The Ottawa free trader., 1876-11-18
THE PROSPECT.

of the conuncrum is more easily ahs"ei'o
than the latter, but we shall a''emp' 10 crap
pie both. 49,. C, ?
Tho nresent situation is, that Samuel j
T;,der has carried the country by popular
vote of some 30O,O 900, but that he lacks JUS
oro electoral vote of having enough to make
him president-that is, he has lS4 votes whil'
il may need 1S5 TO elect
| What are his chances to get that other vote
His chances are confined to the three south
ern states of Florida, South Carolina and
Louisiana, and to the Northern state of Yer
mont and the Pacific state of Oregon.
In Florida all the Icturls show that Tilder
has majority of not less than 100 and pos
slby 1900. Every county has been heard
from as good as officially, ana there is nc
doubt as to the .fact. But the governor OF
Florida is an unprincipled dog named M. l.
Stearns, an ex Freedman Bureau officer, but
who. a wear ago, offered to sell out to the
democratic legislature If they would send him
to the L. S. Senate. AS they spurned the
trade, he is in exactly the proper mental con-
ditIon to be used by Chandler. AS the state
returning board is democratic, the returns
must be manipulated, to defeat Ttlden, before
they are sent in, and this is the work Gov
Stearns and his emissaries are engaged in.
He has already cast shadow on the vote OF
Alchua county, by getting some of the pre-
cinct inspectors to refuse to sign the returns;
and the same game IS driven with despera-
ton in other counties. The game will not
defeat a fair count by the state board Of can
vassers, but the governor will pretend there
has been fraud and, whether the board give
the state to Tiljen or not, the governor Will
give the certificates of election to the Hayes
instead of the Tilden electors Thus the
chances are against Tilden in Florida
In South Carolina there is no doubt that
Hampton has beaten Chamberlain for govern.
or by about 1900 votes, and there is small
maiorlty-say 100 or 2O0-in favor of Tilden; ;
but the board of canvaseers consists almost
entirely of candidates on the republican ticket,
and no doubt is entertained that they will ma
nlpuate the returns so as to elect themselves
The only hope of the democrats Is in an ap-
plication they have made to the supreme court
for an Injunction to restrain the present board
of canvassers from acting and requiring the
appointment of new board composed OF
not personally interested in the re-
suit of the count
In Louisiana all sides agree that on the vote
actually cast Tildcn has majority OF over
5000, but all sides equally agree that the re.
turning board through whose hands the re-
turns must pass, is composed of unscrupulous
scoundrels, who would consider themselves
if they did not so manipulate the
returns as to bring ont majority on whatever
side they wanted. With fond sort of hope
that the board might be shamed into moder-
ate honesty, large number of prominent
democrats from the north have been induced
to 90 TO New Orleans to watch the count, but
the idea that scoundrels like Wells and An
derson, who constitute the controlling part
of the returning board, can be shamed into
honesty, is simply preposerous. For fear the
board might possibly be shamed or
scared into honesty, Grant has sent Sheridan
to New Orleans to back them up with the
L. S. army; so that even though as has been
the local politicians might be able
to bribe the returning board to declare in ia
vor of the democrats or to save the anti Kel-
logg state ticket, the presence OF the army
will enable Kellogg himself to set aside their
decision should 1t even happen to be on the
side of right. There is no hope for Tiden in
Louisiana.
But solid hope for Tilden arises in Yer
mont and Oregon, in each of which states
postmaster has been chosen as an elector,
while the constitution of the L. $. makes all
government officers ineligible as electors
The common law and usage in such cases is
simple enough. In Oregon there were six
and in Vermont ten candidates voted for as
electors OF these in each state one candidate
was ineligible, and the votes cast for him
were null and void, the same as if they had
been cast for King William or Jim Crow.
The constitution knows nothing about presi
Dental candidates or parties. OF the five elig
iblc candidates voted for in Oregon, clearly
three were lawfully elected, which happens
to include oAe who ran on the Tildcn ticket !;
and in Vermont, in like manner, of the nine
eligible candidates voted for five were elected,
including one on the Tilden ticket. There is
a law, however, that if a vacancy shall occur
in the electors chosen for any state between
the election and the meeting of the electors
to cast their vote, the other electors shall fill
such vacancy. Now, although tins law does
not meet the case, because clearly there is no
vacancy in either state, yet the Vermont re
publicans, being no more honest than the car.
pet-bag thieves and scoundrels in New Or
leans, will disregard the common law and
usage on the subject, and the four republican
electors from that state will doubtless fill the