Daily Republican., 1882-05-02
Ihe Asss ssment Laws.

The Asss ssmena Laws.
The Gazette in its young and fer.
zeal to show its devotion to the Demo.
cratic party could not have chosen &
subjec which would more plainly in
dicate its tender cies to defence CT
Bourbonism than its defence of the as.
sess ment laws OF Delaware. Our young
friends who have assumed the manage.
ment of the organ of the Democratic
party would have earned more real
respect and eomrlendat;on from the
party they seek to serv if they had de.
nounced in nilnmeasured terms scheme
which IRON the first was only intended
to cheat Republicans out Of their votes.
The gloss and tinsel thrown around the
infamous laws will not serve the pur
pose intended-will not shield the real
intent of the trainers Of the assessment
laws-cannot cover their guilty design.
1t is strange, very strange that the
Democratic party that had beer in pow.
er In the state principally for thirty
years before the passage of the new as
sessm. mt Ia VS. found no need of change
until after the negro was entranchised,
and if colored voters had only voted the
Democratic ticket instead of the Re-
publican ticket we would be entirely
safe in saying, that no change would
yet have been made. How strange il
is that the Democratic party always on
the altr and SO apt to see anything
which works to its disadvantage, never
discov cred until 1873 that the ASSESS !
ment laws were cumbersome, oppres-
sive, lard to execute, and somewhat |
partisan. The truth is, that up to thai
time the assessors assessed because thes
law required it, and collectors collected |
because the State needed and had TO !
have revenue. When the barriers of !
prejudice were broken down and col |
oreC men were acknowledged men en-
titled 10 all the rights of other men, in.
GLIDING the right of franchise, the
Democratic party of the State saw that
they would be Cverw nelmed with an
avalanche of new Republican voters,
and it was then that they found that
sometl ing had to be done or their pow
er in the State would pass from them.
In this emergency Chancellor Sauls-
bury then Senator conceived the bril- {
liant idea of the white mans party. The
retin" "e editor of the Gazette, knows
all about tha,t,. for he was strenuous
of the white mau'I party
rimid Republicans who d9uptea 'ne
axpediency of granting the riesnt o.
franchise to colored men went over LN
hundreds into the Democratic party l.
where many of them still remain. An tt
the antipathy of the old b
Bourbon dynasty Congress passed laws1
with fines and other per.al.f
lies those who would hinder the col ~
ned men or discriminate agair.st him N
q any unlawful manner. 1t wSs at 1t
his time that Mr.. Given was Convicted .
lnder 1hese laws on charge of not
,sing dae diligence In tie collection of Il
taxes rom coored people. The law, as
The Gazette says, then compelled the V
uollec.c to call upon every taxable for y
his taxes, and the Levy Court refused Y
to accept as errors any except those re il
turned rs dead or removed away. 4
1t was found that something else be- Al
sides the cry of "white mans party"
had 10 be used to preserve Democratic
and in 1878 the Democratic Il
party then in power in the Legislature =
passed our present iniquitous assess d
ment laws. The design of these laws u
s apparent on the face of them. The II
man no drew tie original text of the r.
'ill is still living and active in the
Democratic party though previously =;
he had been Republican Federal of. tt
Ice holder. He drew it for the purpose o. o.
If preventing the assessment of colored G
men. and he was considerably cha. ss
grined when the Legislature in some de- u
gree modified his bill There are pleu- h h
" of honest Democrats who under $,
tand why the present assessment aws ti
we're passed as we'll as Republicans do, u u
md they will be somewhat surprised t(
% find the newly rejuvenated Demo- E
ratio crgan on the first day of its is u u
ue come out in defence of law which r
very Intelligent voter in the State s,
knows was intended to cheat Republi- II
ans out of their votes. -
.HANLA N HAS scored another victory II
and without doubt is the champion ii
arsman of the world. 1t was EXPECT
I'd THAI Trickest would have given him
hard pnsh yesterday, butit seemed a
nothing more than child play for Han VI