Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1879-04-30
BA YoNE1s AND ELECTIONS.

~ 40 """yo uehShiui w oeV bi"'"N
plunge into the partisan arena and how
his way among the political gladiators.
IL is delectable as an entertainment. 1t
is better than frst-class circus il
surpasses first.class walking match
and is equaled only by Beeoher's Sun.
day entertainments in what some call
religious services. Blaine has such o
magnificent dash about HIM hethathurls
his inevective and flashes his wit with
fascination that is irresistible, and
even in the grander spheres of elo-
quence, he owns none as MASTER He
is unrivaled in his capacity for making
it most uncomfortable for the Confed-
crate Brigadiers of the Senate, and
while he is on the floor he makes every
thing captive to his imperious will.
But when Mr.. Blaine illumines the
Senate as he did on Monday, by ex-
hausting invective and eloqence to
make partisan music out of the tune
less chords Of sectional strife, he suf.
fers when his matohless eloquence of
action is ended and people begin TO
think of what he has SAID that should
be remembered and respected. As
| aat;ra on n dalaotnd rahall;on tho
speech of Senator Blaine was a grand
success, but us an effort Of statesman.
ship that must stand the test of the in.
telligent judgment of the country, it
was conspicuous failure. 1t was
beautiful as the rainbow while il last.
ed full of oil the exquisite of aggres.
sive defamation but when the show.
er ceased, the beauty perished and in
all the sunlight of popular reflection,
nothing of the speech remains to guide
the considerate citizen to a Just COM
prehension of the issue discussed.
The country has never been appre.
hensive about the military power oft he
land swarming in overwhelming num-
bers upon our more that forty millions
of people. So much of Mr.. Blane's
rhetoric was but feebly disguised dem.
agogism. The fundamental principle
involved is what the sober fathers of
the Republic considered as one OF the
gravest questions affecting the safety
and perpetuity Of free government. II
a single election poll or the election
polls which may control q county or
a district, can be controlled by the bay.
onet, the assault upon the free govern
ment is as deadly as if an army were
to overrun every debatable State. 1t
may all seem to be right to desperate
partisan leader while his party contin-
ues to control the bayonets and can
thus employ them entirely on his side
to control elections but what would
be Senator Blaine's answer if Demo.
cratic administration should march a
single company Of Federal troops to
the several centres of his Congression.
al district which decide the election Of
o Congressman, and exercise the arbi-
trary powerof reconstruction days to ar
rest or intimidate voters so as to secure
the defeat of the candidate of his par.
ty? Would Senator Blaine appear
before the people OF his State and an.
swer; "What have the nearly a million
of frecmcn of Maine to fear from few
hundred Federal soldiers 2" No one
who knows the able Republican
leader will doubt that he would resist
such violation of the laws of his State
and such an assault upon the freedom
Of elections, even to revolution if neces-
sary and when the hearers and read.
ers Of his late speech make such an ap-
plicaton OF his campaign deliverance
to himself and his own district or State
oil his eloquence and invcctive perish
before the stubborn logic OF sclfevident
truth.
In 1868 a company Of Federal ma.
rines were marched to the polls in
Philadelphia, under orders from the
United States Marshal. There was nc
open resistance but that single com
pany Of less than four score soldiers
with cleaning bayonets, moved the
city from centre to circumstance, and
there was but one voice that went uT
to the authority of the State in regard
to it. Republicans and Democrats
united as one people to demand that
bayonets and elections should be stran
gers to each other in Pennsylvania
The Republican Governor formally
protested against the assault upon thu
freedom Of elections, and Republican
Legislature and a Republican Consti
tutional Convention have forbidden
the presence Of troops within range o
elections.
Our militia are forbidden to parad,
on election day or to appear as mill
1. tary organizations, with or withou
arms, and any officer commanding
soldiers to parade on election day i
liable to fine and dismissal from Office
Our new Constitution, framed by |
Republican body and adopted by on,
hundred and fifty thousand majority
added to the old provision declaring
oil elections to be free, that "no power
civil or military, shall at any time in
terfero to prevent the free exercise O
the right of suffrage" 1t is in no de
gree question of the number of troops
There were less than hundred in al
Philadelphia in 1869, where one hun
dred and forty thousand voters coul'
have disregarded them with impunit.
or vanquished them with breath
necessary; but the bayonet as tn
symbol Of the military power Of th
government made the whole Common
wealth rise up as one man and declar
the sovereignty of the State and tb
freedom Of her citizens. When tn
country turns from the eloquence c
| M - q L -