The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1877-04-11
s y, RIGHTS, OR no ARMY !

Mr.. hayes assu'he" W NC Vie real
nomoeracy, because they declared
,bst they were vindicating the rights
and powers of the separate States
against certain claims to a power of
revision in the General Government
asserted BY the supporters of Mr..
rideu. This commission in effect
declared that, however monstrous the
,,aetoral frauds committed in State
migbt be, that State could neither re-
dress them nor apply an antidote af-
Tor the 9th Of December, and that
4be two Houses of Congress could not
,ofnse to count the votes for Presi-
dent which the fraudulent electors Of
State had fraudulently put in the
Federal urns on the 9th of Deem
her. On that day the Federal Gov
eminent asks each State who are it's
Presidential electors, and the reply
given by the Governor and the Re-
turning Board on that day must be
treated as verify by the two Houses
Of Congress, because in making that
declaration the State is sovereign and
beyond the control or inquiry of any
mower. We are not now complain
ing of that decision of the commits
siOn. 1t was a clear, distinct and
hold declaration Of the sovereign
power inherent in State, despite the
Federal Union, and as against the
two Houses of Congress. 1t went so
far as to recognize the power Of a
State to commit and uphold any I'M
aginable fraud in the creation of
Presidential electors, in its partici-
nation in the Government Of the Uni
ted States and in its discharge Of a
duty imposed by the Constitution
That decision Of the Commission I'M
der which Mr.. Hayes acts as Presi-
dent can only be upheld by the vim
dication of a doctrine Of State rights
ss intensely anti.national in Wing
or Republican eyes as any for which
Mr. Calhoun ever contended. We
repeat that we are not now complain
ing of that doctrine, how much So
ever We may think it to have been
misapplied by the commission to
three communities which at that
time were really not States at all, be-
cause they were not then released
from the Federal grip laid upon them
on pretext Of the necessities of civil
war. The commission, however, de-
clared that South Carolina, Florida
and Lou 'siana, in November, 1875,
we're just as truly free, coequal and
sovereign States of the American
Union as Maine and Vermont, and
IS much entitled to manage their
domestic concerns in their own way.
no matter how false, wicket and
fraudulent that way might be. This
was an incarDation of State rights
which, if it had been made by the
Democratic party, would have set the
Republican organs to playing the
Miserere from end to end of the Re
public. Il would have been denoun
ced as an outbreak Of the old rebel.
Confederate, slave power spirit; as
disloyal; as an abandonment Of all
that had been gained by the Union
armies; as resurrection ofthe worst
features Of Calhounism; as dancing
OF secession jackassas on the grave
OF Andrew Jackson. And yet this
declaration was made and insisted
upon by Evarts, Matthews and Nc
CFary, Of counsel for the Republican
party; it was made and insisted upon
by every Republican on the commits
sion, including three members of the
Supreme Court; it was accepted by
the Republicans in Congress; it was
endorsed by the Republican party,
and under it all the Republicans in
the Union hailed Mr.. Hayes as Pres
ident. And now the question is
whether, having got the benefits of
this extreme State rights doctrine,
Tue Republican party will honestly
take up and bear its burdens. If so,
we shall be more reconciled than We
now are to it's fraudulent consequence
10 the defeat of Mr.. Tilden which
was its immediate outcome. The
disclosures recently made public in
regard to negotiations with the South
snow that the leading councillors
and personal friends of Mr.. Hayes
even took another step in the same
State rights path, for they promised
mat MIR. Hayes would, if Inaugural
'ed, withdraw the army from its then
intended interference in the internal
AFFAIRS of the two sovereign States of
oouth Carolina and Louisiana. Mr..