The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1877-01-26
CHANDLER-SHERMAN PLOT.
-
Hon. =. Is. MaXey on the Sena-
torial Vaccination Now
Being Fulfilled.
An Interesiing Resume OF tho Course
OF Ultra Republicans IN the Count
in'hayes-at-any.Cost Conspiracy.


instant reached me this evening. In
compliance with your request, | give
you the outline of the political situation
as ! view it. At the opening of the
session was strongly impressed with
the belief that the extreme partisans
OF the Republicanparty were determined
to lnaugurate Hayes, If it was possible
TO accomplish that object. 1t was
boldly proclaimed that the dub
of counting the vote. as we'll as opening
the certificates, was devolved by the
constitution upon the President of the
Senate, The fact that the record shows
them all against that power made no
difference, They next professed the
most extreme and ultra States rights
assuming, in effect, that the certificates
from the State electoral colleges inn
ported absolute verify and that it was
not IN the power of any one to 80 behind
these certificates, 1t is true this posi-.
ton over'rides every principle of law as
II hath been understood from time
whereof the memory of man runneth
not to the contrary for the merest
tyro knows that allegation and proof of
ilagrant fraud, duly made, will set aside
the most solemn record of court of
Justice, But that made no difference.
For the hopewas, that, by removing any
control of the count from the two
houses, and by depositing it with the
President of the Senate, (who would be
impressed with the doctrine that these
certificates imported absolute verify, J
they would cause TO be reclaimed a
count of lS5 for Hayes, against the
acknowledged vote of lS4 for Tilden
BY this means they hoped to secure
without investigation, and without the
means of investigation, the electoral
votes of South Carolina Louisiana and
Florida. and at this time (early days of
SESSION. the action of the Governor of
Oregon, was not known. In fmtherance
of this plan, Senator Sherman, of Ohio,
in his place in the Senate, endorsed the
character for personal integrity of the
members of the Returning Board, of
Louisiana, of which j. Madison
Wells was chairman This
of fraud and corruption brought by the
Democrats against this Board For, it
was reasoned, if the people can be made
to believe that the members of this
Board are honest, they will, OF course,
believe their conduct in the canvass of
the vote fair, and will disbelieve the
charges brought against them by Demo-
Gratis. This was met by proof from our
side:
First--That General Sheridan had
caused the removal of Wells from the
governorship Of Louisiana because he lOaS
dishonest and surrounded himself by corrupt
trickSterS. sheridan further said, in Il
communication TO Secretary Stanton,
that his (Wells) track was rs sinuous
as that of snake"
Second--The Republican Committee
of the House, sent TO Louisiana to in
vestigate the election of 1874, took
testimony showing that Wells had, by
his own affidavit, thrown out the parish
of Rapides on the ground of intimida-
ton, when it was shown that he waS not
in that parish on The day Of election, and
this committee further denounce the
conduct of this Board Constituted the
same as now as
ARBITRARY, ILLEGAL AND UNJUST,
and that by this arbitrary, illegal and
unjust conduct conservative majority
in the Legislature was thrown out, I'd
"A Republican majority counted in, All
this was shown in reply to Sherman,
and completely overcame his endorse
ment.
Investigations made with great care
and diligence into the presidents from
1889 all the way down, showed that the
claim that the President of the Senate
had the constitutional right to count
the votes, was now asserted for the first
time, and that for more than eighty
years the two Houses had asserted and
exercised the right to control the mat
ter; and the law completely refsted the
electoral certificate infallibility doc
trine.
In the meantime the news from Ore
gon fell upon the chief actors in this
drama, like a clap Of thunder out of
clear sky. Watts being postmaster
when appointed (elected), was, by the
constitution, ineligible, and his subse-
quent resignation did not better the
case, as is made clear in
the Corliss case, recently decided
by the Supreme Court Of Rhode
Island, as well as by the report to the
United States Senate on like cases
made by the committee in 1857,
consisting of Messrs. Grundy, Clay and
Wright, and the subsequent resignation
(see same case and report) did not
better the case. II Cronin had valid
certificate, Tildcn, on the face OF the
certificates, was elected and if Cronin's
certificate was invalid, and Watts
inhibited by the constitution from
being appointed, then there was q
failure to appoint AZ to him; and the
vote would stand 1874 to 1874. Neither
having majority (lS5), the election
would be thrown in the House, and
of course, Tilden elected. Instantly
electoral certificates infallibility was
heard no more in the Unidentified
like the frost before the rising sun
vanished like the baseless fabric OF q
vision" 1t is notable that Nessrs.
Morton and Sherman received but
little aid and comfort in this matter
from their brethren. The bloody
shirt was waived alott in
vain. The Chinese gongs neither
attracted attention, nor alarmed, nor
exasperated the imperturbable Southern
men, it was designed to excite. The
red-rag had no effect The Southern
bull neither paved, beloved nor
gored. In tho meantime Northern
sentiment began to crystalize in favor
Of an honest count The attempt to
exasperate the South, extort bitter
words and thus arouse the passions Of
the people North, was an utter failure.
What Southern men did say, was said
with dignity and well. Their admirable
conduct has extorted the admiration Of