The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-02-24
= > = :. : > = y
Standing sy their Friends.

tion to high office, in the last cam paign,
loosened his pent-up emotions in the
exclamatiOn: Course a man who won t
stand by his friends.' has imitators in
South Carolina. But they carry friend
ship further in South Carolina than in
Connecticut. Down there they are
ready to stand by friends not only be-
fore election but after: not only when
friends come offering honors, but when
they come in the Sherif's custody,
seeking sympathy and bail. The case
that calls for |" standing by'' in South
Carolina is this Some three or four
hundred Of the most active and efficient
Democrats in that State-Democrats
who were not meanly content with dis
charging the simple letter of duty By
voting once, but whose ambition it was
to make one vote of high-toned white
Democrat go as far as four or five ordi-
nary black Republicans. and who Ia
bored to that 'end-have been arrested,
and are to be tried before the United
States Circuit Court for what are called,
and no doubt technically are, violations
of the Election laws. This is case in
which standing by counts for some
thing. These men need it more than
the fellows who drag q man into ac-
cepting . nomination he does not want,
and that is sure to entail defeat, need
champagne. For in the view of their
acknowledgements they are the victims
OF oppressionNpersecuted for right
eOusnesS' sake.
The action proposed by. the Charles
ton NeUs, the leading Democratic or
held Objectionable in law-abiding COM
munities-c cannot but excite the ad-
miration of law-breakers who hold to
the fine old maxim of honor. among
thieves, and appreciate the necessity
cessories and benefciaries in, crime
standing by each. other, - 1t is imma-
terial,'' says the Charleston paper,
whether the accused are innocent or
guilty." A higher or bolder stand than
this could hardly be taken. 1.-The
white people with their eolored allies,n
it goes on to say, ''were determined
that the victories of 1876 and 1873
should be repeated and made complete.
This was the cry everywhere, and what
was called for was dOne.1'7 That is to
say, '.the cry everywhere''-int the Dem
ocratic party, of course; it will hardly
be pretended that any body outside that
party was demanding repetition of the
"victories of 1876 and 1878'-was that
the principles upon which alone popu-
lar government can survive should be
trodden under foot, the law disregarded
and openly violated, and a voice OF a
majority Of the legal voters stiiled. No
other construction is possible And
/" what was called for'r' these three or
four hundred accused persons did. This
is their offense, and this is what the
Democrats Of South Carolina propose to
stand by them in, and Justify them for
DOING ~art -1iis;7stal;-Ea7, s{:s9siI
e. ..It would be unutterably base" con-
tinues this courageous defender of
crime, Ito deny to those who are in
danger, in consequence of public de-
mands and personal expecrations. our
encouragement, our support, and any
sort of succor that is needed" Here
we have not only the essence of chival-
ry-the chivalry that demands and ex-
poets the commission of crime and
prides itself upon not deserting the
creatures who do its bidding-but a
frank avowal as well of the .pith and
substance of Democratic doctrine. The
doctrine of Democracy is that the party
must carry elections; no matter by
what means, they must be carried.
Here at the North, where they have
time and again used the same methods,
though not perhaps to the same extent,
there has been less willingness to stand
up and defend them publicly. The
party has reaped the benefits of crimes
of this sort, but always shirked the
consequences. In South Carolina, they
do differently. There they openly as
sert the right of the minority to rule
and boldly defend the lawlessness by
which their purpose is accomplished.
Says this Democratic organ, after
avowing that lit is immaterial whether
the accused are innocent or guilty.
1.-The cause of the accused Democrats
must be the cause of the white people
of South Carolina whatever comes of
it." By ''white people of South Caro-
lima" is meant, of course, the Demo-
cratic party of that State. 49,
Here now is the very essence of frank
ness. The meaning is not attempted
to be clouded or disguised. 1t is not
necessary to read between the lines to
find it. There may have beer a ques-
North, whether elections in South Caro-
lima were actually such burlesque and
fraud as they have, been represented.
these utterances of the leading Demo-
cratic organ in the StateP The cry
everywhere" was for Democratic
victory, "and what was called for was
DONE" These persons have been ar
rested for doing it. 'No matter" says
the Ne,0s, whether they are innocent
or guilty; we must stand by them, for
their cause is ours" Could lawlessness
be more brazen, or defiance more au-
daciousP 1t will be well to bear this
circumstance in mind. There will
be use for it hereafter. For although
we may not concern ourselves
with the frauds and outrages by
which a minority control the State OF
South Carolina, or may dismiss it with
the reflection that q majority that cam
not assert itself deserves no sympathy,
there is another point of view from
which the action of South Carolina does
concern the whole people. Two ,Sena-
tors from South Carolina give a minor
ity party the majority in the Senate;
and it is quite possible for that State to
decide the political complexion of Con-
cress and even elect the President. 1t
does concern the whole people then,
and directly concern them, when
State is carried bv violence and fraud,
and the party profitine thereby openly
encourages and defends it.. The South
Carolina Democracy are not only claim
ing the right TO overrule majority in
their own State, but the right to give a
minority the control of Congress an,
the country. 1t is Tot new thing 70
them. But it has not worked we,
heretofore, and will not now.-M =
Tribune. .,.. "a. v--,;,..- 80 --..-.71
D6rIt does not take a clever MAJ
long to grow up with the country if he
settles in one of the new States of the
West. Only ten years ago General
Charles H. Van Wyck was sitting in