Annapolis Correspondence
Summary
Bill passed to pay Junior Defenders $300 for services at Harpers Ferry
Transcript
ANNAPOLIS CORRESPONDENCE. Annapolis, Mar. 31, 1860. The distinguished committee on elections has at last, on the heel of the session, reported the result of their immense labors, and, as I predicted, in a former letter, the Baltimore delegation have been ousted on the ground that there was no legal election in that city on the 2d of November last; and that they recommend a new election, when they admit that the election in the 8th, (Limerick) Ward was fair and square? If this be true, the Locofoco delegates, of course, were legally elected, having received a majority in that ward more than equal to all the voters in it. But, according to the report, this is not true, or else the committee have stultified themselves, and their party, and did not have the impudence to declare their men elected. Their decision, however, is in accordance with the Democratic principle – “rule or ruin.” This wise committee have also reported on the crisis of Gaither and Kerr, for Clerk, and have also declared that neither was elected, and advise the Judge of the Court to appoint till next general election. In the case of Purnell and Jarrett, they have impudently declared that Jarrett was elected by a majority of the votes of the State Comptroller, and that Purnell’s majority in Baltimore was obtained by fraud, and therefore a nullity. I remember in the days when the Old Whig party always secured a large majority in the counties, that the Democrats overcame their majority, whatever it might be, in Baltimore, by fraud and corruption of the most palpable iniquity. It was all right then for these pure and immaculate chaps to crush by their vote in the city, the majorities in the “rural districts.” How was it in 1849 when the Democratic candidate for Governor, from your county, only secured his election by the vote of Baltimore city, which gave a larger majority than the ___ of the State, and thereby defeated his opponent who had gained upon his Locofoco competitor in nearly every county in the State. Yet the majority in Baltimore, and not the counties, elected him. It was all right and proper when the Democrats had sway, that the vote of Baltimore should overpower that of the counties; but since the tables are turned, and the American party has the control and preponderance in that “God forsaken” city, it is all wrong now. There were no election frauds in that city, committed by Locofocos then, of course not, but all the frauds in the State are committed by the American party! now. What saintly fellows these Locofoco leaders are, and how indignant they become when they are charged with fraud at the ballot box; they don’t like the cry of “thief.” “Oh!” say they, “we never commit, or permit frauds; we never coop; we never bribe, we never force a man to vote our ticket against his will, or because he is in our employ, power; Oh no, we claim the right, freemen, to vote as we please and others can do likewise.” Of course not you innocents! But ye false Locofocos, you do worse, and the people have at last seen through the guise which you have worn so successfully and so long. I am satisfied that the ultra action of the present Legislature, will so far damn the Locofoco party that the hand of the great “homespun,” and the “slight [sic] of hand” of the “arch magician,” of our county, can never raise it from the deep and unfathomable depths into which it has been sunk by its infamous law givers in leaders.
Article Source
Newspaper: The Frederick Herald
Publication Date: March 6th, 1860
Page/Column: 2D
Town: Frederick, MD
County: Frederick
