The Portland daily press., 1877-09-14
The Conspiracy Bubble Exploded.


Louisiana vote clearly and briefly. The i'm
| partiality of the Commission and the legality
of the title by which President Hayes holds
1 his Office are completely demonstr ated, and
4 the history of the plan to adjust the electo-
\ raj troubles, from its inception to its con-
summation in the adoption of the report of
the Commission by the counting of the votes
/ of the disputed states is candidly written.
Mr.. Stoughton clearly shows the cooperation
of the Democrats with the Republicans in Or
ganizirg the Conspiracy" as Judge Black
calls il; proves the Jurisdiction of the Com
mission anu us iegarrty or rts prurreutuSs
under constitutional and state law, and the
decisions of the courts in the commonwealths
referred to; reviews the chaotic condition of
the Southern states since the close of the war
and the outrages and murders COM
mit.ed upon Republicans who settled in
that section, and concludes with the express
sion of conviction that "when Mr.. Black
| shall enter the fair field of inquiry and argu-
| ment, and shall candidly explore the proofs,
| and especially when he shall honestly endeav-
| or to realize the fact that theElectoral Com
| mission was powerless under the law to dsre-
gard the will of the states of Louisiana, Flor
l ida and Oregon, he will engage in task
1 which may open his mind to the matter, lead
| ing him to the conclusion that the nation has
| not been betrayed, and that the Great Fraud
| of 1876 was but the fgmont ola disordered
! imagination"
Mr.. Stoughton pertinently asks: what is
the electoral Conspiracy" which Judge
| Black faunts at the head of his article? Did
| it consist in the conception and organization
| of the Electoral Commission? If it did, who
1 we're the conspirators? The Democratic ad-
l vocate evidently sought to convey the impress
l sion that the formation of the Commission
1 was the result of Republican conspiracy to
| fraudulenty elect President and Vice Pres
1 ident of the United States, carefully conceal
4 ing the fact that it was not only the result of
/ compromise, but of one urged upon Repub-
I licans as the only means of averting dangers
to the country threatened by ther political
| opponents. These, and not Republicans,
were the conspirators, if conspiracy there was
The lamentations, complaints and denuncia,
tions of Judge Black are not, under the cir
cumstances, to be commended. Men, after
being worsted in fair encounter, should not
complain. especially if they have had the
choice of warfare.
Judge Black has studiously misrepresented
the powers and duties of the Electoral Com
mission and the questions it was authorized
to decide, says his opponent, and has thus
| manufactured a pretext for denouncing, as
the result of corrupt partisanship, the conclu-
| sions of majority of its members. He in
sists that they were bound by their duty and
their oath to disregard the findings of the re-
turning boards of Louisiana and Florida, and
that in adopting them, great infamy was
| accomplished and vile frauds covered up. To
cast odium and reproach upon the majority,
he asserts that these boards, and especially
that of Louisiana. reached results by corrupt
means, and that in adopting them, with
knowledge of this, and of their duty to ascer-
tain the votes for electors by other and indie
pendent proof, the eight were participants in
the guilt of these tribunals. But the fact is
the uestion before the Commission was not,
had the American people a right to elect
their chief magistrate, nor what was the vote
for electors at the polls either of Florida or
Louisiana, but who were appointed electors
by those states and by Oregon in such man
ner as their legislatures had directed. A
state acts and speaks through its officers duly
constituted; and the canvass and declaration
by the returning boards OF Louisiana and
4 do md bU ha nF toto of
gon were the acts and declarations of those
States. They could thus, and only thus, mani
fest their will to appoint electors, and those
declared to be such by returning boards or
officers having exclusive power so to do were
appointed by those States in the manner
directed by their legislatures. Consider the
consequences, Mr. Stoughton asks, which
must follow contrary conclusion. Imagine
disregard of the finding and declaration of
the returning officers of a State, and an at
! tempt by Congress or an electoral commission
to scan the polls and ascertain who had re-
ceived the highest number of lawful votes.
The returning officers, we will suppose, have
canvassed the votes cast, and upon proof
satisfactory to them, have decided
that at certain polls and voting places
such riots; armed disturbances, fraud
and intimidation occurred as to prevent
fair election, by reason whereof, in pursuance
of Stale laws, they excluded the votes cast
thereat for either candidate. The Congress
or its commission, acting Independent of
state authority, proceeds to revise and re-
verse the decision Of the State tribunals, and
decides that other persons than those by
them declared elected had been duly ap-
pointed electors. Would this be an appoint
ner as its legislature directs, or usurpation
of power in violation of the Constitution Of
the United States? And if Congress may
| arbitrarily exercise such jurisdiction, may it
not at pleasure wrest from the States the
right vested in them to appoint electors and
thus control the election of President of the
| United States? A majority of the Commits
| sion declined to exercise a jurisdiction SO
fatal to State independence, and for this they
have been denounced as parties to con-
1 spiracy to cheat the nation of its lawfully
elected chief magistrate.
L III AOS"hU w oAO ldIuAO duu JUS blC6 VI tuG
Democratic claim to Louisiana Mr.. Slough
| says: "The registered colored vote of Lou
isiana on the day of the election in Novem-
ber last was 1880 to 92,996 white. In
forty of the ffty-seven parishes of the State,
where no serious intimidation prevailed, in
cluding that of Orleans which was largely
Democratic, the majority of Republican votes
actually cast was 6,097. The remaining
seventeen parishes contained 20,323 regis
tered colored voters and 16 253 white the for
mer, like those in the forty parishes, being
almost exclusively Republican. Judge Black
says the majority of the votes actually poled
by the Democratic party within the state is
admitted to have been 1859. Assuming this
| to be so, the Democrats must have succeeded
with 1928 white votes, in getting maiori-
ty over 20,323 colored, of 1876. Does he
believe this to have been possible, in the face
of the Republican majority of 6,O97 in forty