Year: 1874

forting presence Of SO many brigadiers in
command" in that State as an assurance
that there would not be war. Where there is
abundance of brigadiers we are certain Of
peace. The claimants of the Governorship,
Messrs. Baxter and Brooks, show their pacific
intentions by sending us the statements which
we print elsewhere. We understand that these
gentlemen mean to press their case to o high ju-
dicial decision But in the meantime they seek
the supreme tribunal, that of public opinion;
and, recognizing in the HERALD court of the
highest jurisdiction as a court Of public
opinion they come before us this morning
all the way by telegraph-and ask to be heard.
This is . most sensible proceeding, and we
gladly give their argument, and shall now
proceed as carefully and impartially as pos
sible to state it and to give the impressions it
makes upon u.s.


Joseph Brooks one of the claimants assures
us that in the first place he was chosen Gov
ernor Of Arkansas by fair and sufficient ma
jority. This majority was lily used When
the returns indicating the vote were read in
the Legislature three counties we're thrown
out These counties had given him large ma
jorities, which were not carried to his credit
in estimating the votes. More than all, there
were other counties where the majority
in his favor was fair and sufficient,
but rascally county clerks and other
wicked officers changed the returns and made
the result appear in favor of Baxter. So
shameless was this action that in one county
alone the majority was changed from sixty
voters to three hundred majority in Baxter's
favor As if these manifold villanies were
insufficient TO seat Baxter firmly on his throne,
that officer took the astounding step of actually
purchasing the Legislature. Like Macbeth,
he was evidently resolved to be in con-
casing air. The Legislature was actually
purchased" and was so emphatically


owned by Baxter that an honest man would
run the risk Of asphyxia within its fetid and
unwholesome walls. Brooks incurred no such
risk. Nor did he even seek '.justice" in the
courts. He was content to await and bide his
time But his friends were now jealous, and
SO they went into the courts. Here Baxter
did not dare to follow him, and
so conclusive was the evidence that
Brooks procured . decision in his favor.
So justified he quietly took the oath of
Office and assumed the duties Of sGovernor."
Mr.. Brooks gives us many legal reasons
for these proceedings, and assures us that
there is nothing like writ of quo ,oarranto to
give an honest but badly cheated Governor
his dues. Our New York lawyers, he is GER
tain, will confirm him in this opinion. But
this is not great DEAL as we have New York
lawyers who would confirm any opinion. BY
the courts he has risen and by them he is
willing to fall. In the meantime he
will hold on to his authority He
gives us the practical information that
Baxter has no money; that he has it
all himself, and that the State Treasurer and
Auditor win not pay Baxter draft. Baxter
already, he adds, has robbed all OF his friends,
| going so far as to plunder the merchants of


fifty thousand dollars This, he shrewdly init
mates, is proceeding that even friends will
not endure very long


Mr.. Baxter, the incumbent, and also claim
ant, gives us calm and picturesque statement
of his case. He paints his quiet, retired man
ner of life on the bench, position suited to
his scholarly and pastoral tastes, and with no
ambition for political honors. He shows us
the anxious condition of the republican
leaders, Senator Clayton among others, whose
supremacy had fallen into q bad way from
many causes, not necessary to specify, but
quite Ineligible to all who know anything
of carpet-bag governments. While in this
dilemma and In search of an honest man, they
found Baxter, and dragged him from retire.
ment and made him Governor. As to the in
tegrity Of the election, no one ever questioned
that, to his knowledge. He had thirty-two
hundred majority, and the oath was admin


istered by Chief Justice Mcclure, who, in ad-
dition to his judicial station, is likewise the
editor of an important newspaper, an example
of double duty and responsibility which our
New York brethren might well follow in these
days of libel suits If there were frauds the
pastoral and judicial Baxter did not know of
them, and they must have been the work of
Senator Clayton, Of Chief Justice and editor Nc
Clure and the rest of the anxious republicans
who had seduced him into the Governorshp,
but who now seek his overthrow. All went
very well in the beginning, but, oddly and
sadly enough, the men who had made him
Governor insisted upon using him. They
wanted the ell as well as the inch. They had
a number of bills which it was necessary
he should approve. But the effect of
them would be not only to rob the
State of its money, but place ''triumvirate'
over thu. Liberties and happiness Of the people.
There does not seem to have been much lib
erty or happiness in Arkansas recently but
what little remained would have been taken
away So Baxter found he must be the tool Of
these men or their enemy. He made his deci-
sion. He would save the people by becoming the
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