The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1876-12-21

dnu tney KNOW now ClaI the lrrepr6SS1Dle
conflict between the bandits of the South
and American civilization admits of no
compromise that can endure. So. they
are firm. However numerous and per-
picking the record of Congressional '.ac
ton" (as it is called between this date and
Christmas may seem, the reader will find
thread through the labyrinth by remem-
bering that it means only fight for more
time; and that the secret policy of both
parties Is not action, but n0n-action.
"TR1cKs THAT ARE VAIN"
Thus far the Democrats have been baf-
fed i'll every effort to deceive the Repub-
licans. Congressman Hewitt, Tilden's
Prevaricator-i in-chief. tried TO capture the
President in the interests of the bandits of
South Carolina. He cauoht q Tartar
President Grant has sometimes given his
confidence to unworthy men, and, having
given it, be has been very slow to suspect
them of treacherv. and qnite tenacious of
his friendships until the evidence against
them was conclusive; bnt when he has beer
clearly convinced that be has once been de-
ceIved, he has never yielded a second
time to the same class of tricksters After
the war. Grant made journey Sonth and
was thoroughly deceived by the leaders Of
the rebellion. His report showed two
| things: his own generous aud unsuspecting
nature, and the crafty and unscrupuloue
character of the Southern leaders. Men
who will commit murder for opinion's s sake
never hesitate at lies and perjury The |
annals of the South since the war demon |
strate that no less than ten thousand black |
and white Republicans have been wantonly |
murdered for political reasons, in order |
that men, whom they could have hanged |
for treason. might first dominate their own
States and one day rule the nation that |
they sought to destroy. President Grant |
listens to everybody. but he acts on bis
own Judgment Hewitt's craft did NOT |
| move him. But for the knowledge thai |
Grant would not ts,lerste rebellion. Sontl |
CIrolina to-day would be wet with loyal
blood.
Having failed to enfrap the President. |
the next attempt of the Tilden Democracy |
was TO bully the Senate into recognition |
of the existence of joint rules that were no
longer in force. But there were too many
Democratic lawyers. who wonld not DESTROY
their reputation as jurists for the sake of
advancing Speaker Randall's ambition, t.,
render it possible for this scheme to suc- |
coed. and the Senate spurned his ruling
with only four dissenting votes.
The failure of these two schemes has |
made the '''Tilien wing" - the Democracy
desperate. On Monday last the result of |
their Snndav meditations WAS seen in an
effort to induce a compromise, by which |
T'iIden should be elected BY the House and |
Wheeler hv the Senate, Bnt the enraged |
Western Democrats rebelled. aud swore |
that rather than sacrifice Hendricks they |
Al - L 4 =
er should be inaugur4ted. 1t is a happy |
family. As we have elected our candidates. |
and mean to insugurate them. these quar-
rels are quite amusing. Republicans have |
no intention of being cheated of their VIC
tory, nor of giving the fruits of it away to |
the enemies of the nation. The latest |
scheme. to ''pnt such men as Lamar in
the Republican Cabinet. means that Pres |
ldent Haves shall say before all the world |
that it is justifable and right to resort to |
the assassination and terrorism of South
ern Republicans in order to carry a South |
ern State for the shotgun Democracy. |
But this is good example of Southern pO-
litieal morality 1t has only one practical
fault-it won't work.
THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
Senator Morton, every year, and for five |
wears past, has introduced a proposed |
amendment to the Constitution for the pnr- |
pose of abolishing the Electoral College |
and averting the evils that had occurred |
under it, and that were likely to occur. |
He pointed out the probability of precisely |
the crisis that is sgitating the nation now |
He could not. to-day, BY an exposition of |
the actual condition of affairs. suggest |
single additional danger that he did not |
clearly predict in his report last year. The |
Electoral College was devised in the dawn |
of Democracy to save the least populous of |
the old Colonies from the overpowering |
strength of the larger States. and because, |
also. at that time. it was believed that |
pure government could be secured only BY |
successive filtration" of the popular vote. |
The founders of the Republic, educated in |
English political philosophy. and without |
the light of experience to gnide them, re-
earded their work as the ''great excite
ment." and could not forsee that history |
would teach that all our dangers would |
come. not from the National Government. |
but from the States; not from large popu-
lar constituencies. hut from small repre-
sentative bodies not from too much of the
democratic element. hut from the aristo- |
| cratic element involved in the theory of |
successive fltrations Our history has
| taught us, in letters of blood. that safety; |
stability. and purity come only from Civ |
| ing all the power possible to all the people. |
and that. when representatives are neces- |
sarv. their number shOuld he rs large as
tbev can be made without destroying their
capacity to act as one body. It would he
better for us if the House of Representa-
tives had five hundred members instead of
little more than half that number. Now.
| the dangers of the electoral college have
arisen largely from its limitations as to the
number of its members. 1t has not pro-
tected the smaller States; it has not always
correctly reported the popular will; and it
has placed the peace and the prosperity of
the country in peril by putting it in the
power of a single man to decide who should
be our President As long as it exists the
true voice of the people can never be ac-
curately nscertained. Grant. for example.
received in 1863 80 per cent of the pOpu-
lar vote bnt 73 per cent of the electoral
vote; in 1872 50 PER cent. of the popular
vote. and 81 per cent. of the electoral vote.
Buchanan. on the other hand. received
only 45: Taylor only AZ; Polk not quite
half of the popular vote: vet they were all
elected to the Presidency by the electoral
college system. The whole history of this
college, for the last 20 years. demonstrates
that it is a nuisance that ought TO be
abated. and that the President of the Amer
ican nation should be elected by the votes
of all the American people. We must
come 10 the dirett vote before we have
truly democratic election.
Senator Morton's plan is a great improve
ment over the present system; but after
, all IL is only choice between two evils
! His scheme is to elect a President by con-
gressional districts, giving each district
one vote and the State at large two votes
} each district voting Independently. This
is not direct rote by the people. and 1
! trust will be defeated. / asked the Sena-
tor why, with his views that we are "a ma
{ ton at large" he did not prefer direct
D vote? He said he did prefer it, but he
} thought the smaller States would resist,
and that his was the best practicable plan.
have great respect for the Senator iron