Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1879-07-23

headed in the public way. The courts
ana the machinery of justice were i'm
| potent IN the presence of culprits too
great to be punished.
The act Of 1870 came in to throttle
| such abuses. 1t was not born without
throes and pangs. It passed the senate
after q day and night which rang with
democratic maledictions and foul aeper
| sions.
In the autumn Of that year an election
was held for the choice Of representatives
in congress. | see more than one friend
| near me who for himself and for others
has reason even unto this day to remem-
Der that election and the apprehension
which preceded it. It was the first time
the law of 1870 had been put in force.
Resistance was openly counseled. Demo
cratic newspapers in New York advised
that the officers Of the law be pitched into
the river. Disorder was afoot Men,
not wanting in bravery, and not republi-
cans, dreaded the day. BlOodshed, arson,
were still fresh in memory. The draft
| riots had spread terror which had never
| died, and strong men shuddered when
they remembered the bloody assizes Of
the democratic party. They had seen
|
| dizzy and drunk with party madness, stab
| and burn and revel in murder and in mu-
tllating the dead. They had seen an asy-
lum for colored orphans made funeral
pile, and its smoke sent up from their
Christian and imperial city to tell in
heaven Of the unhuman bigotry, the hor-
rible barbarity Of man. Remembering
such Sickening scenes, and dreading the
repetition, they asked the president to
protect them-to protect them with the
beak and claw Of national power In
stantly the unkenneled packs Of party
barkcd in vengeful chorous. Inprcca
tons, and threats were hurled at Grant
, but with that splendid courage which
| never blanched in battle, which never
| quaked before clamor-with the match
| less self-poise which did not desert him
even when a continent beyond the sea
| rose and uncovered before him, Applause
in the galleries. he responded in the
orders which it has pleased the honorable
senator from Delaware to read. The cleo
| ton thus protected was the fairest, freest,
the most secure, generation had seen.
When, two years afterward, New York
| came to crown Grant with her vote, his
action in protecting her chief city on the
1dcs of N November, 1870, was not forgot
JSu w lcu utAL NCW IOIk uGS OcCtSlOil
to record her judgment Of the services of
in the city Of New York will not be hid
wisely. Applause in the galleries.
Now, the election law is to be emascu-
lated; no national soldier must confront
rioters or mobs; no armed men by nation
al authority, though not q soldier, must
| stay the tide Of brutality or force; no
deputy marshal must be within call; no
supervisor must have power to arrest any
mbn who in his sight commits the most
| flagrant breach of the peace. But the
democrats tell us eve have not abO ished
| the supervisors; we have left them" Yes,
the legislative bill leaves the supervisors,
two stool-pigeons with their wings
| clipped, laughter, two licensed tines
ses to stand about idle, and look-yes,
"a cat may look at king"-but they must
not touch DULLES or lawbreakers, not if
they do murders right before their eyes.
If a civil officer should, under the
pending amendment, attempt to quell a
riot by calling on the bystanders, if they
have arms, he is punishable for that. If
marshal, the marshal Of district in
which the election occurs, the marshal
nominated to the senate and confirmed
| by the senate-I do not mean a deputy
marsh al-should see IN affray or a riot
at the polls on election day .and call
| upon the bystanders TO Quell il, if this
! bill becomes a law, and one of thos"
| bystanders has 4 revolver ia his pocket,
r another one takes sick or q cudgcl
in lis hard, the marshal may be fined
! $4,000 and punished by five years i'm
! priSonment.
! Such are the oevises to belittle nation
| al an holity and national law, TO turn,
| The idea Of q sovereignty Of the nation
| into a hing stock and by-wOrd. >.
| Under what preextS is this uprooting
and ovelturning to be- any officer who
lransgresses the law, be he civi. or mill
tar, may be punished ii the counts e.
| the state or in the courts of the nat ion
uadcr existing law. Is the election act
| unconstitutional The courts fer ten
| years have been open to that question.
| The law has been pounded with all the
| nammeTs Of the lawyers, but it has stood
| he test; 10 court has pronounced il
| institutional, although many men
| have been prosecuted and convicted
under it. Judge Woodruff and Judge
| Blatchford have vindicatcd its constitH.
| tionaIity. But, as I said before, the COZ
stitutional argument has been abandoned
| The supreme political court, practically
now above congresses or even cons.itu
| tons, the, democratic caucus, has de-
| cided that the law is unconstitutional.
Therecord Of the judgment is in the leg
islative bill.
We are told it costs money to enforce
the law. Yes, it costs money to enforce
all laws; it costs money to prosecute
smugglers, counterfeiters, murderers,
| mail robbers and others. We have been
| informed that it costs 100000 to exc
cute the election act. It cost more than
| $5,000,00000o in money alone, to pre-
serve our institutions and our laws, in
one war, and the nation which bled and
the nation which paid is not likely to
give up its institutions and the birth
right of its citizens for 100000. EAp-
plause.l assei.s .srs r..
Italian Girls.