Mexico weekly ledger., 1879-07-31
THE RAYONET.


SWWCG CREAhR5
8. As there are some animals whose
free natures scorn the tyranny OF
man, and which can never be subject
ed 10 his will, so there are some
races If non i'm whose blood Is an in
herent protest against despotism. The
history CT the Anglo-Saxon race il the
history of long, stubborn, u%nyielding
resistance to monopolies, illegal ex-
actions and oppression of the many
by the few. The history of England
is but the narrative of conflict after
conflict, in which power was wreste,!
first from the king by his mobiles. and
then from the mobiles by the COM
mons. Out of these conflicts, many
of which arose from the eXigencies OF
the passing hour, have come down to
us, with the same blood and lineage,
certain great principles, purchased
by untold labor and suffering, which
are now and forever must be INSOFAR
able from government. Chief amongst
these principles is the greet corner
stone of personal and public liberty,
that s'all just government derives its
powers from the consent of the gov
To- erned," and, as a corollary from this,
that ''the military should always be
subservient to the civil power"
THE BAYoNET
is the great factor of despotlsm, and
and the ballot the great factor OF
freedom. But the BALLOT. tC secure
free institutions, honest government,
and personal liberty, cast be tram.
,Iciea srl unbongLt. Rome Lad in
the zenith of her glory q pure and
e;- .ypu.Iic, III wLlcn the people
met in the Comitia and directly en-.
acted laws by popular ballot; but
when foreign conquest had brought
back wealth and luxury, and when
successful soldiers, crowned with
laurel and loaded with plumber, sur
sounded the polls with their victori-
Gus legions, liberty became. only a
name, and the Mistress of the World
to day famous only for its history and
its ruins. Froude, in his life of
Caesar, gives this graphic picture of
what Rome became, a picture which,
/ am afraid, will be recognized as ap-
plicable in many respects to our own
age:
"The rich were extravagant, for
life had ceased to have practical in
terest except for its material pleas
The occupation of the higher
classes was to obtain money without
labor, and to spend it in idle enjoy
ment. Patriotism survived on the
lips, but patriotism meant the ascend
ency of the party which would main
tain the existing order of things, or
would overthrow it for a more equal
distribution of the good things which
alone were valued. Religion, once
the foundation of the laws and rule of
personal conduct, had subsidized into
opinion. The educated, in their
hearts, disbelieved it. Temples were
still built with increasing splendor !;
the established formswere scrupulous-
ly observed,
PUBLIC MEN SPOKE CoNvENTIONALLY
Of Providence, that they might throw
on their opponents the odium of i'm
piety but of genuine belief that life
had any serious meaning there was
none remaining beyond the circle of
the silent. patient, ignorant multitude,
The whole spiritual atmosphere was
tull of cant-cant moral, cant politi-
cal, cant religious an affectation of
high principle which had ceased to
touch the conduct, and flowed on in
an increasing volume of insincere and
unreal speech"
My friends, there was a time when
the Roman people would have laughed
to scorn a picture like this, and in the
not distant past we, too, would have
Knocked the prophet who had fore
told much that has come to pass, that
has been said and done in our own
history. Who would have believed,
twenty years ago, that a great politi-
cal party, controlling the government
and shaping its destinies, would de-
iberately assert that the army should
be present at the polls on the day
when a free people were called to
5 their sufirages for members Of
the National Congress?
We are accustomed to boast Of our
progress in free institutions and per-
sonal liberty, yet SO far back as the
reign of Edward the First our Eng
lish fathers enacted ''that no man,
by force of arms, or by malice or
menacing, shall disturb any to make
free election; )" and any regiment,
troop, or company of soldiers quar-
tered in any city, borough or town,
when any election was being held for
members of Parliament, were on that
day required ''to remoge and contin-
ue out of the same during the time of
such election"
FALSE TO ALL TRADITIONS
of.our race and history, ignoring the
past, and anxious only to secure
present success and power, the Re-
publican party had provided for the
presence of armed soldiers at the polls
on election day, under pretense of
preserving the peace, but really to
ovcrawe the people and prevent the
success of the Democratic party.
The system built up by the Repub-
lican leaders, and of which the army
constituted a part, is SO infamous in
conception and detail that we are in
doubt whether most to be amazed at
the boldness of those who originated
it or the fact that a free people. SUBJ
mitted to it for a single moment.
L have said that a system was de-
hberately established by the Repub-
lican leaders for the purpose of over
aweing the people, and of carrying
the elections against the Democratic
party. BY the enactments of a Radi-
cal Congress any District Judge of
the United States, holding his office
for life, and in almost every instance
a member of the Republican party,
was authorized, upon the petition of
three or o citizens, to appoint Of
ficers, known as Supervisors of Elec-
lions, who were to attend the polls
on each general election day, and sit
in fhn Vrnaoonnn -