Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-05-01

The high bailitf was taken into custody by
order of tho House, and the three maeis-
trates who signed the order was brought
TO tho bar and reprimandcd by the Speaker,
upon their knees, rs the House had direct
cd and after this the House passed vote
of thanks to the Speaker for his repri-
mand of the dilinquents, and directed the
same TO be printed BrighHy's Leading
Cases on Elections, 603, 60i.
Sir, this right, thus vindicated, is n
part OF our system. These privileges
are part of our own free liberties.
They come to us with the system OF
laws under which we live. They belong
to us rs an integral part of our system
of free elections, and we would be false
to our highest duty If we should fail to
protect them and assert their existence.
! now quote from McCrary on Elections,
section 4lS. lie says:
There can, however, be no doubt but
that the law looks with great diTavor
| upon anything like nm interference by the
military with the freedom of An election
An armed force in the neighborhoOd of
the polls is almost OF necessity IA menace to
the voters, and an interference with their
freedom and independence, and if such
armed force be in the hands of or under
the control of tho partisan friends of any
particular candidate or set Of candidates,
the probability of improper influence be-
comes still stronger.
This proposition does not stand alone
on the thought of taking out OF this
section the authority for the presence Of
armed troops at the polls under Federal
law, but il goes beyond this and finds
its reason and its root in the right of
the States to control this subject entire.
ly. The control of free elections, the
guarantee of their existence, does not
belong to the Federal Government; il
belongs to the States themselves and al.
ways has belonged there. The consti.
tuition of almost every State in this
country contains in its bill Of rights a
guarantee of free elections. The Safes
controlled the franchise. With them,
both before aud since the formation Of
the Constitution, was vested the power
and the right 10 guard the purity and
the freedom Of elections.
Let the Senator'S from New England,
and the Senators from the great Wet,
and the Senators from the Middle States
and the South take up the bills OF right
OF their respective States and see what
is guaranteed. In nearly nll of them
the guarantee is that all elections shall
be free. Here is the capitalization Of
the doctrine that comes to VA from the
time of Edward l. which found voice in
the time of Charles / and George II,
and is now one of the privileges and
rights Of this people. In Pennsylvania,
ua t.,,., 81 ISnV.,N. 4
this statute:
No body Of troops, beng regularly en-.
ploycd IN the Army of the United States
or Of this State, shall appear and be pres
cnt, either armed or unarmcd, at any
place Of election within this State, during
the time Of said election.
This wholesome provision was rec
acted in 1899, and it j. now part Of
the law of that Commonwealth. The
enactment Of this law followed the
time of the alien and sedition law.
The necessity had come for the people
TO enact IL. Jefferson was in power
here. his party was in control in that
great State, and public sentiment found
vent in the statute that protected at the
polls the citizen from armed iutcrfer.
FHNt w tVhAibt III AliN ny
or other troops. New York crystAllzed
this right in her statutes rs early "a 1878,
and prohibited the military from ap.
pearing or exercising on election day,
or during ten days preceding il and
the same Is the law in Wisconsin.
Massachusetts,, Maine, New Jersey, and
Rhode Island forbid their militia from
paradine on election day. and imposed
penalties for it's violation. Virginia, by
her constitution, exempted the voter
from military service on election day,
and denied the franchise to every non.
commissioned officer and private in the
United States Army or seaman or ma.
rine in the United States Navy, while
Maryland prescribed that no officer
should muster or march any troops in
view OF the polls on election day.
] take the constitution of Pennsylva.
mia Of 1873 and read from the bill Of
rights:
Elections shall be FREQ and equal and
no power, civil or military, shall at any
time interfere to prevent the free exercise
Of the rights OF suffrage.
This Is embodied, too, in the constitu.
tions of Colorado and Missouri, enacted
since, almost in word and letter.
But, sir. the Federal Constitution has
not q syllable on this subject. Neither
in its main provisions nor in the orig.
nal amendments which secured the
Liberties of the people is there one word
upon the subject of free elections. The
Federal Government had no control
over the subject and they did not at
tempt to assert anyright in reference
to it. The control of elections and the
guarantee for them belonged TO States
there it was vested and there it is 10 re.
main. Prior to 1864 the only attempt
at its control here was when John Mar.
shall, in the House of Representatives,
in the year 1900, under the elder Ad.
ans, reported statute giving to the
Federal Government control of elec.
tions so far as to prevent armed interfer.
ence at the polls; but when the mea
sure came to the Senate il was defeated.
1t failed because the Federal Govern.
ment had no control over it. There