, 1876-12-02
The SifuasioH.

plain words for the republicans, and
euumerates the following circumstan-
ces which seem to make the repnbli>
can situation at this time conspicuous
Iy awkward and embarrassing, and
which the leading men of shat party
cannot afford to overlook, because the
public certainly will not !:
I. We will speak first of South
Carolina, and we call the attention of
the republican leaders TO the following
facts, in relation TO their course and
responsibilities in that State bearing
on the election and the count, and
showing clearly to everybody that the
election machinery has been constitu-
Ted and is used there by the republi
cans in a srspiciously unfair and par
tisan manner. Governor Chamber
lain being candidate for reelection,
he so managed The appointment OF the
ninety six commissioners of election
in the counties that seventy were his
open partisans, many of them actually
candidates for election to the legisla-
ture, while forty are office holders
who ho!d their place By Chamber
lain's appointment. Such gross and
indecent par,isanship in offices which
are judicial will make it difficult for
the republicans 10 rebut charges Of
fraud in the local count, or OF tamper
ING with The vote after it is counted,
if such are made. Already We hear
of one case where a republican com
missioner, being charged with deliver
ing the county returns and ballots TO
the returning board at Columbia, has
failed TO deliver them and has lept
them in his possession at Columbia
for several days. This man is not
only election commissioner, but can
didare for the legislature he is re-
publican mulatto. hot partisan OF
Chamberlain. Complaint of bis con
duct has been made by the democrats.
but has received 10 attention from
Chamberlain or The returning board
Is it not extremely imprudent for the
republicans to tolerate such a gross
abuse of trust? How can they answer
! for it TO the country hereafter?
But this is not all. The State re.
turning board, framed by republican
authority, consists Of five persons, all
republicans, and four Of them candi
dates for election, and assuming there
fore 10 sit in Judgment on their own
cases, and without permitting even a
single member TO the other side. The
returning board is formed strictly ac
cordirg TO law but its character is SO
| monstrOusiy unjust, the indecency of a
/ final court thus constructed is SO great
that it will be impossible for the re
publican leaders, not in South Caro-
lima alone, but all over the country,
10 AVOID the odium of countenancing
it if the conduct OF this board should
no! entirely satisfy the public. The
whole course of the election in South
Carolina subjects the republican lead
erS to the mos: embarrassing SuSpi.
cions of fiaud. They sent troeps to
the State without public or satiStac-
tory proof of distrde Chamberlain
has on his ticket men notorionslY un
Scrnpulous and corrupt /; bis own nom
ination was brought about by an ar
rangement with a cOrraplioaist, who
had threatened exposures, aud who is
himself on the TICKET. Noses and
Whipper, the judges whom Chamber
lain himself had denounced as iufa
mous, were somehow eonciiiatel to
his support and became his advocates
on the stump. Chamberlain for days
after the election professei to have 10
returns, though the State is small and
all the counties easily accessible, and
even now he te!egraphs only, 'AIl safe,
though transcfiprssDf the official re
turns have been pnbIic for several
days and show a democratic majority.
III. We turn next 10 Louisiana.
There, too, the republicans sent troops
and authorized Packard, candidate for
Governor, and until long after his
nomination United States marshal, to
make arbitrary arrests on the eve of
the election, which was done; but the
election day passed in entire peace. 1t
is charged by the democrats that in
some democratic parishes the commits
,ioners Of election were Withdrawn by
Governor Kellogg, SO that the voters
could moi cast vote according to
legal forms. It is notorious that in
Louisiana, as in South Carolina, the
whole power and influence Of the
federal government were used TO
favor the republican party. And now
there. as in South Carolina, while
transcripts of the county votes are
easily accessible. and have, in fact,
been published. Packard and Kellogg
continue to assert that they have no
returns, but that the State is all
right for Hayes and Packard" The
vote is now to be handled by the re-
turning board. The present members
Of this board were condemned by a
republican House, in 1875, of having
fraudently manipulated the vote of
1914. The formal words in which
this was officially done were these:
WHEREAs, Said committee has unanimous
ly reported that the returning board OF that
State. in canvassiug and compiling said re-
turns aud ulgsting the results. wrong
fully applied an erroneous rule of law. by
reason whereof persons were awarded seats
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