The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-27
n FIRST QUESTION,

tThe right to vote, accorded by the Consti-
tuition of the United States, is the concern of
the whole people, and must be secured at all
hazards, to every citizen, in every part of the
Republic. Existing guarantees must be
sacredly maintained, and additional ones pro-
vided, If necessary, that the equal enjoyment
of the suffrage shall not be abridged in any
way through the c~onnivance, neglect or fraud
of any OF the States of the Union
This plain, unequivocal declaration Of the
fundamental principle and factof American
citizenship and the danger to the country Of
its practical overthrow, at once started the
chorus, Tray, Blanche and Sweetheart, and all
the mongrels and ours everywhere, to yelping
'bloody shirt" in indignant unison. The
very frenzy with which the declaration is
greeted shows two things-its truth and it's
necessity. It is not the blank cartridge,
although it may make as much noise as a solid
means, and possibly the curses, of the wound
ed.
There is a necessity for the enunciation and
the reiteration Of this primeval truth in our
system of government. If the ballot can be
Systematically corrupted by fraud and force
anywhere, at any time, then there is no use
in talking about the future of the government,
for the government is practically at an end
the form cannot long be maintained when the
life has gone out Of it. That the right to
vote is not secure to every citizen of the Re
public is as notorious as that the sun is in the
heavens. The country has the strongest
proof Of the fact. Even the Democratic adj
ministration, itself reared and founded upon
"a bloody violation" Of the suffrage, has been
compelled to acknowledge the crime by which
it was called into existence. When J. L.
Meade was appointed postmaster at Halle
hurst, Miss, where Prent Matthews was killed
because he was a Republican, public sentiment
was so aroused that President Cleveland was
forced to respect il, and suspend him from the
Office. Mr.. Meade's offense was that
he had connived at and consented
to violence and murder in order
to make sure of Democratic electoral
votes. The suspension of Mr.. Meade, the
Hazlehurst paper declared, was "the indict-
ment of a community" yet Mr.. Cleveland was
compelled to suspend him, and, by that act,
give the highest official sanction to all tha&
had been urged against the appointment as a
scandal and outrage. The inconsistency of
the suspension is evident. If Mr.. Meade is
not entitled to a village postofice because he
was particeps criminis in a political murder,
by how much greater token is Mr.. Cleveland
u~njustly in the high office of President, the
electoral votes which placed him there being
VIGOROUSLY the fruit of a genera, policy in
several Southern States of which the Halle
hurst affair was but a local incident9 Says
the Lexington Miss Advertiser, in respect
to this matter:
q. L. Meade, recently appointed postmas-
ter at Hazlehurst, has been asked to resign, it
having come to the knowledge of the mug
wump administration that he was chairman of
the Democratic executive committee Of Co.
piah county during the Matthews troubles,
and took an active part in freeing his county
from the curse of radicalism. If such men
are disqualified from public service under a
Democratic administration, Mr.. Cleveland will
have to look elsewhere than in the Democratic
party in the South for men to fill the Offices"
The State Of Florida is soon to have a new
Constitution. An amendment to the present
organic law is necessary that will practically
disfranchise the negro. The purpose of the
call for a new Constitution was made public
in a speech delivered by Colonel Long, at
Tallahassee, a Democratic ~elector, one of the
men who voted for Cleveland and Hendricks,
and who is, therefore, a representative Demo
crat. He said for the benefit of the colored
people who heard him:
1--WE are going to have a constitutional con-
vention in less than eight months; that con-
vention will be controlled by white men; no
one but white men will be allowed to vote
there; the angel Gabriel himself would not be
allowed to vote; and don't you forget that the
status Of the niger as a factor in the politics
of this State will then be fixed. y /
mean what / say, and / can tell you that the
Democratic majority in this State is going to
be a bad thing to tread upon, especially when
the horns are sticking up; and another thing
| can tell you is, that the Democratic majority
in this State is no longer a butt-headed insti-
tuition. 1t now has horns, and you had bet
ter not fool with it. There has never been
but one serious conflict in this State between
the white man and the niger; that occurred
in this county, and then we had barbecued
niger. | don't want you to see a recurrence
OF this, but don't you forget that we are not
going to see this government go into the hands
of anybody who promised you half of the
Offices"
This extract should be read carefully and