The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1877-03-16

IN law ~ any ioreiBuer couiu Dts L Vu tnOugnt
it right and legal and just to say that you
would not look at the record which the peo.
pie had made the forgery, the fraud and the
corruption we're too sacred to be intorfered
with the truth must not be allowed 10 come
in conflict with the imposture, lest the con-
cussion might be damaging
This precedent must be followed. 1t is new
law to be sure, but we must give it due well
come I; and the new lords that it brings into
power must b., regarded as our ''very noble
and apparent good masters" Having decid-
ed that electors were duly appointed in Lou
isiana who were known not to be appointed
| we cannot expect you to take notice of any
fact similar or kindred to it in South Car
| olina.
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 APP
pointed, and continued to be afterward. The
Federal Constitution says that no man shall
be appointed who is in that relation to the
Federal Government. But you held, accord
ing to law mind you, that he was lawful
elector and his vote good vote. In other
words, thing is perfectly constitutional al
though it is known to be in the very teeth of
a constitutional interdict.
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 see-
ing whether the thing that is brought here is
a forgery and fraud on the one hand or
whether it is a genuine and true certificate on
the other
But while we cannot ask you to go back be-
hind this certificate will you please just go to
it-only to it-not step behind. IF you do,
YOU will find that it is no certificate at all
,uch as is required by law. The electors
must vote by ballot, aud they are required to
he on oath before they vote That certificate
does not show that either of those require
ments was met and where party is exer-
cising a special authority like this they must
keep strictly within it, and you are not to
presume anything except what appears on
the face Of their act to be done.
IF anybody will cast their minds back lit
tie into the history of Presidential elections
or look at the debates of less than 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
Informal vote sent up from Georgia. The in
formality was not in the certificate inside of
the envelope, but in the outside veri6cation.
Mr.. Matthew L. Davis in 1887, got up that
story. 1t was not true, but it was believed
for while and it cast great odium on Mr..
Jefferson's memory. 1t was not an inform
alty that was nearly as important as this
nothing like it. But one of the Senators
now on this bench referred to it in debate
only short time ago, and denounced Mr..
Jefferson as having elected himself by fraud,
because he did not call the attention of the
Senate and House Of Representatives to that
fact.
If Mr.. Jefferson's memory ought to be
sent down to posterity covered with infamy
because he in his own case allowed a vote
Ito be counted which was slightly informal on
! the outside of the envelope, l should be glad
to know what ought to be done to those who
would count this vote which has neither form
nor substance, which leaves out all the essen.
tal particulars that they are required to GER
tify?
This great nation still struggles for justice
million majority of white people send uT
their cry, and majority Of more than &
quarter Of a million of all colors demand it
But we cannot complain; l want you to un
derstand that we do not complain. Usually i
is said that the fowler setteth not forth hi
net in sight of the bird" but this fowler Sc
the net in sight Of the birds that went into it
1t is largely our own fault that we wer
caught.
i We are promised-and l hope the promis
q will be kept-that we shall have good gov
Il ernment, fraudulent though it be; that tn
rights Of the States shall be respected and in
L dividual liberty be protected. We are prom
6 ised the same reformation which the Turks
Government is now proposing to its peopl,
The Sultan promises that if he is sustaine
3 in his present contest, he will establish an
act upon certain principles
1 First, the work of Decentralization sha
' commence Immediately and the autonomy {
;. the provinces shall be carefully looked sfte
Secondly. the people shall be governed b
their natural judges; they will not send Nj
hammedans nor Christian Ienegades frol
!. Cons, antinople down on them, but they sha
- be governed by people Of their own faith.
II Thirdly, no subordinate officer, when b
commits an illegal act, shall be permitted I
i plead in justification the orders Of his sup'
ror. How much we need exactly that kin
of reform in this country, and how glad "
y ought to be that our Government is going
u be as good hereafter as the Turks!
>, They offer us everything now. They d.
u nounce negro supremacy and carpet-ba
S thieves. Their pet policy for the South is
be abandoned. They offer US everything b.
. one but on that subject their lips are close
- sealed They refuse to say that they will N,
% cheat US hereafter in the elections If the
. would only agree to that, if they would on
repent of their election frauds, and make re
4 titution of the votes they have stolen, Il
IN circle of our felicities would be full.
ie If this thing stands accepted and the Ia
70 you have made for this occasion shall be ii
70 law for all occasions, We can never expect SUI
g. thing as an honest election again. If "
~ want to know who will be President by f
= ture election, do not inquire how the peop
II of the States are going to vote. You ne,
ct only to know what kind of scoundrels cons
he tute the Returning Boards, and how much