The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1876-11-21
Ghe 99nilg Atgns.
ROCK ISLAND. .rnL1NoIs.
Shall the Government be stolen

Shall the Government be Stolen2
To count Hayes in fraudulently is prob
ably the most moastrous political crime
ever conceived in this country. lfsuccess-
ful,it would be the murder of the republic.
1t would be the end of official accountable
ty to the people--the end of elections:
Iheneeforth our rulers would be named
for us by those in power at Washington
Who are the eoDspirators? Gov. Hayes
not, or at all events was not originally,
ne of them. When the insolent claim
upon the electoral votes of the three states
in the grip of Grantism was first put forth,
Gov. Hayes discountenanced it, apparent
ly with full knowledge that it porten6ed.
if it meant anything more than a mere
gambler device, a stupendous fraud. Ii
Gov. Hayes holds different attitude now,
1t is because he has been admonished in
the interval; and if he ultimately becomes
a passive instrument in the hands of men
attempting to seize the government in his
name, the fact will he only another and
unnecessary proof that he is anybody s
man but his own. No such purpose was
ever born in his own heart, or contemplated
without a mental protest.
Nor do we believe that any other Repub
llcan leader who has heretofore borne a
respectable character is in the plot, We
see moo pure white hand anywhere 10 all
this manipulation of returns, and all these
| mysterious Geographic messages. We see
here aud there only the great black paws
OF ring thieves, and desperate political
| gamblers-of Chandler and of Gould, of
Cameron and John Patterson. Of Kellogg
| and Packard.
Republican statesmen and the rank and
Tile OF the Republican party are as much
Interested in the perpetuation of free in
| stltutlon as Democrats are; and if Mr.
litden is fairly elected, they will never
permit another to be seated in his place.
But this class had little or nothing to do
with the management of the late cam
paign, and they are not now being con-
suited by the daring men VINO are plotting
| the hitherto unimagined crime of a usurpa-
| ton of the federal government.
On the day after the election, when the
nation was rejoihcing over this deliVeranee
| from Grantism, and when the news from
all parts-including Louisiana, Florida
and South Carollna-was favorable to
Mr.. Tilden's election, Zach Chandler
began to freight the wires with mysterious
messages III CipHeTs SOtne Oh WHICH nave
fallen into the hands of honest men and
been translated Some were addressed tc
Grant, and the rest TO Grants marshas
and carpet-bag governors in the three
states now in dispute. The prompt re.
spouse is more troops" from Grant, and
confident assurances from the southern
marauders that the returning boards
which they have created, hold, and man.
age, will present ample Hayes majorities
Mr.. Tilden has an enormous majority
of the popular vote and good majority
Of the electoral votes. IF this be true. and
he is not inaugurated president on the 4th
of March next the republic is no more and
the empire has arrived. But will the
Geople of the United States suffer their
government to be stolen from them BY
Zach Chandler, Jay Gould, and Dor
Cameron? That may prove the most
momentous question eyer put to people
n all the TIDE of time.-N, T. Sun.