The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1877-02-21
THE INFAMIEs OF THE ELECTORAL
COMMISSION.

The country waits In profound peace, and
with the certainty That peace VIII continue,
congress in counting the vote and declaring
the next president. No American can con-
slider without shudder what would to-day
have been the condition of the country had
the opponents of the electoral bill succeeded
in defeating it, No other measure could have
been adopted, for there was not time, and the
two houses would have met tomorrow with
out agreement, without the possibility of
agreement and in the midst of a whirlwlnd
of excitement not only in Washington, but
all over the country.-New York Herald.
The country awaits, not only in profound
peace, but in profound humiliation, the fur
ther action of the electoral commission.
The time for popycock talk has passed. The
commission so far has demonstrated by its
acts that it is a huge swindle. The people
see it, and appreciate the fact in all of its
perfidious bearings and outlines Peace
may continue, but it will be purchased by
national degradation. Instead of shudder
ing at what might have transpired had the
people insisted upon securing the fruits of
the victory gained in November at
the ballot-box, they may now shudder
over the fact that by their supineness fraud is
triumphing in a matter that shakes like the
tramp of an earthquake the very founda-
tions of the republic. To talk approvingly
of the decisions of the commission now is
not less CHASTITY than to approve the work
of devils or eulogize the felicities of resi-
dence within the limits of the internal
regions. Men who can do this with
a show of serenity would select hell
for powder magazine, and prescribe chest
nut burs for eyestones. The mission of the
electoral commission was, by doing justly, to
quiet the passitns OF men and to secure
peace by indorsing the right. The majority
has done neither. On the contrary, frauds
the most monstrous have been ele-
waited to the dignity of honesty,
and perjuries the most infamous have
been given precedence over truth.
A great victory by such agencies has been
turned into defeat, and the professions of
men who were believed to be above treash-
cry are shown to be more delusive than
Dead sea fruit. To talk approvingly of
measure that has resulted in such harvest
of infamous consequences is to degrade
the organs of speech and make all
language a lie. The commission may
decide, but its decisions will settle nothing,
if it keeps on in its approval of villainy, ex-
cept to make its own record as crimestained
as that of the Louisiana returning board,
and add something to the depth of the
grave where American liberties lie buried
beneath its decisions.
The whirlwind of excitement which the
Herald supposes will never appear is already
beginning to make itself felt. 1t is setting
in from the four corners of the republic and
is gaining strength as it moves The people
ought not to be mistaken. The future is not
serene. A presidential lie will not be toler-
ated, though it bears the broad seal of
partisan majority of the electoral commits
sion, placed upon it by Judge Bradley.
If the commission had obeyed the law that
created it, the people would have been con-
tent-but so far its acts have demonstrated
that the law under which the decisions of the
majority are manufactured has no sacred
ness in their eyes, that is simply a means,
like a returning board, whereby in
justice may be perpetrated with
impunity and the people compelled to bow
submissively to its mandates. We do not
believe that the people will quietly submit
to spch outrages, or that the future will war
rant the conclusion that they can be subju-
gated without such protests as become free
men.