every hamlet and
county of the United States. The Republican
party themselves placed that on the statute
book, and Abraham Lincoln signed it. He
asked attention to the fact that this was the
first instance in the legislation of the United
States in which any restrictive clause whatever
was put upon the statute books in regard to the
use of troops at the polls, and that it was
passed by the Republican party and signed by
Abraham Lincoln when he had more troops
under his control than Napoleon Bonaparte
ever had A~'
But the point is, said Mr. Blaine, to strike
out the few words authorizing the use of troops
to keep the peace at the polls, and the country
is alarmed, or he would rather say amused. at
the effort made to create the impression that
the Republican party relied for its popular
strength upon the use of bayonets This
Democratic Congress has attempted by raising
an issue false in every detail to create the i'm
preston not only in America but in Europe
and throughout the civilized world that cleo
tons in this country are attempted to be con-
trolled by the bayonet. He denounced the is
sue as false, and, though not at liberty to say
that any gentleman making it knew its falsity,
and though he hoped they did not, he proposed
to prove its utter lack of foundation. He held
10 his hand an abstract of all the troops of the
United States east of Omaha, including the
States bordering on the Mississippi river
on the west, embracing a territory
populated by 100000, at least, of
the 45W0,0OO supposed to be in this country
to-day. BY this statement he showed that in
all this great territory, only 2,977 soldiers are
stationed. Within this domain forty-tive forti-
fcatiOns are manned and eleven arsenals pro-
tected. To every 100000 people there are
about sixty soldiers. The honorable Senator
from Delaware was alarmed about the over
riding of the popular ballot by troops of the
United States, but there is not single Federal
soldier in Delaware The honorable Senator
from West Virginia (Hereford) had spoken of
his State being trodden by the iron heel of
military despotism, but there is not solitary
man in United States uniform on the soil of
West Virginia. In Maryland 1872 artillerymen
at Fort McHenry guard the entrance to Balti-
more's beautiful harbor In Virginia there is
a school of practice at Fortress Monroe; outside
Of that school, there is not a Federal soldier
in the State. There are but thirty soldiers
in North Carolina guarding fort at the mouth
of Cape Fear river. In South Carolina there
are 12O artillerymen to guard the entrance to
Charleston harbor There are TWEEN LYNNE
soldiers in Georgia, and 1872 in Florida. There
is not one in Tennessee Kentucky, or Missouri
There are hfty-seven in Arkansas, thirty-tW
in Alabama, and 239 in Louisiana The great
State of Mississippi has not one on it's soil, nor
has Texas, except those guarding the frontier
on the Bio Grande. In the entire South, said
Mr. Blaine, there are 1,155 soldiers to intimi-
date, overrun, Cypress, and destroy the liber-
ties of 15,OOOO 600 of people in 023 counties, or
not quite one soldier to each county; one SOL
der to about 700 square miles of territory
There was an old saying he continued, that
there were soothsayers in Rome who could not
look each other in the face without smiling
and no two Democratic Senators on the floor
can go into the cloak-room and look each
other in the face without smiling, or rather
blushing, over this talk-the whole thing was
such miserable pretense, such miserably
manufactured false issue. ass
In New England they had $50 soldiers, or
about l20 to every million people, whereas the
ratio in the South was not quite 10: vet the peo-
pie of New England never complained of mill
tary power The tendency of this talk, as he
had said WAS to misrepresent us abroad, and
the Democratic party stood indicted, and he
hereby charged them with public SANDER of
| their country, creating an impression in the
| civilized world that we are under a military
despotism
But continued Mr.. Blaine, the real motive of
the Democrats must be looked for elsewhere.
It is simply to get rid of Federal supervision at
elections; to get rid of the civil power of the
United States in the election of Representatives
to Congress, and, therefore, this Fill connects
Itself directly with the bill which was before
Congress at the last session known as the Leg
islative, Executive, and Judicial Appropriation
bill He was aware that parliamentary rules
forbade him to discuss a bill pending before
the House of Representatives, BE-. he also knew
that nothing forbade him to speak of what was
not done in the House, but in the Democratic
caucus, where this legislation was performed.
Mr.. Blaine discussed the legal questions in
volved, AMI, continuing, said: The design now
is to get rid of all civil officers of the United
States under pretense of keeping troops away
from the polls, and the amendments which will
be offered will test the sincerity of the Demo-
cratic side on that point, and show whether the
Federal Government would be allowed repre-
sentation at the polls at all except by two men of
straw without any power, who can merely look
on. He would go so far as to say that If the
bill went through.in It's presentform the remain
der of the law in regard to Marshals and Su-
pervisors would be worth nothing, since there
would be no power vested in the Federal Gov
ernment to enforce its provisions. We are told.
said Blaine, and it is rather q novel thing, that
if we do not agree to the bills as offered we
| are not to have the aDDroDriaiion That has