The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1879-10-29

d that Crackers and milk wouldn't melt
' their virtuous mouths. The other sid
i boldly asserts the right "to protect tt
4 ballot box" This is a bow-shOt beyond eve
e the professions of the Grant Administration
e When Grant sent troops into Louisiana
e South Carolina and Florida, it was undo
e the false and lying call of carpet-bag execU
: tives to suppress intended instruction an
r domestic violence. When thus introduce
/ they were stationed near the polls so as t
= embolden Republican and intimidat
e Democratic voters But the purpose t
interfere at the polls with the ballot-be
: was carefully and persistently denied. Tn
e object was accomplished by taking militar.
e control of the elections, but it was don
: under the form and semblance Of the Con
: stitution. But carpet-bag Governors ar
no more. This himsy pretext for the inva
sion of the States can be no longer made
and now the mask is thrown aside and tn,
Republican party boldly declares its pur
pose to take military control of the ballot
box. The palladium of our liberty, the
b.,llot-box, is TO be protected by the cart
) ridge-box The lamb is to be instrusted Il
the fostering care of the wolf. This Is the
doctrine openly asserted in the Saratoga
platform and boldly defended by Conkling
the favorite of Grant, in the Senate, and
by Robson, a distinguished member OF
Grants Cabinet, in the House-the two
boldest, if not the ablest, advocates OF
Federalism in the United States. This is
the gravest of constitutional questions and
involves the essence of civil liberty. When
such questions of constitutional power
arise the legal mind at once turns 10 the
decisions of the Supreme Court, the highest
judicial authority on such subjects in the
Union. We find that the only two sections
of these election laws which have been
considered are the third and fourth of the
act as originally passed, and they have been
held to be unconstitutional. The Court in
describing the fourth section, says: at
has for its object the punishment of all per-
sons who by force, bride, &c, hinder, delay
&c, any person from qualifying and voting"
and after an exhaustive analysis by the
Chief-J Justice this is held to be beyond the
power of the United States Government
and therefore unconstitutional.
1t is further distinctly held that Congress
can protect no right that it cannot confer.
| That Congress cannot confer the right to
! vote and therefore cannot protect a voter
in his rights. The exact language of the
Court in the case of Minor VS.. Happersett,
| subseq uently quoted and affirmed in the
Reese case, is as follows: "The United
States has no voters in the States of its own
creation. The elective officers of the United
States are all elected directly or indirectly
by State voters "and therefore it was held
in the Reese case that Congress could give
no protection to voter in a State except to
protect him against discrimination on &C
count of race, color or previous condition of
servitude.
THE PEACE OF A STATE.
The Supreme Court has further held that
the sovereignty to protect citizen in his
life, limb and property vests in the State,
and in the Cruikshank case says: at is no
more the duty or within the power of the
United States to punish for conspiracy to
falsely imprison or murder within State,
than it would be to punish for false impris-
onment or murder itself" Mr.. Robson,
with great ingenuity, sought to avoid the
force of these decisions by admitting that
the United States had no voters of their own
creation in the States, but insisting that
when the State had created the voters, the
United States made them their voters by
authorizing them to vote for members of
Congress, and must protect them in this
right-as if the State begat the voting
children and the United States adopted
them. But unfortunately for his argument
the Supreme Court not only decides that
"the United States has no voters in the
States of its own creation" but in the very
next sentence it Just as distinctly decides
that 'the elective officers of the United
States are all elected directly or indirectly
Dy oGdIS voters. IL Lu0H pEOCe6uS 10 SNOW
that Congressman are elected directly and
and Senators indirectly by estate voters
We find these decisions not in the OPINIONS
of CLIiOf JuoUICo SI-I-s.II III Lue puICI
better days of the Union, nor yet in the
oDinions of any of the great State right
Judges but in the opinions of Chief Justice
Waite, the friend of Lincoln and appointee
of Grant. This would seem to settle the
constitutional question, andI it does SO far
as the courts can settle it. But the Repub
lican party care nothing for courts, con-
stitution or laws when in conflict with
party success. To secure the Presidency
they adopted the most extreme ofState right
doctrine and bowed before mere pretense
of State sovereignty in Louisiana, created
by fraud and sustained by bayonets.
STATE RIGHTS AND THE UNITED STATES
And now, to maintain their power, they
denounce State rights as the mother of Sc
cession and through election supervisors bid
defiance to the laws and officers of the great
Empire State of New York.
The Supreme Court has declared part of
these laws at least unconstitutional, and yet
the Saratoga platform demands the enforce
ment of the unconstitutional enactments,
and saws: We declare our uncomprOmising
opposition to any repeal of these just protec
tive laws" They not only treat with con-
tempt the opinions of the courts, but they
treat with disrespect the opinions of the fra
mers of the Union. The trainers of the Con-
stitution refused the name of National
Government" and throughout the Consti-
tuition the Government is nowhere spoken
of in the singular number. In the most
vital enactment when defining treason
against the United States it does not speak
of the Government as single nation, but
SAYS: ''Treason against the United States
shall consist only in leYying war against
Il &l1o.- DIT
the Republican party is ashamed of the old
name of our Union, and in every platform
they declare that this Government is no
longer 60 the United States, buta "nation."
The Democracy reverences the fact that the
General Government was formed of States
united by the Constitution and they are
satisfied with the old name Of ''the United
States" 1t is good enough for US our
fathers made it and we want no new-fangled
titles The Democracy are satisfied too with
the definition that this is San indissoluble
Union of indestructible States" The fierce
war of secession could not destroy the Sin
dissoluble union" and the success of the
union armies restored the "indestructible
States to their places. We turn therefore
in disgust from the bombastic declarations |
of the Republican platform that "this is a
nation = guarded with power = = = to
protect its own citizens and regulate its own
elections" to the calm, clear and authorita-
tive declarations of the Constitution This
is the Government of the United States"
"The powers not delegated to the United
States by the Constitution are reserved to
the States respectively or to the people"
And we turn with especial pride to the fifth
article of the Constitution, which, while it
provides that all other amendments to the
Constitution may be made by three-fourths
of the States, the cornerstone of State rights,
the equality of the States in the Senate,
shall not be changed while a single State
shall dissent. 1t says distinctly, No State
without its consent shall be deprived of its
equal suffrage in the Senate" Let those
who scott at the doctrine of State rights, |
who boast that "this is nation" with power
to convert States into the condition of coun-