The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1877-11-10
A TALK BY TILDEN.
THE LEADER or DEMOCRACY EXPRESSES HIM
SELF on THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.
Prom the New York Herald

on Saturday evening he madca speech in which
he spoke very freely of the late presidential
contest. After an allusion to his tour abroad,
and to New York politics he said:
The election, although for state officers, has
relations to national politics, 10 which know
you will expect me TO alludc. y Voice
course: go on The condemnation by the
people Of the greatest political crime IN
our history, by which the result OF me
presidential election of 1876 was set aside
and reversed. is general and overwhelming.
IA voice" We're sick Of it, Applause. Her
sister states might afford to have the voice of
New York trittcred away or its expression de,
ferred. 1t could not change history; 1t could
not alter the universal judgment OF the civil
lized world it could not avert the moral retr-
button that is impending, But New York her
self cannot afford to have her voice unheard.
A Voice-You were robbed there
Mr.. Tlldcn-I did not get robbed-thc pco-
pie got robbed | had on the one hand course
of laborious service in which health and even
| life itself might be perilcd; or, on the other
hand, had a period of relaxation. Butte the
people it was robbery OF the dearest rights Oh
an American citizen. Great applause.
| The Declaration of Independence, the bills
of RIGHT. and the state constitutions all contain
assertions of the right of the people to govern
themselves and to change their rulers at Will.
These declarations had ceased to have any
meaning to the American mind. They seemed
| to he trusms which there WAS nobody to dis
pulc. The contests known to Us were contests
! between different portions OF our people.
To comprehend the Significance of these de
clarationS it is necessary to carry ourselves
back to the examples of human experience IN
view Of which our ancestors acted. They had
seen the government machine and small gov
ornamental class, sometimes with the aid Of the
army, able to rule arbitrarily over millions OF
Iunorganizcd, isolated atoms of human society.
In forming the government OF the United
States they cndcavorcd to take every prccau-
ton AGAINST the recurrence of such evils in this
country. They kept down the standing army
to nominal amount Cheers. They intend
ed t. limit the functions of the federal govern.
ment so IA to prevent the growth, to dangerous
dimensions, OF an otflcc-holding class and of
corrupt influences. They preserved the state
governments a. Il COunterpOiSc TO act as cen
tres of opinion and ~ An organized means OF
resistance to revolutionary u>urpation by the
federal government Applause Jefferson,
the leader of liberal opinion, in his first in
augural, recognized this theory Hamilton,
the representative OF the extreme conservative
sentiment, in The FtderoltSt, cXpoundcd it with
tldDbTdlt uIHhIltulS, 4h'iAllNpil, idlilNi VI
the constitution, enforced these conclusions.
The increase of power in the federal govern
ment during the last twenty years, the creation
of a vast office holding class, with lis numcr-
Gus dependents, and the Growth of the means
of corrupt influence have we'll nigh destroyed
the balance of our complex system. twas my
Judgment in 1876 that public opinion demand
ed a change of administration, and that II need
ed to embrace two-thirdS of the people at the
beginning of the canvass in order TO cast Il
majority of votes at the election. Cheers.
If this tendency is not arrested its inevitable
result will be the practical destruction of our
system. Let the federal government grasp
power over the great corporations OF our coun-
try and acquire the means of addressing their
interests and their fears: let II take juriSdic-
ton OF riots which ii is the duty of the state to
suppress; let il find prctcXts for increasing the
army and soon those in possession of the gov
eminent will have power with which no OPP
position can successfully compete \ voice
" Next time | will bet ON YOU" The expert
cnce of France under the third Napoleon
shows that with elective forms and universal
suffrage, dcspOtism can hc established and
maintained.
In the canvas, of 1876 the federal govern
mcnt embarked in the contest with unsCrupu.
lous activity. 4 member of the cabinet was
the head Of a partisan committee. Agents
stood ut the doors of the pay offices to exact
contributions from official subordnates. A
voice, You are right The whole Office
holding class were made 10 exhaust their pow
er Even the army, for the first time, to the
disgust of the soldiers and many of the officers,
was moved about the country rs an electionecr-
ing instrument. All this was done under the
eye of the beneficiary of it, who was making
the air vocal with professions of civil-servicc
reform, To he begun after he had himself cN-
haustcd all the immoral advantages of civil
service abuses.
Public opinion in some states was ovcrbornc
bv corrupt influences and by fraud. But so
strong was the desire for reform that the dem.
ocratic candidate, received 100000 sutfrages
This was majority of the popular vote of
about 100000 and of / 100000 of the white cit
liens. II was vote of 100000 larger than
Gen Grant received in 1879, and 300 900 larg.
cr than he received in 1865. tremendous
ChccringD
The step from the extreme degree of corrupt
abuses in the elections Ia Il SubvCrsiOn of the
elective system itself j. natural. No sooner
was the election over than the whole power OF
the officc-holding class, led by cabinet minis
ter, was cXcrtCd to procure, and did procure,
from the state CanvaSScrs of two states, illegal
anu lTduuUltIt CcIIltdltS, NIl'H Ntlt Hldut
prcteXt for false control of the electoral
votes To enable these officers to exercise the
immoral courage necessary 10 the parts assign
ed to them, and to relieve them from the timid
: ity which God has implanted in the human
bosom ~ limit 10 criminal audacity, detach
mcnt- of the army were sent TO afford them
shelter
/ The cNpc!ientS by which the votes of Tho
clcctur, chosen by the people of these tive
states were rejected and the votes of the cleo
[ tors having the illegal and fraudulent ccrtiti
/ Gates were counted, and the menace of uSurpa
/ ton 10y the president Cf the senate of dictator
! ial power over all The questions in controversy
and the menace of TIL enforcement Of his pre-
tended authority by the army and navy. tho
terrorism Of The business CLASSES and the kin
, bred measures by which the false count wa'
consummatcd are known. tlcS, yes
The result i, the establishment of prccc
dent destructive of our whole elective system
st,