The daily gazette., 1877-03-03

depth of national degradation into which
you will plunge us if you sanctifyy this
mode of making a President? Brush up
your historical memory and think of it
for a moment. The man whom you elect
in this way is as purely the creature of
the military power as Caligula or Domi-
tian, for whom the pretorian guards con-
trolled the hustings and counted the
But then we cannot get behind the re-
turns. forsooth! Not we! You will not
let us. We cannot get behind them. No.
That Is the law, of course. We may strug
gle IoE justice; We may cry for mercy; we
may go down on our knees, and beg and
WOO for some little recognition Of our
rights as American citizens;but we might
as well put up our prayers to Jupiter or
Mars, as bringing suit in the court where
RhadamanLhus presIdes. There is not a
god on Olympus that would not listen to
us with more feryor that we shall be
heard by our adversaries. We are at their
mercy; it is only to them that we call ap-
peal, because you gentlemen unforthn-
ately cannot help us. You are bound by
the new law which you have made. You
are ofcourse addicted like other people
to the vice of consistency, and what is
done once must be done over again.
In the Louisiana case the people ap-
pointed electors in favor of Trlden, re-
corded their act, finished it, and left
their work in such state that nobody
could misunderstood it. But other per-
sons, who had no power to appoint, falsi-
fed the record of the actual appointment,
partly by fraud which was as corrupt in
morals and as void in law as any forgery
could be. You thought it right and legal
and just to say that you would not look
at the record which the people had made;
the forgery; the fraud, and the corruption
truth must not be allowed to come in
conflict with the imposture, lest the con-
cussion might be..damaging.
This precedent must be followed. 1t
is now law, to be sure, but we must give
| it due welcome; and the new lords that
it brings into power must be regarded as
our every noble and approved good
masters" Having decided that electors
were duly appointed in Louisiana who
were known not to be appointed, we can
not expect you to take notice of any fact
similar or kindred to it in South Caro-
lima.
Then, again, the question of "duly ap-
pointed" was decided in the case of
Levisee, an elector who was an officer of
the United States Government at the
time he was appointed, and continued to
be afterward. The Federal Constitution
says that no man shall be appointed who
is in that relation to the Federal Govern
ment. But you held, according to law
mind you, that he was lawful elector
and his vote good vote. In other words
thing is perfectly constitutional although
it is known to be in the very teeth of .
constitutional intcrdict.
Now you see why we are hopeless.
The present state of the law is sadly
against us. The friends of honest
elections and honest government are
in deep despair. We once thought
that the verifying power of the two
Houses of Congress ought to be
brought always into requisition for
the purpose of seeing, whether the
thing that is brought here is a forgery
and fraud on the lone hand, or whe>
ther it is a genuine and true certificate
on the other.
But while we cannot ask you to go
back behind this certificate, will you
just please to 60 to it-oDly to it-not
step behind. II you do, you will find
that it is no certificate at all such as
is required by law. The electors must
vote by ballot, and they are required
to be on oath before they vote. That
certificate does not chow that either OF
those requirements was met; and
where a party is exercising a special
Authority like this they mast keep
strictly within it, and you are not to
presume anything except with ap-
pears on the face of their act to be
done.
II anybody will cast back his mind q
little into the history of Presidential
elections or look at the debates of less
than a year ago, he will remember that
Mr.. Jefferson was charged when he was
Vice. President of the United States
with having elected himself by means
of, not fraudulent, but q merely in
formal vote sent up from Georgia
The informality was not In the certi,
ficate inside of the envelope, but in
the outside verification- Mr.. Matthew
L. Davis, in 1887, got up that story.
~ w WoS hOs tAaOB Oae Az W 40
a while, and it cast great odium or
Mr.. Jefferson's memory. 1t was moi
an informality that was nearly as i'm
portant as this. nothing like it. But
one OF the Senators now on this bench
referred to it in debate only a shor,
time ago, and denounced Mr.. Jeffer.
son as having elected himself bJ
fraud, because he did not call the at.
tention of the Senate and House oi
Representatives to that fact.
II Mr.. Jefferson's memory ought tc
be sent down to posterity covered with
infamy because he in his own case al
lowed vote to be counted which wa,
slightly informal on The outside of the
envelope, / should be glad to know
what ought to be done to those who
would count this vote which hal
neither form nor substance, which
, leaves out all the essential particular
that they are required to certify?
This great nation still struggles fo
Justice: a million majority of whit,
people send up their cry, and majori
, ty of more than quarter of a millior
, Of all colors demand it. But we can