Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1877-02-28

Democratic Non Partisanship.
As a matter of course the eyes of the
whole country are turned toward Washing
ton, and the result of the counting Of the
electoral vote is watched with the utmost
anxiety. No one, not in that city, can con-
ceive the intense, though in some measure,
suppressed, excitement which pervades all
classes, and the crowds which throng the
Capitol-those without tickets, and so with
no possibility of admission as well as those
more favored-fully attest the interest which
is felt in the result.
The spectacle presented there is peculiar
one. Embarrassed by the difficulties of a
position where so many different honest
opinions were entertained by the best legal
minds of the country as to what course
should be pursued committee comprising
the ablest lawyers, the greatest statesmen
and the purest men in Congress, was selected
from each house, with instructions to look
up the law, and propose to Congress pro-
Commission was composed of an equal num-
Der of Republicans and democrats, and af-
ter thorough research they proposed the
plan under which Congress is now acting,
Senator Morton alone refusing to sign the
report
This report was received by the Republi-
cans with the greatest distrust. Protest
after protest went up from thousands of
citizens, as well as from large majority of
the Republican press of the country. II
was bitterly denounced as a surrender, its
authors were vindctively assailed, and their
motives unjustly impugned. On the other
hand, the democrats hailed it as a harbinger
of success. 1t passed both houses by large
majority of their votes, and was welcomed by
them as a sure means of victory, it being
generally conceded that Judge David Davis
was to constitute the fifth Judge upon the
Commission.
Time passed on, and in the course of
events Judge Davis was elected United
States Senator from Illinois. Hitherto the
democrats had relied solely upon his "par-
tisanship" to find verdict for their candi-
date, and his refusal to act was to many of
them severe blow However, having ac-
cepted the Commission, they were bound in
good faith to proceed, and this they did. In
the course of few days the utter worthless
ness of their claim became apparent and
l.. -. -: l. Il Al
whole matter.
Then the howl of partisdnshp was raised.
Of course the seven democrats upon the
Commission, who have voted solidly and
,tolidly together, were no partisans. Oh,
no 1t is only the Republicans who are
guilty of such conduct. This claim about
the partisan action of the board is, in truth,
about as worthless as Tildens claim to the
Presidency, and will be repudiated by the
country as effectually as his claim to the
Presidency has been.
At last, seeing the hopelessness of their
cause, few of the more violent of the party
cast about for means of evading the legiti-
mate results of their own measure in Great
ing the Commission. One after another of
their schemes have failed, and the only re-
sort left them.-and desperate one at that
is to consume the time of Congress by dila-
tory and obstructive motions, and by re-
cesses from day to day until after the fourth
of March, This would undoubtedly require
~ new election, in which they hope for diff
ierent results. Here is honesty and consist
ency for you. The compromise which would
elect Tilden is the one they acquiesced in;
the one that returns any other candidate is
partisan, and they will not abide it, even if
it is of their own making.
Such course, if persisted in, and success
fu, will consign the party to the infamy it
deserves. What the country wants is peace,
a revival of its business interests, other leg
islation than that solely pertaining to the
redistribution of the spoils of office-holding.
The party that thus recklessly aud in breach
of good faith and plighted word, persists in
keeping up this uncertainty and this pros
tration of the business of the country, will as
surely ldlI Ill lls HeldTlOuS pTOJeclS as lHe
world stands, and the mourners that go
about the streets on its account will be par
ticularly few.
In justice to the members of Congress
from the South, it should be stated that
they, or at least large majority of them,
oppose the filibusterng policy advocated by
a few reckless demagogues from the North.
They have had war, and enough of it. They
had enough of Northern democracy during
the war, and as one of them well said to
Judge Cate, of Wisconsin, the other day, af-
ter the latter had accused him of cowardce
"Those who denounce us now as towards,
when the pinch came fifteen years ago
turned against u.s."
rHE SECRET OUT-The following special
dispatch from Washington to the Cincinnati
Gazette is said to contain the views of
well known Western democrat "Of course
our case is lost. Hayes will now come in
without further opposition. have worked