Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1881-09-09
A RECORD WHICH DEMOCRATIC
.READJUSTERS ARE ASKED
TO CARRY

TO CARRY.
There are very few Readjuster Demo
Gratis who really know anything of ex-Sen-
ator John F. Lewis record when in the
United States Senate. They have an lily
defined idea that he was sent there by the
and afterwards voted Oh ali
occasions with the Republicans. Being a
quiet member and not being an orator, in
which last capacity his position would have
attracted the attention of the country,
MIR. Lewis constituents are almost as
ignorant regarding his extreme views as
they were when he was elected. Those
Coa1itionists who happen to know his rec
ord, try and pass it over, with their less
informed brethren, with the remark that
it was made under circumstances that
might excuse it as ''war record" This
is whollywrong. 1t was sic gears after the
avar; after every volunteer on both sides had
gone back TO his home; it was when the
farmers and working men in his own state
were piteously praying for a peace that
might give them chance to make their liv-
ing by their labor, that Senator Lewis voted
for what may truly be called swar meas.
es''-measures which were as we'll calcu-
lated to carry panic to the section they
were intended for, as the march of an in
vadng army. Virginia, one of those
marked with black by those measures was
his native State, where he resided, and
where he well understood there had been
no provocation for that legislation. without
color of law, for which he voted So vio-
lent and illegal was one act contemplated
that such Republican Senators as Chas.
Sumner and VIM. Window, now Secretary
of the Treasury, voted against considering
it. 1t was the Force bill, to enable Grant
to stamp out all liberty South of the PotO
mac Senator Anthony, of Rhode Island
introduced a resolution, March 18th, that
the Senate should consider only these three
things-the Deficiency bill, the ''outrages y
at the South and the Force bill John F.
Lewis voted for it. (See congressional
Globe" March %, 1871, page 22.)
Then came up, on the 2Sth of March.
that infamous Force Bill which, it was al
legged. was to enforce the provisions of the
Fourteenth Amendment. introduced, as it
was, six years after peace had been declar-
ed, it shocked civilized nations. 1t provi.
ded that at his own personal will Grant
the President, should suspend the writ OF
haEeas corpus; it authorized him whenev-
or he noirht think If npcoccoru tn coll o,t
the militia lin effect to declare war upon
any state or section he might think advis
able) and it stripped the State courts OF
their jurisdiction in long list of cases
over the citizens of the State. Here is the
power the bill was to put into Grants
hand:
"To suspend the privileges Of the writ
of hdbeds corpus, and to declare and en-.
force, subject to the rules and articles OF
war and other laws of the United States
now in force, applicable to cases of rebel
lion, martial laW, de-
For this bill John F. Lewis, of Virginia.
voted; April IA, 1871. See page 831 of
Congressional Record.'
Mark you, this was six years after the
war closed And while this bill of which
we have Just been speaking. was up, Senator
Sherman. afterwards Secretary of the Ire
esury, offered an amendment that in cases
of political outrages' on property or per-
son. the United States Courts should take
cognzance, try the case by their own juries
and if verdict was obtained this If
must have been put in by way of a
jestl then the county, city or torn should
pay all damages awarded, and upon judg-
ment being obtained execution may be
levied on any property, real personal, of
amy person in said county, city or parish.'
That is to say. if negro in Augusta hav-
ing had his house burned. might prove a
political outrage" by his friends in Judge
Undsrwood's court and the property of his
white Democratic neighbors be levied on
by United States Marshal and sold to
pay for that house. The amendment was
so abhorrent that such Republicans as
Morrill,, of Me-, Schurz and others rebelled
at it, but John F. Lewis uoted for 1T. See
congressional Globe" April IA, 1871
The bill contained a provision that the
clause authorizing the suspension of hdbeas
corpus and the declaration of martial law
should not be in operation longer than the
end of ''the next regular session" of Con-
gress. A motion was made by Senator
Stewart to strike this proviso out and let
the suspension and declaration stand in
definitely, and Senator Lewis voted in IA
vor Of that motion !
Had Mr.. Lewis been the most transient
Senator that ever ''represen-
ted'' Southern State; had he been as ig-
norant of the peace that ever prevailed
within the borders of Virginia as Sena-
tor from Vermont. instead of having been
an eye witness of the quiet that prevailed
there, that vote could not have more effect
lively given his brother Senators the idea
that the war had not ended upon her side.
But Mr.. Lewis is thorough partizan and
his hatred of the Democracy justifies in
his sight any laws, even as absurdly barba-
rous, as at this day appear those he at
tempted in 1871 If his new party sends
him to the U. s. Senate he will again be
abreast of the foremost of those who hate
the Democracy and his own State, and hate
her people for being of that political faith.
Standing on the higher plane of civiliza-
ton Of 1881, men can only wonder at the
semi-barbarous laws of those days. and re-
gard with plying wonder the men that
them. But they will never trust
them with law-maklng again.
Brother Knowldtn's polygamy is of a
kind that even Mormons DO not approve.
He has wife in each of seven Utah towns,
so that in his travels he is provided with
con vAnient LODGINGS free of COST for he