National Republican., 1882-08-28
The Mississippi Ballot-Box Suffers
aud Their Friends.

THE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN perfectly
understood the Washington Post in re-
gard to the Mississippi Bourbon indorse-
ment of the recently convicted ballot
box suffers. The Post did in terms con-
dcmn the ballot-box stuiling, and then
took the part of its defenders. There
was public demonstration, heartily par
ticipated in generally by the Democracy,
TO raise money to pay the fines of the
convicted offenders, and to give express
sion to the high estimate put upon their
noble conduct in committing the crime.
We made mention of this. The Post re-
piled just as all good Bourbons do, viz :;
that election frauds are very wrong, but
that those who perpetrate them are not
to be deprived of public ovations, and
that when ballot-box suffers are found
guilty and fined, a community making
heroes of them may escape censure
on the ground that it is composed
of "young men and maidens" or "boys
and girls" This Endorsement by the
Post of the indorsers of the crimes it af-
feCted to condemn was noticed by The
REPUBLICAN, whereupon that journal
seeks to eyade the issue by an allusion
to General Chalmers's candidacy. Well,
we are for General Chalmers's election
against his Bourbon opponent When
he came with certificate to which we
thought the evidence showed he was not
entitled we were in favor of having him
unseated. How does that estop us from
| 1icnt,SSi,,r, Il tln ,,ntiGpo Iinn nf h,,1lAt hAN
stuffing by the Democracy of county in
Mississippi, or the defense of that ratifi-
cation by the PoS,P But the Post, in its
anxiety to cxtricatc itself from its first
blunder, gets deeper into the mire. In
reply to our charge thai Il defended the
supporters of ballot-stuiling, it says:
But suppose that "public demonstration" was
very Objectionable, what are you going to do
about it?
So asked that distinguished leader,
William NJ. Tweed, on a historic occa-
sion. Something will surely be dono
"about it" sooner or later. Tweed and
his followers were for long time the
masters of public demonstrations in New
York. Their fall came through an
| DupllG uiSSuSO
acih avlat had long been tolerated. And so
it will be in the not distant future in
Mississippi. Says the Post, concerning this
infamous public Endorsement of the pra =
tice of ballot-box stufling in Mississippi
Did the boys and girls violate any law of the
land? Is there any law Of Congress, or of any
other proper law making body, that prohibits the
shooting of glass balls, the singing of songs, the
contribution OF money to pay hues?
And would not any member of Congress be
laughed at rs II simpletOn from Maine to Texas
from florida to Oregon, if, acting on the advice
of our ncghbor, lie should rise in his place and
call the attention of Congress and the country to
that "public demonstration" where n number OF
young people exercised their vocal gilt', and theii
skill with the gun, in order TO help their comrades
ont of bad scrapc?
"The boys and girls" did not violate
any law when the Democratic portion oi
a county apologized to criminals for the
liberty taken with them by court oi
justice in imposing penalty for theil
crime. The Democratic party merely
said to the representatives of the law
Whenever you strike a ballot-box
suffer you strike us. Any fine you i'm
pose on these worthy law-breakers will
come out of our pockets, and not theirs
We vicariously stuffed those ballot-boxeS
and we will pay the shot" OF course nc
law was violated by the "boys and girls
AS to any member of Congress being
"laughed at as a simpleton" who may
hereafter call attention to the playful
conduct of the Mississippi Democracy on
the occasion referred to, that goes with.
out saying. "From Maine to Texas, from
Florida to Oregon" there would doubtless
be great hlarity among that portion of the
people who think that this country ought
to be ruled through the stufting of ballot.
boxes if it is only approved by the fes.
tive "young men and maidens," "boys
and girls" in the enlightened and pro-
gressive State of Mississippi. But to the
Post and its merry friends we may be al
lowed to say that this, Though it make
the unskillful laugh, cannot but make
the judicious grieve, the censure Of which
one must, in your allowance, oerweigh
a whole theater of others" The Posts
party might find its mirth dearly bought
in the numbers of Democrats, North ant
South, who would refuse to join in it, Of
continue to act with a party SO bold il
its defiance of the rights of voters and o
the most ordinary obligations on whicl
our civilization is founded.