The daily gazette., 1877-03-28
WHY THE HOUSE DEMOCRATS
Asf-ssssiRas sf FAILE i'--r-s Iirulufs.|..
MR.. TILDEN. HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR
THEIR DEFEAT AND FOR THE ELECToR-
AL COMMISSION.

From a Speech Jg Henry Watterson at
Louisville, March %.
The whole story of our defeat may not
yet be told. 1t is still the privale prop
erty OF the caucus and committee room.
L shall repeat only what is known to the
public, that from the first l believed
well-organized conspiracy existed to
cheat the people out of their elected
President. l went to Louisiana, the real
battle ground of this conspiracy, and
found there the verification of my fears.
Ny dispatches from New ORLEANS nav
be referred to, and will be found to cover
nearly all that has happened there since
went TO New York, urging counter.or>
gamzanon, popular organization, organ
ization In The interests of free govern
mept and the masses of the people, upon
| those OF our friends who had authority to
act.
There are two ways of securing our
rights in this world: one is by law, and
the other is by force. The court of last
resort was in this instance practically
closed upon us, and, conceiving Mr.. Til
den to be the rightfully chosen Chief
Magistrate, proposed to prepare to seat
him in office; to provide the physical
means OF doing so; to take all needful
risks, and to leave the result to look after
itself. There are times when imprudence
Is safety, would have had Mr.. Tlden
emulate the firmness of Hampton T
would have had him assemble the people
about him, and say to them simply this:
81 am an old man, sixty years and up
ward, nor wife ne child, and care little
for the offise of President of the United
States, but have been elected thereto
Overwhelmingly elected--and as love
my country and owe duty to my country
men, Il mean to seeIthat their will is done. u
Mr.. Tilden did not take this view. He
had confidence in the powers and TO rms
OF law. He believed his case was irresis.
tible. 1t seemed to him q thing apart
from reason or probability that any tri-
bunal would or could count the votes oi
Florida and Louisiana against him A
peaceful, patriotic man, conservative
law-abiding, the suggestion of an organ
tized popular opinion upon an uncrom.
IpromisIng line brought before his eyes
nothing but the spectacle of public and
private ruin. IT peace had been put in
one scale and the Presidency in another
he would have hesitated to choose against
himself. His mind. may have wavered
at times, but his influence was steadily
against agitation. 1 say it in no reproacf
] say 1t entertaining distrust of my owr
opinion, that it was impossible to pro
ceed without Mr.. Tilden at the front. i
was for him to lead, for the rest to fol-
low.
] Thus the ground slipped away from us
inch by inch. When we were brought
face to face with the Electoral Commits
sion bill, we found ourselves occupying
narrew slip of territory lying abou
midway between the devil and the deeI
sea; in the far front, confusion, chaos
coupled to inevitable, perhaps disgrace
; ful, ,defeat;just before us schemewhiohnS
sound Judgment could approve as an ori
to all of you that l fought it earnestly il
committee; that unable to defeat it,
yielded most reluctant consent to il
that, finally, 1 voted for it with the ful
consciousness of the danger it foreclosed
1t was distinctly choice of evils.