National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-01-31

resented by Colonel Van Ii. Manning at
least two thousand five hundred legal
voters were in this manner disfranchised
Numerous pleas of gully were entered
in cases of ballot-box stufing, ejecting
United States supervisors from the poll
ing places, &c, and, as hitherto stated
by us, these defendants were subjected
only to the payment of a nominal fine
and costs, and to fatherly lecture by the
court.
Many other cases were continued on
motion of defendants, doubtless in the
hope of being tried by jury not COM
posed of the best and most representa-
tive citizens"
After all, those who were convicted
and escaped the United States court with
so light penalty are, perhaps, entitled to
sympathy, for it is more than likely that
they are themselves disfranchised and
disqualified from holding Office by the
laws of their own State, and what more
pitiable object could be imagined than
an average Mississippi bull-dozing Demo
crat deprived of the right to count him.
self into an office?
The new Mississippi code prescribes
the penalty of disfranchisement and dis
qualification for those convicted of such
crimes. We are not prepared to express
an opinion ON the legal question involved,
but the culprits are cursing their attor-
neys for not warning them of the
breaker ahead before pleas of guilty
were entered. Hon. Green c. Chandler,
United States District-Attorney, is, we are
advised, entitled to much credit for the
vigorous and able manner in which he
has prosecuted these cases.
Colonel George NJ. Buchanan, himself
an ex-confederate soldier, the Republican
nominee for Congress in Colonel Man.
nings district, is taking testimony with a
view of ofcontestingth seat of Colonel Man
ming i'll the next Congress, and, notwith-
standing the many difficulties with which
he haste contend, is progressing i'll highly
satisfactory manner. He reports that the
Democrats tamper with his witnesses, and
by organizing themselves into mobs,
when he is advertised to take testimony,
sometimes succeed in running them off
altogether
1t will be one of the very first duties of
the next Congress to thoroughly investi-
gate this and similar cases, and to see
that resort to such illegal and out
rageous methods does not profit those
who set the laws at defiance or those who
seek to be the beneficiaries of such ne
farious practices.
The New Judge-Advocate-Ge
A loyal Southern officer in the late war
contributes to the Cincinnati Commercial
an interesting sketch of Major d. G..
Swain, who has recently been nominated
Judge-Advocate-General, rice General
Dunn, resigned. We premise some ex-
tracts by saying that Major Swain is the
very near personal friend of General Gar
field, and perhaps enjoys the confidence of
that gentleman in greater degree than
any other man. He is an able, independ-
ent, and earnest Republican, and gen.
uine, manly, and agreeable gentleman.
He will be an accession to the Capital,
and will readily take his place as favor
ite among its best people. Following is
an extract from the sketch referred to:
Major Swain is a native of Columbana County
Ohio, and is at this time about fOrtysix years of
age. He is a stOut-built man, about five feet six
inches i'll height, with hair that once was nearly
bIItn moi hat Wit,
eyes are the darkest of hazel-not very large, but
full of expression. never saw a man with so
eyenly-baanced a mind and temper who ex-
pressed so much in his eyes; JOY, sorrow, anger,
good humor, are all shown clearly in them from
time TO time the case may be. The other features
of his face not variable but they are equally
good.
The smoke of the first gun fired upon our flag
had hardly cleared away before Swain entered
the service, and from that time until the autumn
of 1866 he was continuously in the discharge of
military duty in behalf of the United States Gov
ernment His military history is without a blot,
and covers some of the most important and valua-
BILE work of the war, both in the field and at the
headquarters of the various generals with whom
he served, among whom may be mentioned Rose
Grams, Pope, Dodge, and Howard The Army Register
shows that he was appointed second lieutenant
Sixty fifth Ohio Volunteers, October 4, 1851 first
lieutenant same regiment NoYember4 1851; cap
tain and assistant acknowledgement, May 16. 1862;
major and assistant adjutant-general, February Z,
1865; Geutenantcolonel and colonel by breyet,
March Is, 1865, " for faithful and mertorious SER
vices during the war;" second lieutenant Thirty
fourth Regular Infantry, February 2S, 1867 brevet
first lieutenant, captain and major in the regular
army March ., 1867 '' for gallant and meritorious
services during the war" Appointed major and
judge advocate in the regular army December9 9,
1869. After being confirmed by the Senate
in 1870, Major Swain assigned to
duty on the staff of Major-General Pope, command
ing the Department of the Missouri, with head
quarters at Fort LeavenWorth, where he has been
continuously on duty ever since and 1 will ven-
ture the assertion that there is not officer in the
army to-day whose record shows more ability, or
closer attention to the details of duty in every par
ticular than that of Major Swain. Always care
full COOL and watchful, nothing is ever left by him
undone. a more consistent man in all his actions
never lived. You always know exactly where to
find him. He is kind-hearted but has none of
that maudlin, Sickly sort of kindness that over
shoots the mark, and leaves the sad result of an
injury to those dependent upon him.
A writer in the Lawrence (Kansas)
Journal says of Major Swain:
He is brave man. of remarkable selEcommand
and sound Judgment, prudent and sagacious, with
almost supernatural insight into human nature
and the motives that prompt and control the
actions of men, however cunningly concealed. He
instinctively reads men correctly they approach
or pass before him, and it is almost impossible to
deceive him by any kind of adroit maneuvre in
business. He has considerable fortune, and is
singularly free from eager and consuming ambi-
ton. As an intimate friend and confidential coun-
sellor he will be invaluable to President Garfield
and will have ample opportunity to render impOr-
tant services to the Republican party and to the
to both of which he is most Loyalty at
tached.
CANNOT some relief be given to suffer-
ing public from the system which pre-
walls at our CITY post-office and elsewhere