The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1900-03-23

once the right OF the people to cleo
and the duty Of the executive to APP
point. Under the same law 1t hs:
usurped some of the most important
functions of the Judicial department
by establishing hundred and twenty
tribunals filled with its own creatures,
not only claiming, but one of which
has just exercised the power Of dis
franchising more than quarter OF a
million people, and by this highest OF
judicial acts, has reversed the vote oil
the whole people of the State.
By its own action and that of Its
creatures it claims the right under
the most iallacious pretexts to defeat
the will of the people pronounced at
the polls. and to choose executive
officers who may prove entirely con-
formable to their will. By the actions
OF its creatures on the election boards
1t possesses the power to override the
election OF any judicial officer who
may not be pledged to sustain, on the
bench, any usuipation or inroad it
may hereafter make on the rights OF
the people. 1t has just enacted a law
sppropriating a hundred thousand
dollars OF the peoples money to be
dispensed by its creatures to inform
ers, and under the operations of
which the life Of no citizen Is safe
against perjured testimony, which
may be bought with such a corrup-
ton fund to sustain any theory of a
plot that may be suggested. Thus,
the legislative body is fast becoming,
If 1t has not already become, an abso
Lutte power, absorbing every function
OF government, endangering the prop.
erty, the liberty, and even the lives
OF every citizen in the State. II Judge
Lewis will calmly view the political sit
ution as it stands today, the distrust be-
tween parties and individuals, the de
preston in business, the usurpation
Of power, the prevailing anarchy-all
direct results of the operations of this
election law-he must concede that
there was In 1t something more than
the mere changing of the mode of ap-
pointing election officers, as he con-
tended in his letter. It Is, in fact, as
has been shown, a revolution in the
whole structure of our government
and the absorption of nearly all its
powers by a single department. If
there ever existed among a people the
right to resist encroachments on their
liberties, that right exists In Ken
lucky today. If the people do not eyer.
else it, it Is because they have learned
from their ancestors the lesson of pa
thence, and that the public peace
should not be imperiled while there
is chance for peaceful solution OF
of the important questions involved.
A TRIBUTE TO JUDGE LEWIS.
A far less provocation to resistance
to tyranny than Is offerediu Kentucky
today melted the active intervention
OF Judge Lewis nearly forty years ago.
Our rights,as he thought. were threat
ened. He did not then wait for the
blow to fall in Its full force. But ap
pealing to what was noblest in his
manly nature he resisted during four
years, the assaults of his rights as a
freeman, and evinced his fidelity to
the principles Of civil liberty by a
courage, fortitude and a personal
gallantry that has not been surpassed.
He is the last man who should now
abandon the cause OF the people.
Judge Lewis apology for this cleo.
ton law is my excuse for having iu>
flicted these letters on you. An an
alysis OF its features and an observa-
tion of its workings shows it to have
been most hurtful to society. 1t was
conceived in wroug-denying at the
outset the equality OF citizens before
the law. The application of Its prin>
ciples In the June convention showed
that no moral law was binds
ing, if 1t stood in the way of material
success.
Its subsequent evolution showed
that II the forms of law were followed
it was only as spacious means OF
consumating meditated wrong, but
that the law itself must be set aside.
II necessary, to accomplish its pur.
pose. It's tendency was to repress all
that is virtuous in political life, and
to appeal to only what Is most low,
most Rioveling and most sordid in
our natures. II was especially ops
posed to the basic principles Of De
mocracy, which has htretof re stood
asthe champion OF the people. This law
antagonized this principle and taught
that political honors were obtained
from the confidence OF an intelligent
people, but from a hierarchy of off.
Gals, each surrounded by faithful
vassals, everyone completely subser>
Went to the grade above him, and all
united in common purpose to mlin-
tain their official existence. II necessa.
ry, of the liberties OF the people. Its in.
Fiction upon the people was the direst
calamity. II 1t prove not fatal in It's
effects 1t will be because there is yet
left to the people spirit OF patriots
ism which will enable them to break
the chains with which it is sought to
manacle them But if the spirit OF
liberty has indeed ceased to animate
our souls, let us no longer boast OF
the manhood OF Kentuckiaus. But
concediug that the previous legacy
bequeathed by our forefathers has
been carelessly cast away by their
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