The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1876-12-30
The Only WAY.

crford b. Hayes elected President Of the
United States, aud that is the way Of
fraud, usurpation and violence, the way
of revolution.
If the question is controlled and settled
by the one only rule which common sense,
justice, and the letter and spirit Of the
constitution have provided, and which the
unvarying practice of the Government has
followed without single exception ever
being made in any case, then Mr.. Hayes
cannot be declared elected, and cannot
possess either the title or the power of
President.
That rule is that the electoral votes shall
be counted by the two Houses Of Congress,
assembled together, yet each retaining its
distinct identity, and acting by its own
proper organs and officers, and the one
House performing the same duty and ex-
ercising the same power as the other.
Now, it is certain that if rule is observ-
ed on the present occasion, the House of
Representatives will never consent to count
those nineteen pretended electoral votes in
favor of Hayes which result from the
frauds Of the Returning Boards in South
Carolina, Louisiana and Florida. Those
nineteen votes the House will not allow or
tolerate. 1t will throw them out for the
reason that they do not express the will
of the people, .but only the will of dozen
impostors at Columbia, New Orleans and
Tallahassee, that they are nothing but
falsehood, forgery aud fraud. Yet without
counting these fraudulent votes, Hayes
cannot be declared elected.
In view of this very contingency, the
pretence has been set up from the first in
ception Of the plot that it is not the two
Houses who count the votes, but only the
President of the Senate. That officer
alone, We are told, has plenty and abso lutte
authority in this matter. He alone de-
cidcs every disputed case. From different
sets of electoral certificates he selects those
which are to be held true and valid, and
those he counts, rejecting and ignoring all
others; and thus he alone, without regard
either to the House or to the other mem
bers of the Senate, decides and determines
and declares who is President; and from
his determination there is no appeal, the
House having no other part or power in
the ceremony than that of merely being
present to silently witness the performance.
Such is the programme of those who pro-
pose to make Hayes President on the
basis of the Returning Board frauds. This
programme they have avowed and argued
for from the very beginning of their
scheme. As long ago as the 9th of No
vember, only two days after the election,
it was preached and proclaimed and what
is more important, it is the one sole meth
cd of carrying the conspiracy out to sue
cess. Without it, the enterprise must be
shipwrecked.
But this programme cannot be executed
by peaceful and regular means. The
House of Representatives is very great
factor in the composition of this Govern
ment. 1t cannot be put aside by any
mere noise, and it will never suffer the
President of the Senate to usurp the au-
thority of deciding upon electoral certifi =
Gates and creating President by his own
will and pleasure. In order to realize the
project, the House of Representatives must
be suppressed.
This can only be done by force, and to
this end troops are present in Washington.
Gen. Grant has made no secret of his
readiness to use them for such purpose,
but has rather taken care to publish it on
every occasion, and in various forms of
phraseology. That he will do what he
threatens, if those who control him give
the signal, let no man doubt. The only
question is whether they will give the
signal.
The occasion for giving Il is sure to
come. The House will never yield to the
assumption of the President of the Senate
that he alone does the counting; it will
never permit the votes of the three fraud
ulent States to be counted; it will never
allow Mr.. Hayes to be declared President
upon those votes; and the only way to
count those votes and declare him elected
is to put down the House by bayonets.
The whole issue finally narrows down to
just this point, and it remains to be known
whether the Republicans will follow out to
the end the path on which they entered
when they set to work to make their man
President through the manipulations of
these Returning Boards. There Is per.
feet harmony between what they have al
ready done, and what still remains undone;
military violence is a natural ally of politi.
cal fraud; and We are bound to say that
the attitude of the Republican party
toward this subject, and offs journals and
politicians generally, is such as must
encourage the eaAspirators to go on and
complete their work: Yet the suppression
ofthe Honse ofReprcsentatiyes BY soldiers
is so grave and pregnant an undertaking
that only fools or desperadoes can contem-
plate it calmly,
Yet otherwise II is not possible for
Rutherford B, Hayes to be declared
President.--N y Sun.