The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1877-01-18
From Cincinnati Commercial. IOth.l
TIE Sd OF jan. SPEECHES At COLUMBUS

From Cincinnati Commercial, IOth.l
lfHE SD OF JAZZ SPEECHES At COLUMBUS
| While the 6tb OF January gathering
at Columbus was not q success as 8
mass meeting, the speech-makers
managed 10 indicate the presence of 8
spirit of mischief sndto manifest the
serious existence Of q public danger.
General Durbin Ward said
oWhen the two houses take juris-
diction of the canvass and the count,
the rules of their procedure, subject
only to the Constitution, they deter
mine for themselves. In obedience
to those rules, the two must concur in
counting votes enough 20 maze q ma
jOrity OF all the Electors appointed, or
no candidate can be proclaimed as
chosen by the Electoral College, and
the election Of President will then
constitutionally devolve on the House,
and that of Vice President on the
/ Senate"
THIS assumes the complete power of
I Auu E1C OEACt1l - ~ tAlC
trouble of asserting that the prece-
dents are all in favor Of the exercise
of that power. In this connection we
call the attention OF sober people 70
| the facts: l. There is no possibility
| that the two Houses can agree on the
admission of the Electoral votes of
any of half a dozen States, or upon
any construction of law or iDterpreta-
ton of usage, upon which the main
| question depends. 2. General Ward
would therefore throw the election in
/ to Congress, and asserts for either
House always the right to DO this.
Therefore, if the House is, by its ma
| jority and by States, in possession of
8 political organization opposed to
that appointing q majority of Elec-
tors in the formal Presidential cleo
ton, it can defeat the will of the peo-
pie, and usurp the right of the choice
Of the Presidency itself. 1t seems to
be the Democratic program me to bring
this threat of confusion to the front.
/ II is, however, referrible too plainly
TO the accidental possession of the
House by the party that on the face Of
| the Electoral returns was defeated in
| the late election. The assertion OF the
power Of Congress is q declaration of
confusion. As to usages, this is the
first case in the history of the Repub-
tic Of disputed Electoral certificates,
upon the reception or rejection. of
which the Presidency depends. After
| listening to q fierce demand, backed
by demonstrations of approval that
the Convention should adjourn, to
meet at Washington and inaugurate
Tilden, it was q fine stroke in General
Ward TO denounce the President for
the pTecsution of having few troops
at the Capital to preserve the peace
after the example of so mild man as
James Buchanan, sixteen years ago.
But Ward, blooming in his rhetoric,
says: ~.
"And even now you behold the
Chief Executive quietly coiling round
the National Capital the folds OF mill
tary power.n
Mr.. PendIetOn started with show
of fairness and courteous sllusion to
Governor Hayes, but soon settled
down to the usual fauit-hnding with
all efforts by the Government to make
good the declaration of the st. Louis
platform, that the amendments to the
Constitution are universally accepted
as the settlement of the sectional
questions that engendered civil war.
Then he managed to state the impress
sioDs OF the morning papers the day
after the electiOn-WhIcn was going
back TO original sources o.. infotma-
ton. His next points were
iEVery Democrat in this land be-
lieves that Governor Tilden has been
honestly and fairly elected President.
Appisuse. 81
livery many Republicans believe
that Governor Tilden has been hon
estIy and fairly elected President, and
every honest Republican in this land,
from Maine to Georgia and from
Michigan to Louisiana, knows that If
Governor Hayes is counted in, wheth-
er it be actually correct or not, the re-
| turn is liable to be looked upon with
the strongest suspicion as having been
done by the grossest fraud"
II MI. Pendleton had given his at
tentIon pretty closely to the Demo.
cratic newspapers, he would have seen
that their policy consists chiefly in
claiming everything. He remembers
how they claimed Colorado, and for
what reason. And since the Presi-
Dental election they have never for a
moment omitted to assert with the
bitterest emphasis that they have
elected their President. They claim
ed New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon,
California and Nevada, as violently
as they claimed South Carolina, Flor
ida and Louisiana. They have re-
sented with the fury OF vindictive-
ness the thought that defeat was pos
sible. The intensity of the presump-
tlon of InfalIIbility that the party has
exhibited, and of exclusive right to
rule, is not consistent with q patriotic
solicItude for peace, but bears an un-
happy resemblance to the assumption
By an aggressive class OF politicians IN
the South, of divine right of inter-
pretation OF the Constitution, that re-
suited in secession and war. 1t has a
characteristic resemb blance, also, to
| the unconscious admission of the en-
tertainment Of a bloody policy OF in
] timidation that is made iE the claim
| that there are no peacesble Southern
States Where-the Democracy are not
| in power. Is it the great Democratic
principle that there are to be wars and
rGmors Of wars forever, whenever that
party is defeated? 3? Is it a condition
of peace, that the party that asserts it.
self most violently shall have posses
sion ? It would be much more COM
plinentary to the Democratic party If
| there were Democrats in greater abun-
dance able to see that TiIden has not
been honestly and fairly elected. Mr..
PendletOn says:
"Yet this year, under that Consti-
| tuition, for mere partisan purposes.
\ for no other purpose whatever, the
| leaders Of the Republican party say
that the President of the Senste-nOt
the Vice President not the man
elected by the people-5ut the Presi-
dent Of the Senate, elected by par
tisan msjority elected upon the
nomination of party in Congress
was to determine what are legal votes
| aud what are not, what are authentic
returns and what sre not, and thus
control the whole Presidential elee-
ton"
What does the Constitution say ?
| Mr. Pendleton has revered that sacred
/ instrument go long, he ought TO know
something about 1t. The Constitution
saws the Electors shall certify their
vote and send il directsd-tO whom ?
'sPhe President of the Senate,n and
HThe President OF the Senate shall, in
the presence Of the Senate and House
Of Representatives, open all the GER
tifieates,U "a etc. Mr.. PendletOn has the
odd luck in fixing up phrase OF re-
proach to fall upon the very language
Of the Constitution. Then he tells Us
the claim that the President Of the
Senate shall perform the constitution
al Office Of opening all the eerti-
ficates twill never be submitted to by
the people" Strong language, Ml.
| Pendleton 1t may mean even more
than meets the eye. Bat when Mr..
Pendleton goes on to say that the