Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1877-11-21
PRINCIPLES, NOT MEN.
CLEARFIELD Pa, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 81,

0 were known not 10 have been polled
: The whole proceeding was full Of falls
|. protences. Forgery of the most i'm
D portant documents was part of il
} perjury and subornation Of perjury at
I tended it at every step Shall thes
|. things be forgotten or abandoned d,
J. you expect the cheated people of th,
Q Nation to say, like the eight commits
, sioners, that this is as good q way a
: any to elect President?
One of your allegations is that | in
tended ";o convey the false impression
, that the formation Of the commission
r was the result Of q Republican con
spiracy TO fraudulently elect n Presi
dent and Vice President !" and Judge
Bradley, taking your word for it. has
made himself interesting by public
J complaint Of the injury to himself.
did not say this or anything like IT, On
the contrary, ! referred to the commits
sion as being proposed in certain diff.
cul. l.circumstanccs oavoid thc'dnngcrs
, which might spring from u continued
: and final disagreement between the
two Houses, and as being accepted by
the Democrats in the belief that Justice
would be done, and an honest decision
rendered against the fraud. In all this
there is nothing about conspiracy in
"thc formation of the commission
do not know that you misrepresented
this point wilmlly. 1t is ono of your
characteristic inaccuracies like that
which charges Dante with the indie
cencies Of the Decameron.
No; the conspiracy was not in the
formation OF the commission, but in the
frauds which fabricated and returned
those bogus votes. The commission
refused TO verify the vote aud ascertain
whether the electors that sent them
up were duly appointed or not and in
this it bitterly disappointed the friends
OF truth, and grossly violated the whole
spirit as well as tho letter of the law
which gave it being. Whether this
was mere error or something worse is
not for me on you to determine but
the general Judgment will, no doubt,
ABORT the charitable view which have
given, aud say that the faculties Of the
majority were too much bcnumbed by
party passion TO sec the facts or under
stand the law.
You claim that the certificate of the
returning board gaye Won 8" political
advantage" In this YOU are certainly
ripht 4 marty sned for an honest
debt has a great adyantage over his
creditor if he can produce a fraudulent
or forced recent upon the trial The
adrantage becomes decisive il the tri.
bunal trying the cause IL willing to ac.
cept the false paper give il tho effect
of truc one, and permit the plaintiff
to be cheated out of bis debt. But
would il be right legally or morally,
for the debtor 10 faLe such an adyan.
tage ?
Your technical argument in favor OF
the fraud deserves notice, because II is
almost your only attempt at reasoning
and because your conclusion would be
fair if your premises were sound.
You declare, in broad and unquali-
fled terms, that the American people
have emo right TO elect their own Chiei
Magistrate that no such right is i'm
bedded in the Constitution or elsewhere
that, on The contrary, "the trainers
OF the Constitution were careful to eX-
cludo iron the people therlghtto elect
their own Chief Magistrate admit
that this, II true, ends the controversy
10 your iavor ior u cannot nave oeen
legally wrong to defeat the attempt
which the people made to exercise
rlght from whlch they were carefully
excluded py thc constitution but
TINS opinion OF yours ls q total miscon-
ceptlon, ana VIII not be adopted by
any human being who has the ialntest
idea OF our institutions
You put your proposition with even
more directness and speak with un'
wonted precision when you say, as you
do on the same page, that the people
of Louisiana and Florida have not the
power to appoint electors of President
and Vice President. This goes to the
root of the matter. ltproves logically
enough that the election at which the
Tilden candidates were fixed upon,
chosen, appointed and named as elcc-
tors, was mere abortion-a vain effort
to perform function ultra Uires and
merely void. The returning board
and the electoral commission were
justified in treating Il with contempt.
OF such an election il was no harm to
ialsiiy the records for in their best
estate they had no value or validity.
TO forge them was no crime, for it
prejudiced no right.
But is it true that the people OF Lou
isiana and Florida have no power to
appoint electors You deny the pow
cr of the people TO appoint because
that power els by the supreme law OF
the land (mcaning tho federal consii-
tution) vested in the States to be exer-
cised in such manner rs the legisla.
lures thereof may direct" Now the
legislatures Of two States have direct
ed that the power shall be exercised
by tho people, and this makes their
right as clear as if the legislative en-.
aclmcnt had been textually inserted in
the Constitution Of the United States.
No argument is necessary to make this
intclligiblc to a man OF ordinary sense.
There is the Constitution and there are
the laws OF tho States he that runs
may read" though under the eircum-
stances, ! suppose l must not allow my
sell to say that "a 1901 cannot err
therein.
II IS hardly possible 70 imagine any.
thing more prep,osterons than your
notion that these laws when give lno
mower of QuDOlntmcIt so distinctly,