Mexico weekly ledger., 1876-12-21
A REPUBLICAN PROTEST..

Horace White, Formerly Editor of
the Chicago Tribune, D~enounces the
Loulstana Returning Board Conspira-
ey-He Says 1t Means the AbrOgatiOn
0LaiI !.opular Eiecttons-He Advises
Hayes Not to- be Counte Ina by Such a
MonstrOus Fraud.
10 the Editor OF the Chicago Tribune: q 1
ANY result of the pending Presidential
election which shall be reached without
harm to the processes under which our cleo
lions are held and our institutions main
tanned Will not only be acquiescedin by the
people, but welcomed by the larger portion
OF both political parties. Any result which
snail be reached by undermining those pro
cesSeS Will be fraught with peril to the cOun-
Try ana Will Dr1ng condign punishment up.
on the party guilty of SO grave a crime.
among the processes by which our insti-
tutions are maintained, the most important
Is tnat OF frequent popular elections, and
tne most important of all is the Presidential
election. We are now brought for the first
Time TO a state of facts which threatens to
substitute, in place of popular elections,
the views Of a Returning Board. This I
can a threatened subversion of the process
es- Dy which our institutions are maintained,
In comparison with which the election Of
hayes or Tilden is of no consequence.
whether Hayes or Tilden is elected, the peo-
pie can, within four years, resume their
prerogatiVe OF choosing another President,
PROVIDED the process of declaring their
choice has not been tempered with. They
can correct any errors that may lave been
committed meanwhile by Hayes or Tilden,
provided the system of popular election re-
mains. But ii the process has been tamper-
ed with, and the system itself undermined,
then any thing may happen. The Ameri-
can Republic may become as unstable, and
property here as insecure and social dis
order as unbearable, as in Mexico or Vene-
Zuela.
We are told that the Interference of a Re-
turning Board in Louisiana is necessary on
account of the intimidation of voters. It is
precisely this interference which I challenge
as a subversion of the processes by which
our institutions are maintained. 1t is pro-
posed to throw out the vote of A B because
CD is supposed to have intimidated 4 F!
lt is only necessary to make this the rule
hereafter and to secure it's general adoption,
In order to dispense with elections entirely
and to substitute in their places the views Of
thlrty-seyen Returning Boards. Intimida-
ton will become the only element of any
value in politics. Instead of discussing the
civil service, the currency, the last war, or
the next one, the office. seeking class will
confine themselves wholly to intimidation.
Intimidation will multiply,like the grasshop-
pers, and in a short time ravage the whole
land.
What is intimidation? 1t is a word Of
very broad scope. 1t embraces every
thing from the fear of death to the loss Of
social pc .ition. 1t opens the door to every
species OF degradation that can be conceived
of in politics, from Individual cowardice to
combined perjury. And over all it places
an arbitrary and irresponsible tribunal to
weigh the cowardice and to gauge the per-
jury, from whose judgments there is no
appeal, not even to the people themselves.
After \ B and other honest citizens have
cast their votes and gone about their BUSH
ness, CD and + + confederate together,
the one to intimidate and the other to be
intimidated, with a view to vitiating the
election; that is, to ~disfranchise all the
honest voters in the precinct. Why not?
That is the logic of the new system of car
rying elections by intimidation.
assert that there is no way to throw out,
on the score of intimidation, the votes Of
legal voters duly polled, that does not ad-
NIT and invite this species Of rascality. Is
there any mode Of e~lectioneering so mex
pensive and certain as this? Is there any
mode so likely to become popular with the
class who live by politics? Is there any
mode which so clearly and completely SUBJ
verts the processes OF popular elections or
which so directly attacks the foundations of
our Government? But, say some, it can
not possibly spread. 1t is too absurd and
c0ntemptible to find Judgment among the
SlnHriNr b~:~.r~ - +Ic "