The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1877-03-06

OF ElrOp that Dur traditional rule or
nOn-interference in the affairs of for
eign nations has proved of great value
in past times, and ought to be strictly
observed. The policy inaugurated by
my honored predecessor, President
Grant, of submitting to arbitration
grave questions in dispute between our
selves and foreign powers, points to a
new and incomparably the best instru-
mentality for the preservation of peace,
and will, as 1 believe, become a benefi-
cient example of the course to be pur-
sued in similar emergencies by other
nations. If, %unhappily, questions of
difference should at any time during
the period of my administration arise
between the United States and any for
eign government, it will certainly be
my disposition and my hope to aid in
their settlement in the same peaceful
and honorable way, thus securing to
our country the great blessings of peace
and mutual good offices with all the
nations of the world.
Fellow-citiZens, we have reached
the close of a political contest, marked
with the excitement which usually at
tends the contests between great politi-
cal parties whose members espouse and
advocate with earnest faith their res
pective creeds. The circumstances
were, perhaps, in no respect extraordi-
nary, save in the ~closeness and the con-
sequent uncertainty of the result. For
the first time in the history of the coun-
try, it has been deemed best, in view of
the peculiar circumstances of the case,
that the objections and questions in
dispute with reference to the counting
of the electoral votes should be referred
to the decision of a tribunal appointed
for this purpose. That tribunal was
established by law for this sole purpose.
Its members, all of them of lOng-es-
tablished reputation for integrity and
intelligence, and, with the exception of
those who are also members of the Su-
preme judiciary, chosen from both po-
litical parties, its deliberations enligllt.
ened by the research and the arguments
of able counsel, was entitled to the full
est confidence of the American people.
Its decisions have been patiently waited
for, and accepted as legally conclusive
by the general judgment of the public.
For the present, opinion will vary us to
the wisdom of the several conclusions
announced by that tribunal. This is to
be anticipated in every instance where
matters of dispute are made the object
of arbitration under the forms of law.
Human judgment is never unerringly
regarded as otherwise than wrong by
the unsuccessful party in the contest,
and the fact that two great po-
litical parties have i'll this way
settled their disputes flor good
men differ as to law no less
than as to the proper course to be pur-
sued in solving the question in contro-
versy), is an occasion for general re-
joicing. Upon one point there is en-
tire unanimity in public sentiment
that conflicting claims to the Presi-
dency must be amicably and ~peaceably
adjusted, and that when so adjusted the
general acquiescence of the nation
ought surely to follow. 1t has been re-
served for Il government of the people,
where the right of suffrage is univer-
sal, to give to the world the first exam
pie in the history of a great nation in
the midst of a struggle of opposing par
ties for power, pausing in its party tu-
mults to yield the issue of the contest
to adjustment according to the forms
of law, looking for the guidance of that
divine hand by which the destinies of
nations and individuals are shaped.
| call upon you, senators, representa-
tives, judges and fellow-citizens, here
and everywhere, to unite with me in
an earnest effort to secure to our coun-
try the blessing, not only of material
prosperity, but of justice, peace and
union-a union depending not on the
constraint of force, but upon the loving
devotion of Il free people, that all
things may be so ordered and settled
upon the best and surest foundations,
that peace and happiness, truth and
justice, religion and piety, may he es-
tablished among us for all generations.
Great applause.