The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-02-20
The National Grievance.

The National Grievance.
I.wi,, he great error In the pubic
Judgment IL it's diverted from the great
grievance OF the nation by q feeling OF indis-
nation towards the Electoral Commission.
President GRANT is the usurpcr whose
strategy has subverted the will OF the nation
and fastened upon us President VINO mas
no more right to a seat in the pres'ue''''.
chair than has WELLS. or PACKARD u
CHAMBERLAIN. ,n-
Tha ,,surnation OF President GRANT, uh-
der the specious disguise oil anee'eo noA
esty and patriotism, was the great outlas
mon civil government and popular righ','
II:s ;nter,erencc to control civil Procee".
ing through his dishonest agents. y .o'.upt
;,d;c;ary. and Federal soldiers was 'hs a''
- snhyers;ou of the Governments, anu 40,
= he should have been impeached; ana
,ron,a have been, save that such step
would have been utterly useless, the men
who would have been his judges eeins
really his partisan supporters in ais ms OUT
RACES.
TO this national Chief Magistrate is trace
ohio au our present troubles and the OBJ
struc.son Of the national will expressed IN
The presidential election. The fathers OF
+be republ;c would have considered the pre-
s;dential election yitiated by the appearance
Of soldiers ut the polls. and their presence
at a count of the votes under the preteXt OF
Sne;o, that the count was "fair." But IN
our day all this was permitted TO De aone
under the hypocritical disguise OF the &c
s,re "a prcyent fraud; and all this was done
"a eapture three States by compelling them
70 vote for HAYES, and thus enabling Presl-
dent GRANT to dictate his successor TO the
American people. The States being cap
tured. the Republican party determined
never to give them up.
The Electoral Commission was created 70
give to the ceremony OF inauguratlng the
President civH character. 1t was hoped
that it would be fair, and iudicially so; but
that hope'waS disappointed, and all that Is
left TO us is the consolation that 1t, never
theIeSs. secures to us the supremacy OF civil
authority in the proceeding OF installing the
President.
BIZ, let no one think Of subordinating the
great crime Of President GRANT to the
faults OF the Commission. They are incl
dental. and we rather think consequential.
Some of the associate justices OF the SUI
prone Court are the creatures OF the trou-
bled period OF the war and the appolnteeS
OF President GRANT, and came in under
prevalent Radical desire to reform the SUI
preme Court. No one has higher appre-
citation OF the judicial character than we
have: but it is too true, alas. that when
power welded arbitrarily is in the ascend
ant the judiciary has not been found an al
together reliable defence for liberty and
law. Unfortunately the judges are men,
and afflicted with human passions and in
tirnitieS. Educated and BIASED by pur-
suit as they are, they are Of course several
removes farther from temptation than
other glasses; but they are flesh and blood,
and power is great with flesh and blood.
The people should look at the true enemy,
the usurper; and If they but have that con-
stancy and heroism which should make
them worthy OF liberty they will overcome
that enemy and reestablish their rights and
the supremacy Of civil authority. II they
but rise in their true character as the source
OF authority, and overturn all the machinery
and put an end to all the vile usages and
outrages which have overridden their rights
and their authority, they will be soon free,
and, what is greater and more important,
they will prove that they deserve to be free.