New-York tribune., 1868-10-26
THE CARNIVAL OF FRAUD.

THE CARNIVAL or FRAUD.
That Gen. Grant could only be beaten by
wholesale fraud-by polling tens of thousands
of votes against him which had no legal voters
behind them-was manifest to all intelligent
and clear sighted persons months ago. After
Vermont and Maine voted, even the willfully
blind could hardly doubt it, After Pennsylvania,
Ohio, Indiana and Nebraska, added their thun-
ders, even the last "loop to hang a doubt
"upon" had vanished. 1t was so plain that
Seymour and Blair had not the ghost of
chance that The World, seconded by The Nd-
tional Intelligencer, stopped trying to figure
out Democratic gains upon the vote polled
by that party against George Washington or
some candidate scarcely less antique, and called
loudly for change of programme and of can
didates. Blind partisans may rail at these
journals, but what they proposed was exactly
what should have been done. At that late
day, probably any ticket that could have been
put up would have been beaten but the Dem
ocratic masses would not have known that, and
might have been persuaded that they had still
chance. Now, they not only have none, but
knoV it. They have the same prospect of win
ming that Napoleon's army had after the charge
and repulse of the Old Guard at Waterloo.
Gen. Grant cannot possibly be defeated but
may he not be cheated out of the returnf An
eminent member of the Tammany Ring re-
Gently enuneiated the maxim that In a close
election, good counting is the main point;' and
the principle has wide application. The
American People have already in their hearts
chosen Gen. Grant their next President, and will
80 proclaim by their votes on Tuesday of next
week; but may not q different result be fraudu
lently stuffed into OF falsely counted out of the
ballot-boxesP That is the problem whereon
the Democratic wire-woIkers have been steadily
engaged since they heard from Pennsylvania
and Indiana. They do not really expect to
count out Gen. Grant by the help Of ever so
much fraud: they do hope to return Hoffman
as Governor, and thus perpetuate and extend
the vllainies whereby they have so long plum
dered the People and enriched themselves.
Twelve months ago, it was notorious that the
devices for fraudulent naturalization whereby
Henry Clay was beaten in 1914 were not ad-
equate to the present emergency. Few or no
persons formerly received certificates of Nat
uralization from our Courts without actually
appearing therein and mumbling over something
which was assumed to be Oaths of remuneration,
&c. Even thus. there were hundreds
who voted against Clay who had not
been a year in the country. But the
present exigency Of Sham Democracy could
not thus be met. Naturalization by proxy
began to be extensively practiced as early as
1865. Immigrants fresh from Europe, whose
expressions or associations rendered it certain
that they were of Democratic proclivities, were
quietly asked by the rumseller whose bar
room they freQuented, "Would MT you like to
"yote p ayes; but 1 am not naturalized, and
"have been but year in the country" 10,
"that can be fxed;" and it was. A dummy
forthwith appeared In Court as an apph'
can't for naturalization. "What is your
name ~ "Dennis Rafferty," How long
"have you been in the couDtryf" Seven
"years," &C., &c.-the applicant and his
witnesses answering every question with prac-
ticed celebrity and correctly; only Dennis Raj
ferty was not the name Of the applicant, but
of the freshly landed immigrant who was thus
to be made @ voter. The certificate being duly
made out signed and sealed as the law directs,
was handed over to the rumseller and by him
to the true Dennis Rafferty,, who
thefeupon proceeded to register and vote as
an American citizen.
But even this was too slow. The Sham
Democracy needed more voters than could