Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-05-03
GAINESVILLE. TENN .gTsATURDAY, MAY 8, 1879
right to place troops around tie ballot

a right to place troops around t.Se ballc
box.
senator Howard, of Michigan, who ma,
an elaborate adverse report on the bill ii
troduced by Senator Powell, of Kentucl<
expressly claims the right to have troops
the polls as one of the necessities of q sta
OF war. Bat what was originally justified
a military power and q belligerent rigl
4 alone Is now claimed law sanctioned {
the Constitution in a time Of peace. Whi
was originally justifled as n military nece
Sity only, to which the Government had
: right TO resort to save its life endangered B
great war, is now claimed, after the war
over and the cause and occasion for the pa
sage of the law have long since ceased I
exist as an enlinently proper provision {
take It's place upon the statute-book as
permanent enactment.
Mr.. Chairman, the effort now made to RI
tain in peace what was born amid the clas
of arms, to legitimize by constitutions
i. adoption this bastard offspring of ncentiou
war, warns us of the danger of permittin
what was originally ouly claimed and con
spectacle and unchalienged association wit
other laws upon our statute-bOok until /
shall have become erystallized into a pre-
eedent and form the starting-point for othe
and more dangerous innovations.
When q great and powerful political party
with that vast influence which party organ
1zation exertS over the members that cofn
pose it, is willing to inscribe this war meas
| ure upon its banners and insist on retaining
In q period OF peace what was never mean
called it into being, it is time to settle tn,
question whether this law shall stand or b.
repealed. The issue has not been made too
soon, nor has it been made too late; for tn,
doom of this measure is sealed, whether 4
receives its death-blow in its present strug
gle in Congress for existence or succeeds il
poStpontng its fate TO a decision of the peo
pie upon It's merits AT the ballot-box. Its
uncoHStitutionality, its dangerous charac
ter, it's manifest inequality and unfairness
| all unite in the invocation for its repeal.
If a test oath is prescribed which places ii
in the power of one political party to mon.
opolize the right of acting as jurors in the
trial of citizens, and thereby to exclude their
| political opponents from being represented
| in the jury-box, who will deny that such a
| state of the law can be made a powerful en-
/ gine in the interest of that party from whose
| ranks the jurors are to be selected? 1t is
saying substantially to the citizens of the
| country, If you do not wish TO be tried by a
jury of your political enemies, your interests
may be subserved by changing your political
opinions and party affiliations"
| The right of trial by jury Is among the
| liberty and safety of the citizen demand
| that it shall remain inviolate. Our Consti-
| tuition provides that In all criminal prose-
cutions the accused shall not only have the
right of trial by jury but by an impartial
jury" A test oath which virtually fills the
jury-box with those of one political party,
to pack iurieS and procure political convic-
tions, is evidently in violation of that clause
of the Constitution to which have alluded.
No party in free State should ever be in
vested with such startling power over the
liberty of the citizen or be allowed to enjoy
such an advantage to perpetuate its own
aScendency and OveraWe opposition TO its
claims to popular appreciation. If an army
of deputy marshals may lie appointed from
one political party clothed By l&w with
authority to arrest their political adveTSa-
rieS without process or without even a COM
plaint made against them, it will not be
denied by any one having any pretensions
to fairness thatsuch an extraordinary power
is subversive of the liberty of the citizen
and in direct violation of that clause of the
Constitution which declares:
''The right of the people to be secure in
their persons, houses, papers, and effects,
against unreasonable searches and seizures,
shall not be violated, and no warrants shall
issue, but upon probable cause, supported by
oath or affirmation, and particularly de-
scribiLg the place TO be searched, and the
persons or things 70 be seized"
Nor can il be denied that such law con
fers upon the political party having the
power to appoint these deputy marshals an
immense advantage over any other party
Can such an enactment as this remain upon
the statute-books of any country of equal
laws and equal privileges? Is it fair, is it
just, that laws which should be made for the
benefit of all should be so framed as to re-
dound to the advantage of one political
party and the detriment of the other? Arm
any party in this country with the powers
conferred by the laws in question, and ii it
does not perpetuate its power, even against
the popular will, it will be because it is too
honest or too timid 10 use the means placed
at its disposal by these laws. Intrenched |
behind the power to surround the ballOt-boX
with bayDnets, to pack jurieS, to punish OBJ
noxiouS citizens, To arrest dd LbittDl on
mere suspicion, without warrant or COM
plant. and thus tie the hands and feet of
political opponents until the polls are closed, !
