New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-03-10
A PerllOus ExiSency.

| 1
perusal:
| There is quicker heat in the Southern
| than in the Northern Democrat, ana NOR
canGor.
| A whisper of desperate purpose is a
| times audible Of late among rebel leader
here, and imports frightful peril to tn,
republic. When first 1T arrested my ear
a-crioed it to a temper prone to relieve
| itself in vapid menace, and dismissed i
| with smile. But l am now persuaded
| that it warrants less ridicule than alarm
| The Northern Democratic leader pinchei
| his lip, but the egg ia IN his brain. What Il
| the project, Of which even the rank and filt
| OF the Democracy are as yet permitted tt
know nothing, and the sly mutter of which
l have unexpectedly caught? To cOmpas.
Democratic control of the national govern
m.nt in March, 1877, under all circrNn
stances, through the concerted action OF the
Southern and Northern wings Of the Op
| position!
The twelfth amendment, in modification
Of a section of article two Of the cOnstitp
ton, prescrihes how the electoral votes fol
President and Vice President are to be
counted. The President of tho Senate shall
in the joint presence OF the two houses, open
tho certificates, and the votes shall then be
counted But, by custom, not by legal pre-
house to the counting OF the electoral vote
of any State is fatal-the vote is lost.
Senator Morton, in obvious forecast OF
this danger, has sought to rescue such q
vote through a new rule requiring the
objection to be maintained by q majority OF
both houses, but many OF his colleagues,
apparently more solicitous for the post
offices than tor the stability OF the govern
ment, have failed to reinfore him.
hn e nfotI H0f f.nr
vepes next December is the House that in
February, 1877, must. in joint session with
tho Senate, canvass the electoral vote Of
the States. Its Democratic majority is well
known, and that mischievOus objections
will be preferred and persisted in, to the
end of thwarting tie public will is certain.
OF that majority there are liz exConfeder-
ate Generals and other officers. who, with
out swords, but with political spy glasses,
will next December bivOuace in the capital
Of country which they sought to ruin
because they could not rule, and having
failed to ruin have resolved anew to rule.
The measure OF perverse temper with which
at such hands hn objection to an electoral
vote will be charged can be foreseen. Man
haitian Club, New York, the especial sane
tuary and oracle Of Southern leaders, has
already determined with them to suffer
a Republican electoral vote from no South
SEn Stato 10 do COuutcu, huu u cACiuuo
such number of other States from the
count as may be requisite to assure deter
minatiOn in behalf of Democratic Presi-
dent.
Such violent revolutionary attempt to
authenticate au unchosen executive would,
If permitted, be fruitful Of hazard to every
national interest alike in the principle sac
rificed and in the maievOlent element rein
troducad to the control of public affairs.
The cOnspiratOrs, while complying with
form, would cOnsummate a damnabie trea-
son. Tho question would simply be whether
q rule hitherto acquiesced in by the two
houses as to the competency Of Majority
of one of them to invalidate the electoral
voice of State should stifie or fUIestall the
arbitrary constraint of the constitution,
expressed in article twelve: The President
OF the Senate shall open all
the certificates, and the votes shall then be
counted; the person having the greatest
number Of votes for President shall be-
President, if such number be a majority of
the whole number of electors appointed
We're the Senate of the Forty fourth Con-
gress to await itself by it's Republican ma
jority of the same rule. and retaliate by
excepting to the count Of Democratic cleo
tvral votes, could it thereby rescue the ma
tional administration from the grasp Of toe
opposltion2
With one branch lmsEning always q ma
jority of itl to pronounce tor the Republi-
can candidate and the other for the Demo-
era tic, what wnnld ersue on the fourth day
of March, 1879 The President Of the
Forty. fourth Senate will have concluded
his term, and SO can not succeed to the
executive trust iu the event of an interreg
mum. So, too, the Speaker Of the Forty
fourth House OF Representatives AS the
concerning the President
elect would doubtless extend to the Vice
President elect, would the Speaker of the
Forty fifth House be competent as an acting
President Should that House be Demo
cratic to the extent of the Forty fourth, aud
the opposition is sangnue it will be, its
Speaker would be Democrat; hence his
party would have two strings 20 its bow.
10 exclude electoral vptes enough to count
out the Republican candidate, and though
the Senate Republican opposition shall be
an even match. to utilize that opposition SO
TAR aa To make the suspense permanent,
and the Democratic Speaker an acting ex-
ecutiye indefinitely, stubborn bull Of
dilemma with two formidable horns, either
one of which will gore the Republican party
Il it will not content itself as an imp0tent
simply to pull at the'tail of the
animal
the lower hCusa would, of course, wish its
bills presented under section seven, article
one to the President, but the Senate might
not and should not recognize bis Official
legitimacy nor. concur in such bills. An
ssue would at Onca arise as to his -One leg.
slative fuuction 30 act upon bills, to the
passage of which, even despite President,
lis veto at least is vital condition. Con
.ress wculd be rent asunder, the Demo |
,rats of each body to constitute new Con- |
.ress, and leave 10 the Republicans tho |
'ame sorry resource. The acting President
would recognize the Democratic faction as |
| Congress, sign its bulls, find as comman- |
ier-in chief bold and willing staf-mar-
i,l by instinct aud eager for revolution |
" rebel officers sitting as members in |
ts halle, and, ia fact, disclose to the Amer. |
can people AN invasion that, baffled in 1865, |
lad succeeded in 1877, when the Southern |
Democracy mustered the North hern to it's /
lid under a bargain as to the $pOils. The |
"Congress" would, dnder article
me of the constitution, raise and support |
.rmies, provide and maintain u navy, pass
epeais and rebel war claims, establish black |
,eonage, and accomplish whatever legisla- |
ion might gorge it's greed or vindictiveness, |
r rver its power; and it would then be /
cen how long before a Republican Congress,
when under section five. article one, as
mailer number than majority, it should
diourn from day to day and compel the
tterdance of absent members. would be
ispersed by the armed forces created for
Democratic ends.
The White League roster today is an
muster roll of the new army of
ST! Every Southern State is to be vio-
entity captured at the polls in November,
S76, and in the event OF escape then, will
nd its vote Uither under Democratic ex-
eptior to its admission in the congressional
ount. AS the Republican Senate by its
ontumacy might quicken wholesome pub
G sentiment against the Democratic plot,
he utility appears of an armed force to
aunt that sentiment. The Democracy
Tould affirm itself the custodian of the