New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-03-29
ANGRY TRAITORS.

1t does not appear satisfactory to Carolina
Bourbons that notification is resisted. Long
AGO South Carolina cultivated the same feeling
OF resistance to law, and it has proved the
least profitable crop ever grown on the soil OF
that State. President Jackson checked the
first manifestation of that feeling. Then, as
now. Bourbons were in the habit of declaring
that treason consisted only in levying war
against the United States, and that nullifers
were not traitors. Had President Jackson
hanged few of them, the disloyal growth
might have been arrested. Instead, it was per-
mitted TO i've and Fort Sumter was bonn
barded. Carolina was gashed and torn by civil
war, and suffered afterward from exhaustion
and impoverishment. Nevertheless, the deadly
weed which has cursed the soil of that State
has not been rooted out, and the attempt to
pullify laws of the United States respecting
suffrage has been repeated almost every year
since reconstruction began, in one form or an
other
The BOurb0ns of Carolina are unhappy at
present, because the Attorney General has di-
rected that crimes against the suffrage laws
shall be treated as practical treason. This is
not strange. The Charleston NewS and Courier,
in a crazy TRADE on the subject treats the un-
denied and undeniable crime perpetrated by
Democrats of that State as a minor offence.
Frauds occur it says, in Philadelphia. They
have been known in Brooklyn. Frauds in
South Carolina are not more culpable. But
this plea is refuted by the very same article in
which it is made. For therein The NeWS and
Courier says:
Why does not Mr. Brewster strike higher. If there
any citizens IN South Carolina higher than the sturdy
yeornanry OF the State There IA the State Executive
Committee of the Democratic party. In every county
there Is likewise Executive Committee of the party
The members Of these committees are as innocent OF as
guilty the citizens who have been picked out Nay
wrong has been done anywhere In South Carolina in the
determination keep the Government pure and respect
able for whites and blacks alike the whole OF the white
people are responsible What done for u.s. and in our
name is done by The of the accused Democrats
is the cause of the white people of South Carolina.
The people of Philadelphia do not justify
frauds nor defend them. The people of
Brooklyn do not organize such an elaborate
conspiracy to defeat the laws that it can be
said, "The crime is the crime Of the white
people of Brooklyn" On the contrary, where
frauds are perpetrated in Northern States or
cities, 1t is against the will and influence, and
meets the unqualified condemnation, of the
publican, no Democratic politician could hold
up his head for a week in any city or State of
the North, justifying such crimes as have been
perpetrated in South Carolina. But there, rs
The Necs and Courier asserts, the crime was
committed by the State Executive Committee
of the Democratic party; it was committed
with the knowledge and support of the white
Democrats of that State; and it is to this day
excused by men otherwise respectable, and
openly justified by public journals, on the
ground that it was necessary" in order 70
secure the Government of the State for the
white people. Precisely here is the distinction.
A crime perpetrated by isolated and irresponsi-
bic individuals deserves punishment, indeed,
but does not menace the supremacy Of law and
the existence of free government. A con-
spiracy of a large part of the people to resist,
defy, nullify and defeat the laws OF the United
States which provide for free and honest cleo
tions is a very different matter. 1t Uses to the
stature of rebellion against the supremacy of
the Union. 1t is, in reality, the most danger
GUS and wicked form OF practical treason.
South Carolina Bourbons may as well under