The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1876-12-01
THE FINAL COUNT.

We CODY as follows from u lehs'h!
article in the Mobile Register, written,
evidently, by Col. Forsythe, editor OF
that paper, the ablest writer on the
Southern press. We do not fully en-
dorse the Registers views of the situa-
tion, but do admire the tone OF the ex-
tract:
The constitution being silent> as to
&, who shall count and declare the elec'
toral votes, and the practice OF the gov
eminent for the first half century oil Its
existence being different from that o:
the later half, there must inevitably be
deadlock between the antagonist
houses. No man can predict how the
difficulty will be removed. There Is
certainly no clearly expressed Constltu-
tional way of removing it,and when we
resort to extra constitutional ways we
must either fight for right or submit to
wrong.
That the people of the United States
will submit to any solution OF this ques'-
tion which bears the form of law, must
be clear to every dispassionate observer
of events. They will hold that, there
being no express provision for the Two
Houses to interfere, the PRESIDENT OF t.e'
Senate Is the person to announce me
CONIeC1S Oh Iu0 SCAeAuSfstSso w 1890 49,
-ODened: or that, there being no eX
press provision for any one to declare
the result. it shall be made known, as
other facts are made known to the PEG
Dle. MS for example the ratification OF
of the two last amendments was an
nounced and stamped upon the page OF
history. by a proclamation from the
President and issuing from the State
Department. The fact that the XlVth
and XVIII Amendments were evei
properly or legally ratified, was denied
by the Democratic party. In the one
case fifteen, and in the other three
States were forced to vote In favor o.
these amendments at the point of The
bavonet. and nothing could sustain the
appearance of Il constitutional ratifics.-
ton except the bare form of assent
wruug from unwilling States held in
duress. The enforced votes of three
Southern States for Hayes will give his
election no better and no worse form OF
law than the other defrauded three
States gave the XVIII Amendment.
We saw these fraudulent lnterpola-
tions upon the Constitution proclaimed
by the President and acquiesced IN bS
the whole country, each political party
vieing with the other in obsequious
ness and subservience to the breaking
uOWu OI Que VA VIZ DssA "sA A>S ~
Constitution. We of the Suoth, while
compelled to submit to the outrage ana
while taught that a formal wrong must
be accepted AS a right, saw that poo
ple who yielded to one political crime
because its effects fell at the door or {;
distant portion of the country, would
easily become the victims OF another.
Our Government is defective, not sc
much in what it commands as in what
it has left underlined. Our fathers were
silent when they should have spoken.
They failed to define the manner and
mode of redress for wrongs perpetrated
upon the States in their sovereign ca
pacity. Rather than speak out plainly
and risk the rejection of the Constitu-
ton at the outset, they acknowledge the
existence of rights without providing
for the manner and mode of declaring
those rights. The deadlock in 1860,
when half of the States asserted SOW
ereign right which the other half denied,
was solved by the sword. After the
bloody solution, men of both sides con-
tempIated the result with II proud con-
seriousness of duty no'ly done. But
this new contest between plainly rio-
lated rights and underlined rcmedies,cs-
Gaping the arbitramcnt of arms, Will
make every American citizen hang his
head with shame at tho impotency Of
the Constitution and the degradation OF
his country.