The Weston Democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1875-current, 1880-09-11
VOL XIV weston west Virginia. September H. 1880 No.15
No.15..

would show that in March, 1870
three several resolutions passed tC
adjourn tho session to prevent such
enactment; n part Of the earnest
efforts oflcading Republicans. ono
Of whom is theirnominec; all o.
whom are making the: leading is,
sues of this campaign these very
outrages of'bad men in the South,
where the passions and deep antip:
athies sngendercd blythe war rem
dered strong measures imperative
to restrain the vicious nd!unprin-
cipled men who use intimidation
andI force to prevent "a free 'and!fiii
ballot. That matter should liaVc
been settled then and forever, for
allimen, Northsand South, and the
votes notsleft to intimidation by
citherthe shotgun ofthe marauder
or the threats Of starvation by their
employer! The instigators ofithese
practices against the freedom Of
the,ballot in Massachusetts We re-
ward with judgeships, and senate
rial tdignitios, but, u am led to be-
lieye, with less important Offices in
the South.
The General then took up and
combated the argument that devil
ces to control tho free ballot were
necessary because universal suff-
rnge was unwise and dangerous,ex-
claiming:
Show mo an instance where the
ballot has been. taken advantage Of
By the poor men to impose taxes
upon the men of property. Show
me the instance where a municipal
ity has been run in debt by the
votes Of her workingmcn for cxtrav-
agant public buildings and extrav-
agant municipal expenditures,
against the votes Of tho men Of
property. Nay, broaden the range
Of observation, and show me where,
in the world, many have oppressed
the few. No such case can be
found. Every page of the history
Of nations is illuminated with hor-
riblc examples OF wrong and out
rage where the few have oppressed
the many.
In New York the trouble was
not, in the Generals opinion, that
the'ignoant masses voted wrong,
but that the learned, tho we'll cdu-
Gated, the shrewd party managers,
don't.counttlo votes right. They
count the voters so as to elect
themselves TO .plunder! thcricll.. In
Philadelphia it=was tho same, and
=Louisianazin=1S 1S76.@Likewise
when the electoral commission was
created 10 determine the count of
the vote for President, and tho er-
mine ofthc Supreme Court was
dragged in the mud of n fair count,
it was still n partisan count-sev-
en- one way and eight the other.
Was the result any different than
it would have been had the qucs-
ton been committed to an equal
number Of voters from tho Five
Points, of the same party bias?
Via. would have been the effect
of the blue Uniform Of q blunt and
gallant soldier among ihesc poiti-
clans, to make them do the right?
The people are about to try.
What do the Republican party
complain of in the present cam
paign in Alabama? That anybody
voted as he ought not to have done?
0 no. The fault again is claimed
to be in the counting. So that
upon the question Of universal
manhood suffrage l am clear that
all ought to vote, and laws should
be so enacted TINT these votes shall
be us justly counted MS they arc
( rightly cast. The people know how
to vote rightly. Oh! ye reformers,
send somebody who knows how to
count honestly. When any of his
Republican friends asked him how
hc could act with tho Democratic
party, which undertook to break
up the Union which he fought to
sustain, General Butler said he
replied that they had forgotten the
history of their country. A por-
ton Of the Democratic party under
took 10 seeele from the Union, and
thcrcby'broke up tho Democratic
party. g
Ifthe Democratic party had un-
dertaken to break up tho Union,
the Union would surely have been
broken up. Does any sane man,
blinded by partisan prejudice,
doubt that, without prompt, vigor-
ous; loyal, courageous and patrioc-
10 action Of the masses ofthe Dem
ocratic party, it would have been
possible for the Republican party
to have preserved the UnionP
The rank and file Of our armies
were as largely recruited from tho
Democratic rs from the Rcpubli-
can party. For the correctness 'ot
this assertion lot me speakiof my
own knowledge. | marched to the
gulfwith a New England division
containing six thousand men, and
there. could have been. found five
hundred mon in that division who
had mover voted any other than the
Democratic ticket. They come
back voting for the Union for which