The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-06-05
Senator Vance on the Situation.

delivered with temper in his own lnlml-
table way. Hence we make the follow
ing extract containing the pith of the
Senator's remarks; =
Coming briefly to the real questions, !
ask why should the law authorizing the
military to be used at the polls not be re-
pealed, and why should the law author
izing Federal supervision also be not re-
pealed? take it to be indisputably es-
tablished, without further argument, that
the whole subject relating to the elective
franchise is placed by the constitution
under the control of the States, and all
that the Federal government can do is to
see that the States, as such, do not dis
criminate against any on account of race,
color, or previous condition of servitude.
This is the whole duty and power OF
Congress as declared by the Supreme
Court. When any Republican Senator
has yentured for one moment to abandon
the line of inHammatory appeal to the
sectional feeling of the country, the ex-
cises given for the retention of this law
upon the statute book are illogical almost
to puerility.
One Senator gravely argues that it
should not be repealed because the great
bulk of the army is in the distant West,
only some few hundreds being east of the
Rocky Mountains. He tells US in the
course of his enumeration that there are
only about thirty in the State of North
Carolina, and asks the Senators from that
State if they are afraid of that number
of soldiers. Passing over the obvious
fact that within thirty days 10000 could
be sent there if desired, / answer that we
do fear them, because they represent the
power of the United States government
and the enmity of the Republican party
which wields that power; we fear them
as the Hollanders fears the first small
leak in the dykes which bear back the
waves of the ocean from deluging the
meadows of his homestead; we fear them
as the physician fears the first speck of
gangrene in the system of bis patient;
we fear them as the sailor fears the piling
mp of the storm clouds upon the horizon,
knowing that their deceptive beauty
covers the fierce desolation of the tenn
pest; we fear them as the shepherd of
&he mountains fears for his lambs at even
the fitting of shadow atbwart his path,
for he knows it to be the shadow of the
eagle, the remorseless tyrant of the air
we fear them as Charlemagne feared the
rude wooden ships of the Morse Vikings
on their FIRST appearance in the seas OF
his empire; we fear them as all patriotic
Romans feared the crossing of the Ruoi-
con by Cesar, the passage of which with
arms in his hands marked him as the
enemy of Roman liberty.
Even so We fear and believe that when
an American Executive crosses the Rubi-
con of his constitutional powers and ap-
pears at the place of choosing our rulers,
armed either with the sword or with ille-
gal powers of arrest, he thereby proclaims
himself the enemy of the liberties of our
people. A fragrant illustration of the
justice of this fearis to be found in the
various orders of the War Department
directing the concentration of troops in
the States of South Carolina, Florida
and Louisiana on the occasion of the
election of 1876. The excuse that these
soldiers were not intended to interfere
with elections or to be placed at the polls,
but only to be sufficiently near to keep
the peace, is not sustained by the facts of
that reign of military violence, nor will
1t be if tried again. quote from an Or
der dated headquarters Department of
the South, Columbia, South Carolina,
October 8, 1876, issued by General Ru-
ger:
"Should the barracks or camp in any
case be so far from the place of voting
that prompt assistance could not on oc-
casion arising be rendered the civil Off
GERS, the commanding officer will so place
his command, or sufficient part thereof,
that such assistance, if required, may be
promptly given. No troops, however,
will be placed actually at any poll of cleo
.tion except upon requirement TO that effect
By the marshal or his deputy"
So il seems that the discretion as to
whether the law should be violated or
not was vested in deputy marshal! In
fact, they were so illegally disposed and
used in hundred instances. The Presi-
dent, as appears by the order of General
Townsend to General Emory, dated Oc-
tober 81, 1874, seemed anxious to have
the troops placed at the polls without the
appearance of doing so. In that order
be propounds a physical problem or
conundrum to General Emory, which
that officer had to give up. He says:
"Cannot points be selected near polls
where attempts TO overawe voters, likely
to result in riots, may be made, and
troops stationed there day or two be-
forehand2 1t would not be desirable to
have soldiers at or too near the polls, as
all appearance of military interference, er-
cept to secure voters their rights TO uots,
should be avoided"
Not to "keep the peace" mind you.
but to secure voters their right to vote
Now, this was hard problem-to place
troops so far from the polls as to avoid
all appearance of interference with the
elections, and yet so near as to actually
interfere by securing all men in their
right to vote. Quod est de1oastrandum.
1t was too much for General Emory-in
TACT, it was too much for common sense
and common honesty. All these orders
SHOW palpable and shameless determi-
nation ON the part of the Executive to
control both the elections and the count
ing of the votes of Presidential electors,
as well as the organization of State gov
ernHleuls. tns ,nanhei -" "e
troops were shifted about from one to the
other of these three States, on which the
Presidential election depended, exhibits
the animus of this infamous transaction
in manner so plain that the wayfaring
man, though Republican, need not err
therein.
But the President tells us in his veto
message that there has been no interfer-
ence during his administration, and
promises that there shall be none. So
we are to take his royal promise to re-
spect the peoples liberties and not to
have them secured by law? Here is the
pram;sc of one President Of the United
S,atcs, and one who stands exceedingly
iigh in Republican estimation, dated
y ,vr,,,1cr 10. 1876. 10 General w. I.