The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-03-15
HON. d. II. CULBERSoN SAYS A
LITTLE TO THE POINT.

Capt. Todd, of Jefferson, has re
ceived letter from Hon. D. D. Gull
Oerson giving some explanation of the
course of the majority of the Texas ,
delegation upon the electoral commls- /
sion measure. We take the following
extracts from the Jga,piecate, in which
they first appeared:
1 note what you say about the feel
ings of the people over the defeat be-
fore the "jint high confoohon," as
Ward Taylor puts 1t, and am not as
tonished or surprised at it. They ex-
pected n different result-so did we;
they are deceived and so are we. The |
disgust Is therefore mutual; but here |
the mutually stops-as the people you |
say are disguised at US, while we can
not afford to be disguised ut them.
True it is, however, all, with rare OK
ceptions, were in favor Of the hill, in
and out of Congress. Those inside of
Congress who voted against the bill
IL mean Democratic did so ON the
principle that the hunter shot at an
animal not clearly distinguishable in
the bush = to hit if deer, miss If
calf. That was n safe vote, or what Mug
gins would cali u discriminating fore
knowledge, statesman-like leap into
the secret IF the coming future Gust
ahead of the vote. You may think
strange now, after the event has trans
pired, that every Democrat in Congress
except nineteen, both in the Senate and
House, voted for the bill, and that
every Republican who made any pre-
tension to fair dealing (and the number
was smalD also voted for 1t, while
every scoundrel belonging TO the Re-
publican party voted against it; but if
the people would reflect, which they
may do after while, but not now,
they will remember what the situation
was when the bill was passed. Hayes
| had primd tdcie case in the canvass of
returning officers, and on that would
have been iraugurated by the Republi-
cans, as the vote on the bill showed,
aud as the votes to sustain the commits
sion now show. The Democrats could
only have declared Tilden elected, and
then the matter would either have
ended or drifted into war. There is
now, and meyer was, any doubt of such
finale.
Tildcn had his lawyers and his
friends here saying, that if he could
not get the office except by war, he
would not have it at all, and no blood
should be shed over it, I would like
to know what was the duty of patriot
Was it to sit still and see the election
of Hayes declared by the Senate, and
the spectacle OF two Presidents pro
sented, one with every State govern
ment at the North in his favor
Except oEe), with every department
of the general government in
his hands-and the other with
none of these except the Southern
State governments, and with oil his
lawyers, friends, dead-beats and the
like, declaring that they would not
fight, and he must submit to the primd
facie case unless he could overturn that
case peacefully; or was it our duty tc
try and break the legal chain of evi
dcnce which Hayes held2 We though,
that duty required US to do all we could
to install Tilden, and so acted. The
very best and the very ablest of all oul
party assisted in the preparation of thu
+ bill, and it did present chance fol
, Tilden, in that it provided for the de
. cision of five of the judges upon tho
ten or twelve loose questions involved
, We said the case was one way and The
, Republicans said it was another way
dead lock-. Now if the judges had de
9 cided our way we would have been hello
, as discerning statesmen, but since they
. have decided the other way it is grave
ly suspected that we are ---
Upon the same principle every law
yer who loscs-.a case is fool. Now,
, suppose we had defeated the bill and
( Hayes had been installed by the Seu
ate and Tilden and his lawyers and his
: friends had said: "Wcll, l won't fight
e over this thing aud plunge the country
Iuto the horrors of civil war" Why
e then all the people would have said We
were sold out or else we had taken tn,
0 bill and busted the Primd JdciG case
: Or, if you please, had war resulted
: and the calamitIes thereof had curseC
4 our section with sorrow and blood, anC
o drafted from their homes the poor mel
/ to fight in hopeless war, what curse
J. | WOulu Luey anu lneIT wives nav
: heaped on our heads.
s There are those, of course, who sa,
a that audacity on our side would hav
q struck terror into the Republicans
s That is, you know, all stufr-pure, un
t defiled demagoguism, and libel upol
d the bloody history through which W
have passed. Ireckon you won't writ
me again to give you al answer, jude
ing from the length of this letter, bu
l can't help saying further that tn
g funniest thing of all is, that Samuel
$ Tilden and many Democrats who ha,
: national reputation for ability an
{ devotion to Democracy, in the opinio
: of some people here, have shown them
! selves to be fools, and few men VIII
n desired war, and who were willing t
q plunge the country into chaos, ar
e alone fit to he considered statesmen
!, One might well afford to take hi
v chances with the great and good me
) of the party, who sough. by the flares
e means they could devise to uphold tn
c right by civil methods, since by til
d method of war or anarchy nothing bu
d calamity could befall our cause.
IS Yours, truly d. b. CULBERsoN.