The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-02-20

four years ago in rejecting .he vote of
Louisiana. he then referred TO the
alleged inelIgibility OF certain cleo
tors in that State, and said he
could not regard that other than
AS notification of the Constitutional
provision on the subject. Under this
decision, no matter by what fraud man
might be elected President or Vice Pres
ident, or how ineligible an elector might
be, there was no power to inquire into it.
The vote of On ineligible elec or must
be counted, and neither State nor Con-
gress could right the wrong. He utterly
dissented from such decision as being
destructive to republican government.
The decision would have the effect of q
proclamation to dishonest Returning
Boards to perpetuate whatever villainy
their interests might dictate with abso-
lutte certainty that they would be sue
cesslul.
Mr.. Bayard said, as q member of the
Commission he had given all he could
give OF earnest study, patient labor and
devotion to secure q just execution Of
the law under which he had been sp.
pointed, but his labors and his efforts
had been crowned by failure; deep was
his sorrow and poignant his dissppoint-
ment. He incurred his failure tor his
country's sake, tor it seemed to him not
only did this decision of eight of the
members of the Commission level in
the dust all the essential safeguards
thrown around the election oil the Chief
Magistrate, but it announced to the
people of the land that truth and us
tice, honesty and morality, were no
longer the basis of their political power.
The debate continued by Mr.. Wallace
against the decision of the Commission,
aud by Messrs. Logan and Sargent in
favor thereof.
Mr.. Wallace SAID: The Senator from
Ohio sherman says that no lawyer
asserted the right to 60 behind the re.
turns but the records show that he him.
self said that this bill gave that right
when he resisted its passage, and two OF
the Com mission, Messrs. Morton and
Garfield, in debate opposed the bill be-
cause it gave that right. The rejection
of this fraud by the Commission admitted
its truth This is law, and
the Republican party cannot now say
that the facts are not as we state them,
a gross and palpable fraud on the people
of Louisianr, anc through them on the
American people has been given the
voice and power TO proclaim lie, to
millify the truth, and to revenge the will
OF The majority that people. If false and
forged returns made by four men, OF
whom one is too weak to be knsve; an
other tricky scrupulous and de 'aulter in
public office; q third a.sharper who cheats
at keno and defrauds his State, and the
fourth confessed to be guilty and in
dicted for the forging of dead mems
names on the pay rolls OF his city. II
these returns, certified to by an execu-
tive whose only title to his place is
federal bayonets, are to be conclusive
proof Of the title to the Presidency, then
q government of law is supplanted by
one OF force and fraud A majority OF
the people OF the United States whose
righ. 4, are outraged by this decision =
n system Of Jurisprudence that
finds q remedy lor every wrong,
a government that has repelled
force and has the inborn vigorito resist
corruption, shrinks from the poisonous
touch of falsehood and torgery-are
here to day IN silent but majestic protest
against this judgment. The laws of the
people whom l represent are based on
common right, common justice and COM
mon sense, and they believe that the
end of legal proceedings is the at
tainment Of justice, They will not
respect. A decision that refuses
to hear the truth, that endorses
falsehood, sustslns forgery and places
the Federal government at the base.
They will and they should agitate for
its reversal. The result before US is
fitly reached dit is the decree OF party
w.ung by party fealty from sjudiclal tri-
bunsl upon purely legal question.
Nj - we never look on its like again.
Mr.. Sargent, in the course Of his re-
marks. said that frauds had been COM
United in Louisiana by the Democrats,
and it was b. such means that they eI-
pected to seize the Presidency. 1t was
by such means that, lew days ago, the
assassin attempted IN the State House OF
Louisiana, to take the lite OF the man
whom more than half OF the people OF
Louisiana had elected Governor.
Laughter on the Democratic side Mr..
Sargent, looking toward Mr.. WIthers,
said: The Senator might laugh at that
fact. Did the Senator Taught at the tact
that one Ct his party papers in this city,
counselled the ASSASSINATION OF
Gov. Hayes"
Mr.. Withers-No, l do not laugh at
that.
Mr.. Ssrgent-Does the Senator laugh
at the fact that his party Is responsible
for the assassination Of Abraham Lin
coin? Does the Senator deny that?
Mr.. Withers Yes, sir; deny it f,irly
and squsrely.
Mr.. Sargent resuming, said the Demo
cratic party was stained all over with the
crime OF assassination. They had assas-
sinsted from the best man God had ever
created-Abrahsm Lincoln-down to the
poorest negro in Mississippi.
NJ. Withers said, before replying to
the TRADE of the Senator from California,
he desired TO state that he supported the
bill for creating of the Electoral Com
mission, in hope that the members drawn
from the judicial department OF the gov
eminent would give the subject fair
judicial consideration, but be was mis-.
taken: that this decision had demonstrs-
ted the fac: that member Of the Su-
preme Court, the highest tribunal IN Law,
could not rise above party, any more than
pronounced politicians. He then a.
iuded 10 the charges of the Senstor from
Cslifo-nis snd from Ohio, Shermsn, !
that the Democratic party was not re-
sponsible FOR al the wrongs committed
and said ,hs. three-fourths Of the violence
in the South WAS Ins.igsted BY the RsPab-
licans
NJ. Beutwell said he believed the
people of this country would accept the
Judgment of the Commission and said
thsi the Supreme Court would lose 10
,-1.,.-o he the action cf IFS members