The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1889-03-02
Clifton R. Breckinridge's Lonesome
and Awful Position.

self Out.lawed and triendless in his
own State. While he still shows no
evidence of y troubled conscience or
ofany anxiety for the capture of the
assassins of his competitor, the peo-
pie and newspapers of Arkansas. to a
cOmmendabIe degree, show that they
realize the terrible significance of
such political murder and that so
long as it is unpublished the whole
State will suffer-morally, politically
and materially - from the cOnse-
quences of the justly enraged public
sentiment of the country.
The fact that four Democratic
members of the Arkansas Legisla-
ture have decided to resign because
they are convinced that their certifi-
Gates of election were due to frauds
and the stealing of ballot boxes, is a
fresh and fearful condemnation of
Mr., Breckinridge's moral torpor and
incapacity to realize the disgrace and
herror of his own situation. Stimuli.
taneously we get from that intensely
Southern Democratic newspaper, the
81. Louis Republic, the most vigor-
Gus admoDition to the people of Ar
kansas, and from the Democratic
Little Rock Gazette the evidence
that these admOnitiOns were not
needed. 1.-THE present duty of the
citizens of Arkansas" says the Re.
public, "without regard to party, is
to leave the discussion of politics
severely alone in connection with this
ease and to join in bringing to bear
on Sheriff Shelby. of Conway county.
pressure of public opinion that will
nerve him up to his duty without re.
gard to any danger he may incur in
Plummeryille in doing it,"
The Little Rock Gazette brings the
good news that "there is little doubt
from the facts that have come to light
within the last few days, that,the
assassins of Col. John M. Clayton are
known. and that before long they
will be in the clutches of the law"
1t seems that after the arrest OF
certain citizens of Conway county for
unlawful interference with Federal
election Overtures were made to the
Republican State Committee for a
compromise involving the Withdraw.
al of an offer of 81 900 for the arrest
of certain baIlot-box thieves and the
letting Off of five arrested person s,
and the disclosure of frauds whose
discovery would help Col. Clayton.
1u the course of the negotiations one
OF the representatives of the guilty
parties said that the agreement would
ave Clayton's life. But the agree
ment was not completed and there is
strong circumstantial evidence that
the assassination was due to the fail
ure of the negotiation. The Little
Rock paper comes to the conclusion
that "it cannot be long until the good
name of Cor way will be vindicat ted
by the swift punishment of the assas-
sins and of the men who stole the
ballot boxes on the night of Novem,
Der g."
This is good news for Arkansas and
for good citizens everywhere. Hold
ing, however, the false and fatal po-
sitIon that he still does, it is bad news
for Clinton R. Breckenridge and for
the cOnsDirators who set out to cap.
ture The next House for the Solid
South by frauds, intimidation and
violence. Breckenridge is the tool
and victim of far stronger and worse
men. He lost the chance to extricate
himself from the terrible position in
which he was placed by the assassi.
nation of his competitor by resigniDg
seat stained with blood and certlf.
icate obtained largely by the frauds
that were undoubtedly committed by
the murderers of Clayton.
And. while the people.of Arkansas
haye realized that this political muir.
der was calamity to the State, a
foul blot on its history and a dire
menace to its future growth and
prosperity. what evidence has been
given by the extreme Southern lead.
ers In Congress that they regard the
assassination as anything more or
worse than political bad luck ?
1.-The blood of the martyrs is the
seed of the church," is an old and
sacred truth, capable of extension to
political martyrs. The blood of Clay.
ton will be the seed of true Republic.
canism in Arkansas and in the adj.
joining regions. All the circum-
stances of his assassination were such
as to make his blood "cry from the
ground for vengeance" to reach the
better nature and better sense of the
people that feel most the shame OF
such tragedy, and to open the eyes
of good men, in all sections, to the