Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1875-03-18
Correspondence Chicago Inter-ocean.
A PERILOUS EFFICIENCY.
A Democratic Plot to Nulllfy
the Electoral Vote OF 1876.
The Present Danger Greater
Than That of 1860.

New ORLEANS, March l, 1878.
There is a quicker heat in the
Southern than in the Northern Demo
crat and more candOr.
n whisper of desperate purpose
is at times audible of late among the
rebel leaders here, and imports fright
ful peril to the Republic. When first
it arrested my ear | ascribed it to a
temper prone to relieve itself in va
pid menace, and dismissed it with a
smile. But l am now persuaded that
it warrants less ridicule than alarm.
The Northern Democratic leader
pinches his lip but the egg is in its
brain. What is the project, Of which
even the rank and file of the Democ-
racy are as yet permitted to know
nothing, and the sly mutter of which
l have unsuspectingly caught? 10
compass Democratic control of the
National Government in March,
1877, under all circumstances
through the concerted action of the
Southern and Northern wings Of the
Opposition. >.
The Twelfth Amendment, in modi-
fication of a section of Article OF
the Constitution, prescribes how the
electoral vote for President and Vice
President are to be counted. The
President of the Senate shall, in the
Joint presence of the two houses
open the certificates, and the votes
shall then be counted. But, by Gus
tom, not by legal prescript, an objec
ton by majority of either house to
the counting of the electoral vote o.
anv State is fatal-the vote is lost.
Senator Morton, in obvious fore
cast of this danger, has sought tt
rescue such vote through a new
rule requiring the objection to b'
maintained by a majority of boil
houses. but many of his colleagues
apparently more solicitous for th'
post offices than for the stability o
the government, have failed to rein
! force him.
The House of Representatives tina
convenes next December is th'
House that in February, 1877, mus
in Joint session with the Senate, can
vass the electoral votes of the States
Its Democratic majority is wei
known, and that mischievous Objec
tions will be preferred and persisted
in, to the end of thwarting the pub
lie will, is certain. OF that majorit,
there are 112 ex-Confederate Gen
erals and other officers, who withou
swords, but with political spy
glasses, will next December bivoua
in the capital of the country whicl
they sought to ruin because the.
could not rule, and having failed t.
ruin have resolved anew to rule. Th
measure of perverse temper witt
which at such hands an objection t
an electoral vote will be charged
can be foreseen. Manhattan Clut
New York, the especial sanctuary an
oracle of Southern leaders, has al
ready determined with them to SUITE
a Republican electoral vote from n
Southern st tie to be counted, and t
. exclude such a number of othe
States from the count as may b
requisite to assure determinatio
in behalf of q Democratic Presiden
Such violent revolutionary a
, tempt to authenticate an unchose
Executive would, if permitted, b
) fruitful of hazard to every Nation;
interest alike in the principles sacr
feed and in the malevolent elemer
reintroduced to the control of publ
}. affairs. The conspirators while con
plying with form,
!. WOULD CONsUMMATE A DAMNABI
TREASON.
The question would simply
whether a rule hitherto acquisced
, by the two houses as to the comp
tency of a majority of one of them
invalidate the electoral voice of
D State should stife or forestall the a
bitrary constraint of the Constit
= ton, expressed in Article -: "Tl
. President of the Senate shall
open all the certificates, and Il
}. votes shall then be counted; the pc
O. son having the greatest number
votes for President shall be Pre-
dent, if such number be a MAORI
: of the whole number of electors a
pointed"
Were the Senate of the Fort
fourth Congress to avail itself by
Republican majority of the SAL
rule and retaliate by excepting to
count of Democratic electoral vot
," could it thereby rescue the Natior
Administration?
A TERRIBLE DILEMMA SUGGESTED
ip- With one branch (meaning alwa
a majority of it) to pronounce for t
Republican candidate and the otl
- for the Democratic, what would
sue on the 4th day of March, Isl
The President Of the Forty -foul
no Senate will have concluded his ter
and so cannot succeed to the exc