Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1876-07-27

actual Republican majority in the
State was overcome by a fraudulent
majority in New York City. How il
was prepared and managed is showr
by the following copy Of Mr.. Tilden':
famous circular:
["Priuate and strictly CONFIDENTIAL
"RooMs OF DEM. STATE Con-.
October q, 1868.
"MY DEAR SIR: Please at once tC
communicate with some reliable per.
son in three or four principal towns and
in each city of your county, and request
him (eXpenses duly arranged for this
end) to telegraph to William M. Tweed,
Tammany Hall, at the minute of clos.
ing the polls, not wait for the count,
such PERSONS estimate of the vote.
''Let the telegraph be as follows:
"'This town will show Democratic
gain (or loss) over last year (number) {;
or this one if sufficiently certain: This
town will give Republican (or Demo-
cratic) majority Of
''There is, of course, an important OBJ.
| lection to be attained by simultan-
eOus transmission at the hour of closing
the polls, but no longer waiting. Op-
pOrtunity can be taken of the usual half
heur lull in the telegraphic communi-
cations over lines before actual results
begin to be declared, and before the
Associated Press absorb the telegraph
with returns and interfere with indi-
vidual messages, and give orders to
watch carefully the count.
"Very truly yours,
SAMUEL j. TILDEN, Chm"
Mr.. GEEELEY's OPINION OF TILDEN.
10 Samuel j. Tilden, Chairman DEM
ocratic State Committee:
SIR: You and I are growing old.
We came here from the country, and
have lived and struggled side by side
for nearly forty years. We have parti-
cipated ardently in many political
struggles, always on different sides.
x On one very important point,
however, your bitterness as partisan
has impelled you to ignore and come
short of your duty as a citizen and
professed upholder of government by
the people, and for this dereliction l
here arraign you. allude to the pre-
servation of the ballOt-boX.
l can imagine how man may shut
his eyes to many things which he
deems it convenient not to know; but
| must speak of what you MUST know,
hOaCeUer, you may a0iSh or seek to be ig-
nOrarat of it. The matter to which l
call your attention is vital to the very
existence of free, popular government.
Whenever it shall be generally under
stood that the results of elections are
not determined by the ballots of legal
voters, but by frauds in voting or
frauds in counting, then the event of
avowed, unequivocal despotism must
be near at hand. Between the rule of
an Emperor and the rule of a clique of
ballot-box suffers, every intelligent
man must prefer the former as less
rapacious and more responsible. When
honest citizens shall avoid the polls,
asking "What is the use of voting? the
result is already fixed," the days of the
Republic will be numbered. Between
a ruler who prohibits voting altogether
and the gang who make it sham by
filling the ballot-boxes with illegal
votes, or miscounting those already
cast, the sway of the former is every
way preferable.
You hold most responsible and in
fiuential position in the ceunsels of a
great party. You could make that party
content itself a0ith polling legat uotes 1
you only lCOuLd. In our late Constitu-
tional Convention 1 tried to erect some
fresh barriers against election frauds.
Did you? The very little that | was
enabled to effect in this direction Ishall
try to have ratified by the people at our
ensuing elections. Will you? Mr..
Tilden, you cannot escape responsible
ity, with the guilty Macbeth:
Thou canst not say l did it; never shak@
Those CORY locks at me-"
for YOU WERE AT LEAST A PASSIVE AC-
COMPLICE IN THE GIANT FRAUDS OF
LAST NOVEMBER.
Your name was used, without public
protest on your part, in circulars sowed
broadcast over the State, whereof the
intent was to "make assurance
1oubly sure" that the frauds here per-
petrated should moi be overborne by
the honest vote of the rural districts.
And yOu, not merely by silence, 6ott By
DOsitiUe assumption, haze covered those
frauds a0ith the mantle Of your respectG-
jiiity.
On the principle that "the receiver is
IS bad as the thief" YOU ARE AS DEEP
LY IMPLICATED IN THEM TODAY AS
THOUGH YOUR NAME WAS TWEED, {
)'BRINE, OR OAKEY HALL. l.
Mr.. Tilden, you and were ardent Is
participants in the struggle of 1910, 4
y herein Martin Van Buren, was ousted t
rom the Presidency by General Harri c
on. You know how thoroughly our 8
ity was absorbed in that contest, a
wherein every man, woman and child c
ook deep and lively interest. Our Q
lections were then held throughout C
hree days. There was registration v
reshly enacted which blacklegs had v
ot yet learned to circumvent, the IS
Ight of suffrage was as widely diffused
3 it now Is, and no one ever complain n