Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-10-02
This Is Revolution.

In the unseating of Congressman Ell
lott of South Carolina on Tuesday, the
reckless majority in the House of Rep
| resentatives struck another blow at the
| right of election by the people" which
Governor Hill described on that same
day as the bulwark of our liberties,
peculiarly Distinguishing republic from
q monarchy.
The leading Republican newspaper.
the NeW York Tribune, treats the ar
bitrary reversal of the vote in the Sew
enth district of South Carolina as a
pretty good joke on the Democrats.
line Republicans mustered quo
rum yesterday" remarks our chuck
ling contemporary, land not only dis
posed of the LaDgston-Venable case.
but also took up the Miller Elliott case
and dectded that before the Democrats
hdd a chance to recover from their
snrDrise."
The Tribune Almanac for 1889 con-
tains this record of the vote in the
Seventh district of South Carolina:
Rep: Dem: Ind. Rep.
VH.............7,"03 S,35s y. IA
Under what circumstances was this
plurality of more than thirteen hun
dred votes swept away, the election i'm
the district nullified, the honest verdict
OF tfI6 citizens reversed, and tie re gu-s
Il certificate of election torn to pieces
in order that there might be one Dem
ocratic vote in Congress the less and
one Republican vote the more?
Marat screaming for the name Of an
other innocent victim was not wilder
than the Republican majority after the
"disposap of the Langston-Venable
case. The scene is described In the
Trithaa9tc Noohfnnfnn
There came chorus from the Repub-
lican side: "Call up another case!u
Mr.. Rowell of Illinois called up the
South Carolina case of Miller against
Elliott. O'Ferral of Virginia raised
the question of consideration. On q
UiUd Uoce vote the speaker stated that
the House had determined to consider
the election case. The point OF no
quorum was raised, and the Speaker
declined to entertain it. The previous
question was ordered, and In spite of
protest from a Republican memb ber from
Iowa that some reason for unseating
Elliott and seating Miller Shouts be
given, the resolution reversing the vote
OF the Seventh district was adopted
without division.
The brutal business can hardly have
occupied three minutes. In that time
law, right, and precedent were tramp
led under foot, as Governor Hill puts it,
in order that the slender majority of
Republicans might be increased. The
plurality of 300 votes by which FL
lott held his seat was shouted down
20 less than nothing, without even the
formality of a division of the House.
The pretext for the abominable deed
las not even stated for the information
OF members like Kerr of Iowa, whose
remnants of p plitical conscience were
disposed to haggle over the infamous
transaction. There was no discussion,
no weighing of evidence, no opportun-
ity for the victim to defend his rights.
Mr.. Elliott entered the House soon AZ
terward to find that the shouts of a
mob had deprived him of the office to
which he had been honestly elected by
the ballots of his constituents.
This is the United States of America
toward the latter end of the nineteenth
century. 1t is not politics, it is revolu-
tion. There would seem to De only one
step further to be taken by the assail-
ants of the right of election, the main
bulwark OF our liberties; and that is
the final outrage which shall bring
armed troops on to the floor of Con-
gress and point the way the bayonets
shall turn and the bullets speed.-Ne,D
York San.