New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-05-01
ENIT CHALMERS.

| Con gress should he eX-Confederate Brgadlcr
| General Chalmers, for his case is the most olien-
| sive of all. There has never been any disguise
| about the theft. 1t was deliberately planned
and deliberately executed three times, and
| thee times has General Chalmers taken possess
| sion of a seat in Congress to which he had no
| more moral right than h had to seat on the
| Supreme Bench. For two terms Democratic
| majority in Congress made his retention OF the
stolen seat not only possible, but i'll limited
sense respectable, for he became an active ana
vociferous member of the Democratic majority
| which defended and sustained him. But WIN
the advent OF a Republican majority his career
ends. and he will return to Mississippi
a thoroughly disgraced and desIlsed
man NOT only in the North, but also among all
| right thinking people of his own section. a
hr;of summary of the career of this typical
Southern seat-snatcher will not be uninstruc-
| tive at this time.
He was one Of the moving spirits in the re-
d empton of Mississippi by means of the we'll
known "Mississippi Plan" This method of
| suppressng the majority in State was IN
vented after the Ku Klux and other systems Of
reform by murder had become unpopular. The
| main feature of the Plan :" was buldozing by
| The negroes were terrified into staying away
| from the polls by what was known afterward
all through the South as a show Of force.
| Armed Democrats peryaded the State, rdlhS
| furiously through the negro settlements ana
dischargng their rifles into the ar. ii the ter
| rorizing was not complete enough to keep all
the negroes from the polls, the " Plan" had a
| second relian CO. which was TO have all the poll
ing places in charge of Democratic officials
who could be depended upon TO report Demo-
cratic majority no matter what the vote might
| he. When this Plan" had worked so well
that the Democrats gained possession of the
| State Government, they proceeded TO redlstrict
! the State in order to capture the Congressional
delegation also. All the heavy negro counties
along the river were put into one district
| which from its extreme length and nai1oWness
was at once dubbed the " Shoe string Dls-
| trict. 1t reaches from one end of the state to
| the other and its length in straight line IS
| $50 miles while to traverse it from end to end,
! following the course of the river, one would
| have TO go no less than 500 miles. The negro
majority in this district was fully 10000.
| General Chalmers was selected as the man to
try the effect of the "Plan upon this formid-
| able oppOs itiOn.
| He accepted the task and entered upon it with
great zeal. He mounted a cannon i'll wagon
and started on a tour of the district When
ever he reached place for holding meeting
he would have the gun discharged several
times as a preliminary flourish, causing such
terror among the negroes that they fled to the
swamps and remained till his departure. By
persistent use of the gun and its accolnpani-
| 4 1nl. a al I'm
series. he was able to wipe out the $4,000 Re
publican majority and go to Washington with
a certificate of election and 5000 Democratic
majority. This was in 1876. In 1878 he re-
heated the performance and increased his
majority to 5000 There was less cannon That
wear, because the less noisy system of counting
out was in full play, and 1t really made no
difference in the majority whether the
niggers voted or not. AT no time, however,
has il been denied that in both elections he
gained his seat by gross and palpable frauds.
In 1850 he tried the experiment for the third
time, but new obstacles had then arisen. The
| niggers had been acquiring wisdom from eX-
perience They could no longer be terrified by
q big gun, and they had learned to keep tally
at the polls which was very awkward when the
vote came to be counted and the figures re-
| vised In addition to this the Democratic con-
! science had begun to arouse itself III some OF
| the newspaper Offices, and belief was growing
in the State that Chalmers was overriding the
business The vote against him was not only
cast as usual but it was cast so plainly that 1t
| could not be got rid Of in the usual way. a
| audible was therefore invented for the occa-
sion, and a few thousand Republican votes were
| thrown out because they had an insignificant
| printer's dash on them, which Chalmers says
was violation OF the State law which declared
that ballots should bear no distinguishing
mark He found election officers and even
courts in Mississippi partisan enough to sustain
| this absurd plea, but the aOiest Democratic
nous and has not ceased to protest against 1t to
this day. The Republican Congress sustains
this view, and Chalmers departs from public
life probably forever
His seat has been taken by the man who occu-
pied it for two terms before the invention OF
the Mississippi Plan and occupied it with
credit to himself and honor to his race. He
was slave when the rebellion broke out, but
| at its close he sought and obtained educa-
ton, and his speech in the House on Thursday
is the best evidence of his fitness for his place.
He has a black face, but there is nothing black
in his record. He does not belong to the first
families of Mississippi, but in the light of
Chamers's career that can scarcely be consid-
| cred misfortune.
|
THE EXCISE LAWS.
\ lcro az hat lo 81 God