The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1877-07-13

TuptlOn WHICH tne DemOCrhtlC Counsei hciu
in their hands and offered To exhibit. These
Commissioners choked off the evidence, and
smothered it as remorselessly as Wells and
his associates suppressed Democratic returns.
And this they put on the express ground that
to them it was all one whether the action Of
these boards was fraudulent or not. They
would suffer no proof of corruption to inval-
idate the right claimed by Hayes man to
put in the vote of a State for his candidate.
This monstrous and uncomfortable outrage
was resisted to the utmost. All of the sew
en- implored and protested against it. Judge
Clifford, the President of the commission,
laid it down rs a maxim of the common law
that fraud vitiates whatever it touches, and
proved it itundeniably. He might have proved
more, 1t is not merely a maxim of the COM
mon law it belongs to all countries and all
ages no code can claim it exclusively il
pervadcs all systems of jurisprudence it
has its home in every honest heart; it is the
universal sentiment of all just men 1t ap-
plies to all human dealings. Judge Field
looked in the face of the majority, and told
them plainly that their disregard of this
great principle was as shocking in morals as
it was unsound in law" and added at is
elementary knowledge that fraud vitiates all
proceedings, even the most solemn that no
form of words, no amount of ceremony, no
solemnity of proceeding, can shield it from
exposure, or protect its structure from as
sault and destruction" But the eight were
as deaf as adders to the voice of reason and
justice. They would not permit the fraud to
be assaulted, much less to be destroyed.
They stood over it to shield it, protect it,
and save it, interposing the broad @gis of
their authority to cover it against every at
tack.
The eight persistently denied their power
or that of Congress, to do what they were
commanded by the law to do-that is, decide
who were duly appointed, They would only
decide that certain persons were named as
electors by Returning Board. They would
not understand that the appointment by the
people might be one thing, and the action
of the Returning Board another, or that the
latter, even as evidence Of the former was
| worthless if it was fraudulent.
THIMBLE- RIGGING FLORIDA OUT.
They insisted that the Returning Board
certificate must be received with all the hon.
ors; to question its verify would be usurpa-
| tion upon State rights, which they (the eight
were most careful to preserve intact and un-
impaired. "But" said they, eff Returning
Board behaves unfaithfully, the State her.
| self, by her own authorities, must see to it
and correct the wrong" Thereupon came
Florida, and showed that she had made the
correction All the departments of her Gov
ernment-her Legislature, her courts and her
Executive-had at different times examined
| and revised the action of her Returning
Board pronounced it false, fraudulent and
| void; declared that the Tilden electors
| were duly appointed, and left the Hayes can.
didates without shred of authority to vote
| for the State. There stood the State herself
| upright before the august commission, with
all the evidence in her hand, protesting
| against the fraud and demanding that no
vote should be received except the vote of
her own electors duly appointed by her peo-
Pile. But the commission answered that un-
| der the circumstances of this case she had no
right to defend herself against the fraud of
Returning Board any more than she had
to be defended by the Federal authorities
Whatever she might do or decide, or resolve
upon, the great fraud was her master, and
she must submit. So it appeared, after all
the speeches about State rights, that Flori-
da had but one right-the right to be cheat
ed out of her vote by the same knaves who
had already robbed her of her property. The
right was sacred and intangible, and the COM
mission promptly put her in tull possession
it.
A JUDICIAL DECISION DIsREGARDED.
In the case of Florida there was one piece
of evidence offered which not only commen-
ded itself strongly to the consideration OF
just men, but, being supported by certain
artificial rules of pleading and practice, il
was expected to find acceptance in the mar
: rowest mind on the bench. This was the
record of a judicial proceeding commenced
in Florida court by writ of quo warranto
at the suit of the State upon the relation OF
the Tilden electors against the Hayes eec.
tors. The parties came into court and plead
ed, and the issue made between them was
whether one set or the other 1.-THE relators Oh
the defendants) were duly appointed electon
of President and Vice President by and fol
the State of Florida. Evidence was taken tn,
cause was debated by counsel on both sides
al. l.,
the court, against the defendants and in ia
vor of the State, that the relators were dul,
appointed and the defendants not. Thi
fact, thus determined by the court, was pre-
cisely the same fact afterward controverte,
by the same parties before the commission
When submitted to the latter tribunal it wa
res judicdtd j, not only true, but fixed an,
f settled beyond the reach of contradiction
a The judgment was not impeached for frau
a or reversed for error 1t was in full fore
!. and virtue. 1t was not denied that the cour
which made the adjudication had entire an
complete jurisdiction both of the subjeC
e matter and of the parties BY all reaso
y and all authority the commission was beun
to respect this judgment as conclusive evi
y dence, But to have done this would hav
made Tilden President and defeated the'pul
y pose of all the frauds in Louisiana and Flol
" ida both. They did not do it, they allowe
the judgment to have no effect at all. The
- but looked to see what it was, and immed
= ately swept it out of sight They put i; ia
from them, and then proceeded to pronounc
= different judgment. which suited the Haye
men better. How could they break all tn
!" bars of legal authority which fenced then
about' What starting hole did they find t
escape from the corner into which they wer
!, driven and penned up by the law of tn