The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1877-03-29
HIS SOLUTION OF POLITICAL
PROBLEM.
A Cordial Support of the Policy of the
Observation-Disclosures Ap-
proval Of the New Cabinet
Hearty Agreement With
the Plan Of Cancellation
in the South.

Col Robert u. lngersoll, OF Illinois, dc.
livered the following lecture in Steinway
Hall, New York City, on Wednesday
evening March IA, 1877. Although the
weather was bad the hall was crowded,
many ladies being in the audience. Mr.
A. B. Cornell introduced the speaker.
who addressed the audience as follows:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: We have
pas ed through the most remarkable
campaign of our history-a campaign re-
markable in every respect. 1t was bit
ter, passionate, relentless, and desperate,
and admit, for one, that | added to its
bitterness and relentlessness. And il
may be well enough for me to say thet
now, having in some part changed my
feeling, that ! am willing to forgive, and
do forgive with all my heart, every per
son ID every party that ever said any
thing against lApplause. Each party
expended all the means at its disposal
nothing wa left undone, good or bad
Lauyhte Everything happened that
could happen. There was no complica-
tion omitted. Each party said and did
about all that could be said and done
Everybody attended TO politics Busi-
ness was suspended Everything was
given over to professions and torches,
and flags and transparencies, and resolu-
tions, and conventions, and speeches,
and songs. Old arguments were re-
vamped; old stories were pressed into
the service and speeches were made over
and over again, and the old story of the
wer was revived, and the North was ar
rayed against the South as though upon
the field of battle Party cries were
heard OIL every hand. Each party leaped
like a tiger upon the reputation of the
other and tore with tooth and claw,
with might and main. Speeches by the
bundled thousand, documents by the
million, disc Issions without number, all
this and all these constituted the cam
paign of 1876. In olden times il used to
be said that after the election you could
probably tell who was Governor. In this
campaign no particular light was thrown
upon that question by the election
Laughter The Democrats swore that
rilden was President, but at their ban.
quet they saw the d an outline Of the
skeleton of defeat Republicans rejoiced
with face ready at any moment to ex-
press the profoundest grief Then came
dispatches and rumors, and estimated
majorities, and vague talk about Return
ing Boards, and intimidated voters, and
stuffed ballot boxes, and fraudulent re-
turns, and bribed clerks and injunctions,
and contempts of court, and telegrams in
cipher, and outrages, and octoroon balls
in which reverend Senators were whirled
IN loves voluptuous waltz Everybody
discussed the qualifications of Electors,
and the value Of Governors certificates.
and how to get behind returns, and who
had the right to count, and persons ex-
pecting offices of trust, honor and profit
began to threaten war and extermina-
ton, and calls were made for 100000
men, and there was no end of meetings
and resolutions, and denunciations, and
the downfall of the country was prophe-
sled, and yet. Notwithstanding all this,
the name OF the person who really was
elected remained unknown. The last
scene Of this strange eventful history, so
far as the election by the people was con-
cerned, was Cronin. Laughter. l see
him now as he leaves the land where
rolls the Oregon. and hears no sound
save his own dashings Cronin, the last
surviving veteran of the grand army of
honesty and reform. Cronin, a quorum
of one. Laughter Cronin, who elect
ed the two others by plurality of his
own vote. see him now armed with
Hoadlys opinion and with Growers GER
tifcate, trudging wearily and drearily
over the wide and wasted saleratus des-
erts Of the West.
"And still the wonder is, and stilI it grows,
How one small head could carry all his nose"
Laughter.
Then came the great question of who
shall count the Electoral vote. The Vice
President being a Republican, it was gen
orally contended, at least by me, that he
had a right to count that vote. Laugh
ter. My doctrine was if the Vice Pres
ident would count the vote right he had
the right to count it. Laughter. The
| Vice President not being a Democrat,
the members of that party claimed that
the House could prevent the Vice Presi-
| dent from counting it, and this was
| claimed simply because the House was
not Republican. Nearly all decided ac-
cording to their politics. Finally, bill
was passed creating a tribunal to count
the vote il any, and hear testimony it
any, and declare what man had been
elected President, if any. Laughter.
/ This tribunal consisted of fifteen men,
ten being chosen on account OF their pol
itics, and FIVE from purely geographical
considerations. Laughter. was
there, and know exactly how it was.
Laughter. This tribunal divided as
| near even as IL Is posslOle 10 ulNlue III
teen men. On all questions, except ad-
tournaments, they stood eight to seven,
and it has been remarked by unpreju-
diced observers that in no single instance
involving an Electoral vote did a solitary
Democrat vote with the Republicans
Laughter 1t seems impossible ioT
them to forget old party ideas and asso
Citations; such is the weakness OF man
and such is ,he strength OF political hab
it. But, Notwithstanding the seven