any political party may laugh TO scorn ali
efforts to take the fort defended by such |
means. Give to an ambitious or bold
partisan President the right to send the |
soldiers under his command to the polls; |
give TO a compliant Federal judge the power |
to pack juries with the members of his own |
fsafr IA rrfN ut Won
Shals the power to appoint an unlimited /
number of deputies with authority to arrest |
citizens at will against whom no complaint |
has been nled and no warrant Issued, and |
what is to prevent any political party in q |
position to WELD these great powers in its !
own behalf from sitting the voice OF the |
people and perpetuating its own ascendency |
in defiance of the popular will?
And shall such a state of things be sane |
toned by the law of the land? Can fair /
minded men demand that such laws shall /
stand for the benefit of their party and to
prevent the people, in q government based |
on the will OF the people, from eftecting a
change of rulers If they so desire? Can
these laws be defended on any principle of
Justice, of fairness, of equality, even ii the
Constitution should fail to raise its potential
voice in solemn protest?
Political parties as such are unrecognized
by our Constitution and laws. What right
has one party to demand that the laws of
HE land shall be SO framed as to confer upon
them great and decided advantages IN con-
tests with any and all adversaries who may
power by an appeal to the people as the
arbiters to whom all such controversies
must be referred?
Let it not be forgotten that we are not
seeking to deprive a Republican President
Of the power to send troops to the polls, that
we may confer such power upon Demo-
cratic President, but we seek simply to re-
peal the law and deny with equal emphasis
TO a Democratic as to a Republican Presi-
lent the power to surround the ballot-boX
with bayonets-we only ask to have our
elections free from the presence of any por-
ton of the army, whether Democrat a
republican President may happen to be its
wrest from the Republican party any ad-
vantage which they may derive from the
we ourselves may seize the dangerous power,
TO prostitute our temples of justice with
packed juries and political prosecutions; |
but to blot the law from the statute-book, so
that no man in this free country shall be
as juror on account of his polit-
cal faith or party associations, We do not
propose to deprive the Republican party of
the right to appoint an unlimited number
If deputy marshals, clothed with unlimited
powers, that we may manipulate the artfully
machinery OF these election laws
IN the Interest of our party but to repeal all
such unequal legislation, that the road TO
he ballOt-box shall be obstructed by no
barriers erected by the law ofthe land. No,
sir, this is no attempt to charge the enemy's
works and capture his guns that we may
turn them upon him, but to spike guns that
are turned not only upon us but which are
trained upon the very citadel OF liberty
Itself,
Political parties in time of high excite
nent and in the struggle for power may
commit Irregularities or even resort to fraud
and violence, but we have laws for the pun
shment of this as well as other classes Of
We DO not propose to subtract
)ne atom from the force and vigOr of any
law that denounces such crimes nor to abate
0ne jot or little of the punishment affixed
thereto. But under our system OF govern
ment the vioiators of election laws must be
indicted as the violatorS of other laws are,
and they must be tried by an impartial
ury. There is no help for this. There Is no
near cut or hy-path hy which the Constitu-
and punished contrary to its provisions,
and there ought to be none,
1t may be said that If they are so indicted
they Will not be punished, but viii be ac-
quilted and set free. Suppose they are,
what help is there for ite If gentlemen
nave come to the point of pronCuncing our
system of government a failure OF demand
ing that it shall be changed in its character
so as to punish citizens who violate the law
Ia some other way than by the indictment
ury, let them say so, and can understand
their position. But, Bfr. Chairman, rs long
as our Government remains one of equal
rights to all citizens let our laws be equal
and Just as long as we retain the ballOt-bOx
Is the channel through which a free people
shall express their will let our laws al least
be free from the imputation of blocking the
approaches to it, whatever unprincipled or
violent men, contrary to law, may do in
that direction. And whenever Ii is done in
any part of the country in the interest of
any political party let the law at least rise
10 rebuke it; but let it never be said that
the law itself provides the means and gives
its sanction TO any impediment placed In
Of national power, the ballot-box, whether
The impediment be in the form of armed