The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1877-11-28

means IN their poacer, the perpetration Of the
great fraud" u Ell too strong an express
.on i.. 1helr case is too serious TO be deall
WIN WIN nightly. So far as depends on me.
VIII not suffer them TO be Dreiudjce.l bv
your numbering advocacy. But they have
nift themselves very much By declaring in
sincerely and untruly that they went ia
LOUISIANA only t. s1itness the count of she
ooIa vote Dy the returning board. No
Daiy believes that they would drop their
affairs at home, start Immediately after the
election, travel all the way to Louisiana and
stay there at great expense for a month,
merely that they might be present as spec
Cdto. when Wells, Anderson and the two
muiattoes would cypher up the returns
NO, they meant business of some kind, good
or evil, and evil is always suspected of that
winch covers itself under sham. Another
pretense OF theirs fails 10 bear animation.
They said they could not aIvise an hone t
count or repTobate false one without fear
OF offense TO the returning officers. This
extreme delicacy is all simulated. Nothing
could be more ridiculous than the idea that
the committee was restrained by politeness
from interfering TO stop the fraud, If they
wanted it stopped. They could have crushed
| it with word. If they had simply said
that an honest count must be made of ali
the legal votes actually cast, and that no
man should, with their consent, be recog
nized, protected or rewarded for falsifying
or fraudulently altering returns, the con-
spiracy would have dissolved that instant.
Their refusal to do this, or something equiv
alent, when pressed and solicited bv the
Democratic committee. needs to be vindica-
ted by some better reason than any that has
yet been given. They not only did not pre-
vent
THE GREAT FRAUD,
when they might have done it so easily, but
they encouraged it, intentionally or unin-
tentionally, by telling the eonspirators that
power to disfranchise the citizens OF the
State might cOnstituCionally be exercised by
the returning board, and To give this plausi
biity they cited void statute aud decis-
ion of the supreme court which had never
been made. BY reasoning wholly unsound
they made the conSpir9tors believe that If
they put their fraud into the "fOrm of law"
it could never be questioned. Moreover,
after the fraudulent alteration OF the vote
had been made, they pronounced it right
eous thing. How far they were conscien-
tious in this, do not pretend 10 say. But
II Il man approves of a consummated crime,
1t does not require much faith in human
weakness TO believe that he might have
helped iG along while i5 yet was in feri.
gain the chairman of the visiting commit
tee has since become secretary of the treas
ury, and controls the appointment and re-
moval of custom house officers at New Or
leans as well elsewhere. Wells is sur
veyor of the port, and y nderson is deputy
COLLECTOR. Are these offices the cOnsdera-
ton. IN whole or in part, of their corrupt
service in the returning board? What 9th
er claims TO those lucrative and highly re-
spOnsble places could be preferred by this
brace of detected criminals? Though these
facts make an Impression very unfavorabe
10 the committee. they are but moral cir
cumstances. The public is not yet in pos
session OF any direct evidence which shows
either of them to have actually participated
in connecting peTjured affidavlLs, bargaIned
for falsitied records, or made special prom
ises of reward for corrupt services. All of
them are men of good general reputation;
most of them stan so high that charge
against them of wilIful dishonesty, unless
supported by overwhelming proof, must be
rejected as Incredible. Some, perhaps, were
tied to the tail of the committee who had
not knowledge enough of the subject TO
make them fairly responsible for what they
said or did. You yourself are in no danger
if you get proper credit for your mental
imbecility; at least, | think it can be easily
shown that great allowance ought to be
made for you on that score.
As to Oregon, it was not asserted before
the commission that anything criminal had
been committed. The question whether
Cronin or Watts was elected involved a
doubtful and difficult question of law on
which there were different opinions and ju
dical authorities conf citing. That Governor
Grover decided it honestly and according
| to his best judgment, there can be no doubl
| in the mi.ds of reasonable and fair minded
men. The presumption that he acted with
all due fidelity to the lew is much strength
ened by your assertion that he was guilty OF
Is very az evi ee n his favor In
like manner take
YOUR DIATRIBE UPON MR.. TILDEN
and the New York Democracy. l know
nothing of the matters you refer to but
do not believe a word that you say. Re-
mem berIn9 your mOnstrOuS falSehOOds about
Mr.. Buchanan; seeing the large, loose, and
/ tou iSh m Of chs
myself, and applying the maxim, fdlsas in
un0 fdLSuS in omnibus, can only regard your
abuse of Mr.. Tilden as strong proof that he
is a just, upright and honorable gentleman.
| Thus you furnish me with cheap and easy
mode of praising him. The chosen chief OF
| the nation swindled of his right does not
| want any eulogy from me. But if | am
| called upon to show the grounds of his title
| TO general respect aud admiration | need
| not describe the irreproachable walk of hi
! private life or his high public career-his
! brilliant eloquence or his solid Judgment
/ his tireless struggle against corruption in
! the city of New York, or his beneticent ad-
/ minstration of the State government; it is
enough that | simply show your attempt to
! defame him, for that itself is decoration of
| his character. Your fling at Messrs. Field and
Carpenter is hardly worth notice. Far as
| they stand above your reach, you attempt to
malign their motives for opposing the great
| fraud; those of one you pronounce TO be
| mercenary. and of the other " mixed aud
mysterious" They belong to class OF men
| who act habitually upon motives which
must always be mystery to you. for you
cannot comprehend them. You chuckle
over the fact that their logic and eloquence
was unsuccessful. That is proper enough.
| THE DECISION OF THE COMMISSIONERS
gave to stupidity and fraud great trium phi
| over the honesty and ability of Messrs. Field
and Carpenter, and in this triumph you
have an unquestioned right to rejoice. You
add that their joint effort before the COM
mission was not inefficient aid in preparing
| the minds of their auditors for the judicial
results which followed" This seems 10
mean that, either from lack of faith fulness
or want OF capacity, they injured their cause
by pleading Ii. But you would scarcely
presume TO pronounce such judgment on
men whose superiority over yourself is so
marked and so well known. One other
construction OF your words is possible. The
commissioners were the auditors and their
minds were prepared to decide in favor of
the fraud by the mere fact that MesSrs. Field
and Carpenter, Republican lawyers, ap-
peared in opposition to it. Did the com mis-
sioners indulge a feeling so unworthy !?
i Did they prostitute their judicial functions
TO satisfy il? Certainly no reasonable man
can ever believe that without authority
much better than yours. But most probably
you had no meaning at all. It is mere drivel,
and only furnishes another proof that when
your masters at Washington entrusted you
with the defense of the great fraud they put
the business into most incompetent hands.
j. s. BLACK.
A Startling Proposition.