ARKANSAS. 



35 



for it is only before this tribunal that we can ex- 

 pect justice, and the only power that can af- 

 ford a plundered and oppressed people redress 

 of the grievous wrongs they have suffered." 



In conclusion they say: "We submit that 

 the solemn and important issue now before you 

 is not whether you will form a new party ornot. 

 or whether you are still willing to continue the 

 contest for reform, or whether Mr. Baxter will 

 make a good Governor, but whether we are 

 really living under a republic-tin form of govern- 

 ment, and whether the ' will of the people of 

 Arkansas, as expressed at the ballot-box,' 

 shall be respected and obeyed, or whether a 

 small band of usurpers here at the capital, 

 encouraged by Bourbon Democrats, shall ap- 

 point your rulers whether we are freemen 

 or slaves. 



" In this contest it involves our lives and 

 liberties and privileges, and the lives and lib- 

 erties and property of our children after us. 

 For, if a few desperate and unscrupulous men at 

 the capital, who have control of the machinery 

 of the government, can by fraud and force 

 overrule the votes and wishes of seventy-five 

 thousand freemen of Arkansas, then the sooner 

 we abolish the farce of election the better, and 

 hereafter substitute an humble petition to 

 Powell Clayton to grant us the right to live 

 on the lands we have bought and paid for, and 

 the homes of our wives and children, on con- 

 dition that we will be ' hewers of wood and 

 drawers of water' for him and his satellites 

 for the remainder of our lives." 



All this had no practical result. A feeble 

 attempt, was made toward the close of the ses- 

 sion of the Legislature to secure an investigation 

 of Mr. Baxter's election, but the Senate refused 

 to receive the petition offered for that purpose. 

 V.iL'iic thn-uts appear to have been made, on 

 behalf of Mr. Hrooks, that he would take pos- 

 n of the executive office as the legally- 

 elected Governor, but Mr. Baxter prepared 

 for such a contingency by reorganizing the 

 militia, nnd having it ready for service. The 

 movement, however, if it was ever intended, 

 was speedily abandoned, and Mr. Brooks ap- 

 plied to the Circuit Court for an injunction. 

 forbidding Mr. Baxter to exercise the functions 

 of the Kxeeutive. Failing in this, an applica- 

 tion was made to the Supreme Court, on his 

 petition for a writ of gun irnrnnito. This wan 

 denied after elaborate- arguments had been 

 heard on both sides, the court, holding that it 

 had no jurisdiction in the case. In the writen 

 opinion, which was rendered on the 24th 

 of Si-ptcmhcr. the judges said, after discns-intr 

 the principles involved at some length : " Under 

 this constitution the determination of the 

 <l'ie.-tion a- to whether a person exercising the 

 office of Governor has been duly elected or 

 not, is vested exclusively in the General Assem- 

 bly of the State, nnd neither this nor any other 

 St-ite court has jurisdiction to try a suit in re- 

 lation to snch contest, be the mode or form 

 what it may ; whether at the suit of the Attor- 



ney-General, or on the relation of a claimant 

 through him, or by an individual alone claim- 

 ing a right to the office. Such issue should be 

 made before the General Assembly. It is their 

 duty to decide, and no other tribunal can de- 

 termine that question. We are of the opinion 

 that this court has no jurisdiction to hear and 

 determine a writ of quo warranto for the pur- 

 pose of rendering a judgment of ovtter against 

 the chief Executive of this State, and the right 

 to file an information and issue a writ for that 

 purpose is denied." 



Five day s after thisdecision was rendered, the 

 Governor issued a general order, mustering the 

 militia oat of service, "the exigencies for their 

 muster-in having passed, and the President of 

 the United States having given the Command- 

 er-in-chief emphatic assurances of the assist- 

 ance of the Government of the United States, 

 should it be necessary in order to maintain 

 the present government of the State of Arkan- 

 sas." 



His reasons for having called the force into 

 service, and for dispensing with it now, are 

 thus stated : 



1. The peace of the State having been threatened 

 by a combination of reckless and bad men, having 

 for its purpose the violent and illegal overthrow of 

 the State government, it was deemed wise to prepare 

 to meet such threatened revolutionary action by an 

 organized force, sufficient to maintain order, ana en- 

 force the law aguinst all opposition thereto, nnd for that 

 purpose alone the commander-in- chief directed the 

 enrollment and muster-in of the militia of the State. 



2. By the solemn judgment of the Supreme Court 

 of the State, the legality of the present State govern- 

 ment is now fully recognized, and the effort made to 

 overthrow it, through the forms of law, declared ille- 

 gal and unauthorized. 



3. Thin judgment of the Supreme Court puts the 

 Executive of the State in an attitude to appeal to the 

 executive power of the nation to suppress any illegal, 

 violent, or revolutionary action that may be attempt- 

 ed to overthrow the State government or any of its 

 departments ; and the Executive of the State has 

 assurances that such an appeal will meet with a 

 prompt response from the President, should occasion 

 to make the appeal occur, which it is believed will 

 not be the case. 



No further attempt was made to oust Gov- 

 ernor Baxter from office, but the " Reformers " 

 began an agitation for a convention to revise 

 the constitution, by issuing the following cir- 

 cular: 



Whereat, It la the general belief that enormous 

 frauds were perpetrated in the late State election ; 

 and 



Whereat, By recent legislation a number of un- 

 necessary offices have been created, and the already 

 burdensome taxes have been largely inceased ; nnd 



Wlifrta, It is an admitted fact that a large number 

 of office? are filled by persons not legally elected ; 

 and 



Wkerta*, It is universally conceded that the re- 

 sources of Arkansas are not being developed as they 

 should be; that her scrip and bonds have depre- 

 ciated ; that immigration to her borders has almost 

 ceased ; that the taxes have continued to increase 

 until they are equivalent to confiscation ; and that all 

 business is paralyzed; and 



Wlifreat, We believe that the shortest and most 

 effectual way out of these difficulties is through a 

 constitutional convention : therefore 



